Petition Started To Save Mocomanto In Southampton Village

A petition to save one of the first houses built on Lake Agawam in Southampton Village has been set up at the website Change.org.

The petition states that the new owner of the home wants to replace the home—which it calls “The Jewel of Southampton Village”—with a much larger structure.

Planned renovations for the mansion on First Neck Lane, known as Mocomanto, include a 7,556-square-foot floor plan, complete with a new “L”-shaped addition with a garden shed and two-car garage. The plan also includes a remodeled porch, elevated roof height and an addition on the front of the residence, which would remain largely in the same location as the current structure.

“This new McMansion—in reality, two houses joined by a connector over protected wetlands—would bear little resemblance to Mocomanto,” the petition read.

The petition was placed on the site by a group identified only as “residents of Southampton.” Organizers did not return requests for comment via email and social media.

The primary requests before the Southampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals—as described by attorney John Bennett, who is representing the applicant, Kenneth Fox—include a wetlands special permit for the one-story addition to the north side of the residence. Under village code, structures need special permission to be located closer to wetlands than setbacks would normally require.

An addition to the front of the structure and the existing porch, along with the relocation of stairs and the existing driveway, also requires a wetlands special permit. The applicant also needs ZBA approval to exceed the village’s height limit of 35 feet by approximately 5 feet.

“If this unprecedented proposal is approved, historic homes all around Lake Agawam will be turned into McMansions through the use of connectors over protected wetlands,” the petition organizers wrote. “This development will stress the lake’s already dangerous ecology. The massive expansion of historic homes around Lake Agawam will turn the lake into a cesspool, destroying its beauty for future generations.”

Mocomanto was the home of the Betts family, one of the founders of the Southampton summer community. Mr. Bennett later argued that the property is privately owned and extensions to historic homes are allowed under the law.

The ZBA is expected to discuss the renovations again at its next regular meeting on July 27.