The Sag Harbor Village Harbor Committee on Monday voted to allow Herbert Sambol to undertake a substantial expansion of a 970-square-foot, one-story cottage at 22 Cove Road within 25 feet of the edge of the bluff, although with some misgivings from members about the bluff’s stability.
The committee closed the hearing and agreed it would issue a formal approval next month for an expansion that would include the addition of a second floor and bring the total size of the house to 2,585 square feet as well as the construction of a 300-square-foot pool.
In exchange, Mr. Sambol will be required to return to the committee so it can determine whether or not a plan to replant the bluff proofs effective. If not, he will likely be required to terrace it to provide greater stability.
Committee member Jeff Peters, who abstained from voting, said he was concerned that even though Mr. Sambol will replant the bluff face as part of his project, it will not be enough to forestall continued erosion.
“The water—I don’t care if they have drywells or not, it’s going to trickle down,” said Mr. Peters, who wanted the committee to require that the bluff be terraced as part of the initial approval.
Stephen Clarke, who presided over the meeting in the absence of chairman Bruce Tait, cited concerns of construction equipment operating near the bluff’s edge and requested that Mr. Sambol’s engineer be on-site regularly to make sure they stayed away from the edge.
Richard Warren, the board’s environmental consultant, said he would add language to the approval, specifying those restrictions. “If people say they are going to do it this way, you want to make sure they do it this way,” he said, “That’s the bottom line.”
Mr. Sambol’s attorney, Dennis Downes, suggested that his client be required to return next March, after the winter’s storms, rather than holding up the application for several months. “None of us know what’s going to happen, “ he said.
