Chequit pool could get 2-year delay
- JULIE LANE PHOTO
Architect Pam Pospisil explains plans for a house expansion on East Brander Parkway to ZBA members (from left) Doug Matz, William Johnston III and Phil DiOrio at a hearing Wednesday night.
If the owners of the Chequit produce proof by June 30 that they have an application pending with the Suffolk County Department of Health Services for a pool installation, the ZBA will allow them an extension until March 31, 2016, to complete construction.
But if James and Linda Eklund fail to prove that an application for the pool installation is pending with the Health Department, their ZBA extension voids. That would force them to start the process from scratch if they still want to install a pool on the property.
The Eklunds asked in February for a second extension on the approval they had won in January 2012 with work that was to have been completed by May 2013. They were given a one-year extension in 2013 after potential buyers from Cape Advisors pulled out of a deal to purchase the property. Representatives of Cape Advisors had argued when the application was initially considered that they wouldn’t buy the property unless permission were granted for the pool and patio.
Now the Eklunds maintain they still want to build the pool and patio, but need more time to get permits in line with the Board of Health and begin the project.
On an application from Alexander Lemond of 94 Gardiners Bay Drive for variances for already installed generator and air conditioning units, the ZBA is “mystified,” in member Patricia Shillingburg’s words, by a request from neighbros to relocate the generator they say disturbs them when they’re sitting on their porch.
The generator and air conditioner were installed without needed variances, although Mr. Lemond had obtained a variance for a garage unit. Now Sam Case of Sherman Engineering and contractor Andrew Clark maintain that they didn’t know the variances were necessary, but that the placement of the units is the best possible location.
Each unit would need an approximate 4-foot variance.
But Ida Marie and Edward Bottone are disturbed by the noise of the generator, Ms. Bottone told the ZBA.
Typically, generators are set for an automatic weekly test that lasts 10 to 15 minutes and are otherwise off except when power is lost. Ms. Bottone said she couldn’t tell the ZBA how often the generator goes on or for how long, but said it runs “intermittently” and is disturbing when she and her husband are sitting on their porch.
“It very much concerns us if it annoys you,” Ms. Shillingburg said. But she described herself as “mystified” with the implied frequency of such disturbances.
Mr. Clark agreed to have an electrician check the unit to ensure it’s only testing once a week for a short time. But he also said the generator is located on a downward slope near the roadside and that vegetation blocks it from view.
“You can’t see it and you can’t hear it,” Mr. Clark said. It could be moved to comply with code, “but I don’t think it would be beneficial to anybody,” he said.
The board said other steps could be taken to muffle it, but Board Chairman Doug Matz said it’s not up to the ZBA to suggest means of doing so. At the same time, he told Mr. Case and Mr. Clark that it would likely be less expensive to move the unit so it complies with code than to build a structure to muffle its sound.
“To move it would be more obtrusive,” Mr. Clark said.
While the public hearing on the application was closed, the ZBA will accept letters through the close of business on April 2 from anyone wishing to comment. The ZBA will discuss the application at its April 9 work session.
Before further consideration of an application from Philip and Alix Sherer for reconstruction and additions to a nonconforming house and detached garage at 11 East Brander Parkway, the ZBA wants to see actual architectural drawings, not just sketches.
Through Mr. Case and architect Pam Pospisil, the Sherers are asking for a special permit to renovate more than 50 percent of their nonconforming house and nonconforming garage and variances to construct an addition to the house and garage with side yard setbacks of 8.2 feet to 12.6 feet when 25 feet are required by code. A variance on the front yard setback would also be needed since the construction would result in a 17.6 foot setback on North Silver Beach Road instead of the required 40 feet.
Ms. Pospisil said she has drawings done for the house, but it would be about two weeks before they are completed for the garage. Among the issues for the ZBA was that the sketches indicated a two-story garage, while both Mr. Case, Ms. Pospisil and the Sherers son, Philip, said the garage would only be one story. But the ZBA wants drawings that reflect that fact.
The current garage is barely large enough for a vehicle and the family needs storage space, some of which would be created by a larger garage and the rest by space at the top that would be created using plywood, Ms. Pospisil said. The plywood would certainly not support use of a second story as a living quarters she said.
The Sherers had gotten approval from the ZBA for a larger change to their house two years ago, but they didn’t move forward because of delays resulting from their need for Health Department approval, she said. Now they want to scale back the original request, giving up an area that would have attached the garage to the house, she said.
As expected, the ZBA gave the go-ahead to two projects, one by a unanimous vote and the other by a split 3-2 decision.
William Johnston III and Neal Raymond voted “no” on a resolution to allow Richard Ludlow to have a 50- by 10-foot lap pool with a 1-foot walkway on all four sides constructed on his property at 48 Winthrop Road because they thought the variance sought was too large. But Mr. Matz, Ms. Shillingburg and Phil DiOrio voted to approve the area variance that amounts to a 15.1 foot setback, rather than the 30-foot setback required by code.
Robert and Genevieve Nichole Lynch of 72 Ram Island Drive got unanimous approval to enlarge their existing nonconforming house with caveats that screening of the property meets with the interests of their neighbors and a second story can never be added to the house.
