Government

Chequit gets ZBA approval to tear down 1890s cottage

JULIE LANE PHOTO | The 1890s cottage that will be demolished on the Chequit Inn property.

Without a formal vote and going against the advice of its Town Attorney, Shelter Island’s Zoning Board of Appeals on Wednesday night granted the Chequit Inn permission to demolish the summer cottage on Washington Street and build a replica in its place.

Plans approved in January allowed the Chequit to build a swimming pool and patio at the Inn, and move the summer cottage to a new foundation on the property. But Mr. Eklund told board members that would require lifting the house that was built around 1890 from its foundation, putting it in the parking lot, building a new foundation and then moving the house onto that foundation.

That would tie up traffic on Washington Street for about two weeks and force cars that ordinarily would be parked on site into the street until the house was moved to its new foundation, he said.

Town attorney Laury Dowd advised the ZBA to open another public hearing on the issue, but members approved the plans to avoid delaying the planned work at the Chequit.

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