MINUTES OF MEETING OF THE ARCHITECTURAL AND HISTORIC REVIEW BOARD OF THE VILLAGE OF SAGAPONACK IN THE TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON, COUNTY OF SUFFOLK AND STATE OF NEW YORK A regular monthly meeting of the Architectural and Historic Review Board of the Village of Sagaponack was held at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, December 8, 2008, at 20 Sagg Main Street, Sagaponack, N.Y. The meeting was called to order by Chairperson Ana Daniel with a flag salute. Present were Board Members Ann Sandford, Tom White, Barbara Slifka, Village Building Inspector John Woudsma and Pat Arancio-Remkus, secretary. Absent were Clay Dilworth and Village Attorney Anthony Tohill. I. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A resolution to approve the minutes from the November 19, 2008 AHRB meeting was offered by Ann Sandford and seconded by Tom White and unanimously adopted. II. OLD BUSINESS A. Additions/Renovations 1. Scott Resnick 137 Crestview Lane 908-9-2-37 Applicant proposes to construct a 6 wall/fence. John Falborn, Dan Loos and Joe D urso, designer, represented the homeowner. At the November meeting, the Board had asked the applicant s representatives to come back to the Board with a proposal that was less harsh and more in keeping with the rural feeling of the neighborhood. Dan Loos presented pictures of various views of the property to demonstrate that from the common driveway and from Crestview, the wall would not be visible. He showed some of the design structures that already exist on the property such as the outdoor shower, BBQ area and table that are also done in stucco, as well as the existing pool, which has a 4 6 wall done in stucco surrounding it. It goes with the design. He also showed the vegetation block on the one neighbor s side, the only neighbor that has any view of the yard, and it is quite developed in that area. He showed photos of other houses on the waterfront which are pretty standard on the waterfront, that are not too farm-like. 1
Joe D urso stated that the wall will be planted with climbing hydrangeas. Chairperson Daniel stated that climbing hydrangeas are very good plants for the wall. Dan Loos stated that opposite that area are 35 black pines on the one property line and on the other side the wall tucks in behind the garage wall so there is no actual view of the wall from that side. There will only be that one shared property line. Ann Sandford stated she still doesn t like concrete walls. Joe D urso stated that it is not concrete it is stucco. Stucco is more traditional. Ann Sandford stated that their point is that it fits in with all of the other existing elements on the property. Joe D urso stated that the wall at the Resnick house is going to act as the pool enclosure in part and it will separate the parking area. Beyond the wall is the walking garden and the house is shingled and quite large. He stated he like the idea of having the wall be a different material than wood. He also stated that over time he feels it will hold up better. Ann Sandford asked if the wall was going to be painted. Joe D urso stated it is going to be a beach color which is a sand color. The stucco actually has a color. Barbara Slifka asked if it has to be 6. Joe D urso stated it is that high so you don t see the cars when you walk into the garden. Dan Loos stated that a 6 tall wall is what is permitted by code. He stated that is actually the side where the black pines are and it will hide the wall. Ann Sandford offered the motion to approve an application to construct a 6 wall/fence as proposed. Tom White seconded the motion. It was approved unanimously. III. NEW BUSINESS 1. Ngaere Macray 514 Sagaponack Road 908-3-1-15 Applicant proposes to construct a 816 sq. ft. garage, a new 213 sq. ft. covered porch and an 87 sq. ft. addition to dining room 2
Richard Dunphy of Kiwi Construction represented the applicant. He showed the new garage on the northern portion of the property. He showed the dining room addition on the southeast side of the house under the new covered porch. Richard Dunphy stated that the dining room already exists, but they are bumping it out by 3. The porch is there already also. Chairperson Daniel asked if the applicant was enlarging the porch to which Mr. Dunphy replied yes. Ann Sandford noted that the applicant is proposing a one story 2-car garage. Richard Dunphy confirmed and noted that there will be no basement and no heat. Ann Sandford asked if the exterior of the garage will be the same as the exterior of the house. Richard Dunphy stated yes. He stated they will both have cedar shingles. Ann Sandford offered the motion to approve an application to construct a 816 sq. ft. garage, a new 213 sq. ft. covered porch and an 87 sq. ft. addition to dining room as proposed. Tom White seconded the motion. It was approved unanimously. 2. Elizabeth Barton 423 Sagaponack Main Street 908-6-1-7 Applicant proposes to construct a 1 st & 2 nd Fl addition including a 1-car garage Elizabeth Barton and Pamela Posposil, architect, were present. Elizabeth Barton stated the new part includes a new kitchen and an improved bedroom for her sister and brother-in-law. Chairperson Daniel asked all the Board members if they knew where the Barton house was.across the street from the Sagaponack School. Pamela Posposil showed the Board that the proposed addition is happening all to the rear of the house with one exception. They are adding a car bay and that does extend out about 6 6 past the face of the garage that is there now. The roofline will wrap around the corner across the top of the doors, it is a bracketed overhand. It breaks down the two story affect of the wall and it gives protections to the cars there. Chairperson Daniel asked if the existing garages will remain. 3
Pamela Posposil stated they will. She stated there will be three bays. She stated the rest of the addition all happens out the rear which is expanding the kitchen, adding a mudroom and laundry space. Upstairs, we are shifting a bedroom that is currently in the house and we are pulling it back out over. What is not the bedroom will become a better closet and a hallway to access the other rooms more easily. We are matching everything. Any windows that are being replaced are being done with the same style and kind. Shingling, roofing materials, etc. will all be the same. It will be in character with what is there now. Ann Sandford asked when the house was built. Elizabeth Barton stated the house was built in 1949. She stated the addition over the garage was added in 1994. Pamela Posposil stated the end result will be a saltbox in the rear to clean it all up. She stated that currently there are a lot of little dormers, etc. She showed the Board where the 6 ½ feet that will be bumped out on the east side and the new garage bay on the northeast side. The mudroom and laundry room space set up. They can come in a back door mudroom space or from the garage and get into that space as well. The kitchen will be pulled back to an eating area. Elizabeth Barton stated that the current dining room becomes blended in as a sitting area and gathering spot of the house. It also solves another problem by creating a much better dining area. Tom White offered the motion to approve an application to construct a 1 st & 2 nd Fl addition including a 1-car garage as proposed. Ann Sandford seconded the motion. It was approved unanimously. IV. DISCUSSION ITEMS 1. Jeffrey Sine 691 Daniels Lane 908-10-4-9 Discussion on applicant s proposal to demolish existing 2 story single family dwelling and to construct a 2 story, single family dwelling James Merrell, architect, Steve Hatfield from James Merrell s office and Dan Thorpe from Chris LaGuardia Landscape Designs represented the applicant. Ann Sandford asked where specifically the house was. She drove down Potato Road because there was a sign saying 691 along with a bunch or numbers. 4
James Merrell stated it is not that driveway. It is further east from Daniels. It is pretty close to Townline. Barbara Slifka asked if there is something to identify it. James Merrell stated that there is a little number 691. James Merrell stated that they would be officially before the Board now except that they are waiting for the Town Wetlands sign off. The one thing that the Town is still waiting for is an updated survey showing the location of the pool. He noted that the applicant wanted to present this to the Board unofficially to receive feedback. Barbara Slifka asked how big the property was. Steve Hatfield stated the property is 87,000 sq. ft. and is hedged all around. James Merrell stated the new house is fitting into the same kind of orientation although it has a larger footprint. He showed the garage on the northeast side and a tennis court proposed on the east side. There is an existing pool and a pool terrace, but they will be putting in a new pool. James Merrell stated the owner likes the beachy modern theme so they are trying to create a beachy modern home. James Merrell stated we are tearing down the building and flipping the setbacks, which allows us to get a tennis court in. Barbara Slifka asked if that was necessary. James Merrell stated it is necessary. It is necessary to the owner s view. It is all permissible. We have gone through InterScience. James Merrell stated they are building a two story house with popped up part that is a little higher with a loft office in it. This is a roof planter. The entrance comes in and you climb up, just like the other house only a little higher. Tom White asked if they are changing the foundation grading. James Merrell stated yes, by a few feet. It is pretty close to ground water. They have a lot of groundwater issues down there. 5
James Merrell showed the layout of the pool, terraces, the garage. They are proposing a green roof on the house, which will be low growth. It is not something that will be very visible from the ground. It is a flat roof and they are not high plants and there are ecological reasons for this. It will be a good thing environmentally. It increases the insulation. Barbara Slifka asked what sort of plants will be used. Dan Thorpe stated sedum, which have very drought resistant varieties. Sedums largely. The soil depth is only approximately 4-6. The plants will not be able to get too big. Sedums seem to work the best and there seems to be a great variety. They flower beautifully. It is called stone crop. James Merrell stated that one of the great things about this roof is it reduces runoff. It sucks up a lot of water that would normally rush out and create erosion. It also filters. It reflects heat. Barbara Slifka asked how it gets water. James Merrell stated you can add irrigation to it, but a lot of these things can weather over and we get a lot of water here and these are not fragile plants. James Merrell stated that there is a little open deck off the master bedroom where a hot tub will be installed. The roof plantings can be seen from the roof deck and the loft office. Ann Sandford asked what the peak elevation of the house was. James Merrell stated that the peak elevation is.. let me give you a sense.it is sort of a beachy modern and I say that on purpose to distinguish it from what might be a sort of high tech modern or a gymnastic modern. This is meant to be a calm house with warm stone glass, we have some large louvered panels that will be made out of mahogany or cedar and would have a weathering quality to it. We want glass for view, but we don t want the house to be a little airport. We have done things to soften the modern. In the end it comes out feeling a lot like the existing house.only 100 times nicer. When you drive in the driveway, there is no place you are going to see the whole house. The trees and wall which create the courtyard, shield the view of the house. Barbara Slifka asked what kind of stone would be used. James Merrell stated they haven t picked the stone yet. Barbara Slifka stated she was asking that question for a reason. There is a house on Sagaponack Road that was just built that has an artificial stone wall and every time she passes it she cringes. 6
James Merrell stated he knows they will be using natural stone, not artificial stone. He noted that they purposely didn t bring the final materials because they are here for discussion. He stated that the main house is much lower than the allowable height at 28. Village Building Inspector John Woudsma asked if that measurement was from the adjusted grade. Steve Hatfield stated it was from the adjusted grade and the grade was approximately 3. Village Building Inspector John Woudsma stated he would need a survey and he would need elevation shots and average elevation of existing grade and then we would have to see if we are in a flood area that actually would allow you to come all the way up to 40 above grade. James Merrell stated that they looked at that pretty closely. Predominant height of the house is still much lower than allowable. There is just this little part here that is 28 at the highest point. Ann Sandford asked what the railing was made out of. James Merrell stated they wanted something that would be fairly transparent and what they are planning to use is a wire mesh railing that from any distance virtually disappears. This is stainless steel cables that are so thin, they don t rust. We are going to do a wood rail on top sort of like a ship s rail. James Merrell showed the courtyard and the side of the garage. Tom White asked if the stone wall was part of the garage to which Mr. Merrell stated yes. Chairperson Daniel stated that most of it is invisible except if you are in the marshland coming in from the other side. James Merrell stated that it is totally invisible except for the neighbor in the very back. He showed the Board the tennis court wall. They are still playing with ideas of growing on this, too. The applicant likes the feel of not just a blank building. James Merrell stated there is a loft with an office in it and a double high space in the living room that offers great views. Barbara Slifka asked what the overall square footage of the house was. James Merrell stated that the allowable square footage is 7400 sq. ft. and they are a bit under. Ann Sandford asked how many acres the property was. 7
James Merrell stated it was two acres. The feel is you are on a much larger property because of all of the open wetland. He stated stone, cedar, glass will be used. They softened areas where there is glass with shutters. Chairperson Daniel asked if the louvers are movable. James Merrell stated yes for cleaning. His feelings on glassy rooms are they are hard to adjust the light and air and those kinds of things. They wanted to create operability and sun control for energy and comfort. Ann Sandford asked if they will be controlled from the inside to open and close. James Merrell stated there are operable sliding panels behind the louvers. Ann Sandford asked if the louvers were on the inside. James Merrell stated no they are on the outside. You pull out the sliding doors. Ann Sandford stated then you don t have screens. James Merrell stated that they are in there, too. They come with the sliding doors. They sit in front of the screens. It is layered. We just added a layer to the outside. They are hung like barn doors. Ann Sandford stated then the louvers themselves. James Merrell stated these will be fixed louvers. They are not going to be like.a plantation shutter is fixed. These will be more flat and they will be bigger, too. James Merrell stated that you will only be seeing pieces of this if you are standing at any normal spot. For the next meeting we will have a three-d version of this so that you can actually see that it will seem much smaller. Ann Sandford asked about the landscaping. She hoped they would not be using Russian Olives. Dan Thorpe noted they will not be using Russian Olives because they are very invasive, but will be using native plantings. Chairperson Daniel asked if anyone had any additional questions or whether the applicant had any additional comments to which all replied no. 8
V. RESOLUTION TO ADJOURN MEETING A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Tom White and seconded by Ann Sandford and unanimously adopted. Time noted: 10:35 AM PATRICIA ARANCIO-REMKUS Secretary to Board 9