ZBA: Smooth sailing for Yacht Club to use second lot

Just like 41 years ago, the Shelter Island Zoning Board of Appeals would like to see the Yacht Club merge its primary lot with an adjacent parcel owned by the Shelter Island Development Corporation.

But it’s a recommendation, not a requirement of the approval rendered July 24 to use that second lot for club purposes.

The ZBA ultimately embraced attorney Anthony Tohill’s argument that the approval to use the lot for parking, storage and other club purposes was nothing more than an extension of a long-standing practice in place since the land was purchased in 1971. Still, the ZBA suggested that merging the two lots would free the club from having to obey lot line requirements on two parcels instead of one.

When the initial approval came in 1971, club members followed the dictates of the ZBA and voted to purchase the land. But they were advised at the time to purchase it through a development corporation formed specifically for that purpose in order to avoid capital gains taxes. No one ever imagined at the time that putting the second lot in the name of the development corporation would violate the ZBA ruling, Mr. Tohill had argued.

In rendering its decision this year, the ZBA said the parcel is “essential” to the club’s operation because parking, boat storage and other activities can’t be contained on the single lot. The vote was 4-0 with William Johnston III recusing himself because he has done some work for the club in the past year.

The only objection to the application had came at an April public hearing when neighbor Anna Marie Flower, who lives on Chequit Avenue, said the area “has become a carnival and a circus” during the summer months with traffic and pedestrians vying for space and vehicles using private driveways for turnarounds.

During subsequent discussions of the application prior to the decision, ZBA members speculated that the situation wouldn’t be eased by denying the club the right to use the second lot.

In a second decision rendered at the July 24 meeting, the ZBA approved the application of Alan Dowling Jr. to demolish an existing house and garage on his property at 24 Hilo Drive and rebuild a house that would actually need less of a variance than the existing structures on the lot. Neighbors had argued against the variance because they feared that what had been one large house and garage spanning three parcels of land would eventually become three separate parcels, each with a house. That would change the character of the neighborhood, the neighbors said.

The original property had belonged to Mr. Dowling’s parents and had now been split among three brothers, each of whom could, potentially, request similar variances, the neighbors said. Mr. Dowling told the ZBA during a June hearing that he had tried to keep the three parcels together, but that a court had ruled in favor of one of his brothers who wanted the lots separated.

The ZBA, faced with the single application on one lot, opted to approve Mr. Dowling’s request.