Preliminary development plans for St. Gabe’s

After three months of silence following an announcement that a limited liability company called PandionAcquisitions had purchased close to 25 acres of the St. Gabriel’s property, it’s been confirmed that Richard Hogan of Shelter Island and New York City is the man behind the deal.

Mr. Hogan paid over $15.1 million to the owners, a Catholic religious order known as the Passionists Fathers, who had held the mainly undeveloped property, which fronts on Coelcles Harbor, for more than a century. The order had the property on the market since 2009 until the deal closed in mid-April.

Plans are under way to create a private residential community with five lots and two homeowners’ association parcels.

“St. Gabe’s is one of the great jewels of Shelter Island,” Mr. Hogan said. “I hope that in the fullness of time, people look back and say we treated it responsibly.”

Mr. Hogan tried to conceal his identity until plans for the site were more fully developed, but a spring application for a mooring in Coecles Harbor filed with the Waterways Management Advisory Council by Pandion Acquisitions had Mr. Hogan’s name attached.

He is founder and managing partner of Mont Blanc Holdings LLC in New York City, where he manages his own financial portfolio. He is also founder and managing partner of Yorkville ETF Advisors, involved in stock exchange financial trading.

Mr. Hogan and his representatives — East Hampton attorney William Fleming and Richard Warren of Inter-Science Research Associates in Southampton, a firm specializing in environmental land use planning — had an informal meeting with the Shelter Island Planning Board July 14.

What they sought and received was a sense that Planning Board members were in favor of their plans for the St. Gabriel’s site and would be helpful in guiding them through the thicket of approvals needed before construction could begin.

“I hope you like the basic plan,” Mr. Hogan said, eliciting encouragement from the planners after he and Mr. Warren outlined their thinking about the development.

While the town code would have allowed for a 21-lot subdivision, Mr. Hogan’s plans call for:
• Two residential waterfront lots, one on 3.48 acres of land and the second on 3.46 acres. The area would be cleared of all existing structures.
• A single lot of 7 acres, again to be cleared of existing structures with a proposal that calls for construction of a main house and deeded rights to build a guest house on the site. Mr. Hogan is willing to stipulate that the large lot could never be further subdivided with pieces sold separately.
• Two water-view lots of 3.36 acres and 3.31 acres. The farmhouse that currently houses the caretaker of the grounds and his family would remain in place on the fifth lot until it’s sold and both the fourth and fifth residential lots would have the option of placing moorings in the area of a single dock that would be meant to serve residents of all five lots. But plans wouldn’t preclude owners of lots one and three from applying for separate docks.

Mr. Hogan also speculated that all five lot buyers might want their own swimming pools.

As for the two homeowners’ association areas, one would include the single dock and a boathouse, not to exceed 1,000 square feet of interior space. The other, to be located in the southwest corner of the property would accommodate St. Gabriel’s chapel — a building Mr. Hogan said he could never destroy. “Nobody in my family would be comfortable knocking down a church,” he said.

The chapel would be used as a multi-purpose building with two tennis courts, a garden with a shaded walkway and a parking lot.

While residential lots three of the five lots have small wetland setbacks, Mr. Hogan said he didn’t expect buildings would encroach on the wetlands.

His firm is contemplating incorporating restrictions that would bear on:
• Architectural limitations and sizes of buildings in relation to their lot sizes
• Summer construction limits
• Installation of modern septic systems
• Limits to fencing that could be erected

Also under consideration are efforts to protect site lines and visibility, and the prohibition of chemicals and nitrogen on lawns that could be damaging to well water and Coecles Harbor.

Planning Board members let Mr. Hogan know that some of his plans would need variances or special permits from the Zoning Board of Appeals. That would be particularly applicable to the lot for the proposed main house and a guest house. Current zoning doesn’t allow two structures with kitchen and bathroom facilities in both without an exception to the rules.

The request for a dock and moorings would have to go to the Waterways Management Advisory Council that would then make its recommendations to the Town Board for a decision.

Formal plans are expected to be submitted to the Planning Board quickly, Mr. Hogan said. Once the planners have the application in hand, Planning Board Attorney Anthony Pasca said, they can assist in creating a “road map” for the owner on how to proceed with other boards,

If the permitting process goes smoothly, Mr. Hogan would like to begin demolition of existing buildings — all but the chapel — this autumn. While buildings would have to go, he plans to retain most trees he described as “pretty mature.”

Mr. Hogan said he plans to bring a grinder on site to deal with demolition debris instead of carting them off Island in large pieces.

Planners are scheduled to meet next on August 11 when they presumably will have a formal application in hand.