By Carrie Ann Salvi | February 28, 2013 – 12:45pm
The Sag Harbor Village Zoning Board of Appeals listened with apparent empathy on Feb. 19 to neighbors who voiced opposition to plans for a historic house on Garden Street that they said would change the character of the neighborhood and exacerbate flooding, as well as to Dennis Downes, the attorney for the applicant, William Egan. “The neighbors have had a good time stalling this for five years,” Mr. Downes said.
The underlying problem in the neighborhood is that it is low-lying. Mr. Downes said the proposed changes were necessary because of the poor drainage, saying correcting that was the village’s responsibility. He said houses on Howard Street regularly pump water from their houses “and it is going into my clients’ basement.”