Are All Citizens on Shelter Island Being Protected Equally?
Zoning’s New Important Role in Post-Pandemic Expansion
A Frigid Day in February
It started on a frigid day in February. My husband went to the post and found a letter about The Neighbor’s wishes to renovate their home. “I’ll take a look at it,” he yelled as he drove away, “probably nothing to worry about.” We have received many notices of this kind growing up on the East End, and they have always been respectful, well thought-out plans that considered our well-being as neighbors. We fully trusted the system, and were open to being as helpful and reasonable as possible. Although this particular Neighbor had not accepted a friendly invite to get to know each other when we moved in, other neighbors had, and we had a great feeling about the neighborhood.
My husband and I were recently married on Shelter Island. We feel in love with the Island by bike and boat, and our beautiful yellow house at 11 Locust Avenue was a dream come true. A small victorian built in 1820, our home had managed to make it through over 200 years with much of its original build in tact. That means complete with the requisite, generous, wrap-around porch that has come to define Shelter Island Heights. These beautiful porches have allowed residents to enjoy the outdoors of their property for centuries, and they also ensure and preserve the incredible charm of this historical, planned community.
What has transpired since the reception of that notice in February, however, has turned our world upside down. It has called into question our ability to live peacefully and with privacy in our home. It has also set in motion a potentially significant depreciation in the value of our home. But perhaps most upsetting, it has threatened to establish dangerous precedents for Shelter Island Heights, which could irrevocably change the character, feel and appeal of The Island overall, and the Heights specifically.
Turned His Stomach and Wet His Palms
What my Husband read when he opened the letter turned his stomach and wet the palms of his hands. Because my Husband has been both a builder and realtor on the East End for over 25 years, he was able to interpret what the engineers had sent over on behalf of The Neighbor.
What the plans called for was nothing less than The Neighbor filling in their porch and erecting a 20’ tall wall, beginning from the front edge of their porch and running the length of our home. This wall would eradicate any water or neighborhood views from our sight along the Eastern side of our property, while also obscuring our source of light and even our ability to see the sky.
Additionally they wanted to raise their roofline by 8’, further cutting out our eastward light, as well as doubling the size of their backyard free standing garage which runs along the back of our property.
What was most confusing and alarming however, was the fact that The Neighbor had completely ignored the 25 ft of buildable space they have to the East of their property, choosing instead to further encroach on our home, especially when our two houses are already the closest homes in Shelter Island Heights? This made no sense whatsoever. All anyone needed to do was stand on the street outside of our properties to see the insanity of it all. Build out into a 25 ft vacant buildable space, or toward your neighbor 6 ft away?
We immediately started drawing up a *presentation to outline exactly what this renovation would do to our home and property, and also to illustrate the terrible precedent this proposal would set for the Heights and The Island overall. This proposal asked to allow The Neighbor to move a solid wall, 5’ 3” toward our home, and asked for a variance to put their outside house wall to within 1 1/2 feet of our property line, just 6 feet from our home (and 4 1/2 feet within social distancing perimeters). We felt strongly that this had to be stopped, for us, and for the rest of our neighbors on Shelter and in The Heights.
A Silver Lining of Sorts
We were informed of the Date of the ZBA hearing and had prepared ourselves the very best we could, considering we were new to the Island, and its codes and variances. When the meeting began, we knew immediately that we were outsiders. “So”, someone on the Board asked The Neighbor, “Just how many years have your people been on this Island?” “Oh, for over XX years!”, The Neighbor elaborated on the genealogy of her family on Shelter. “My grandparents… etc etc etc”. “Oh well,” commented the Board member, “Guess that makes you a newcomer!” That got a big laugh. No one asked us where we were from. The meeting started.
(I will never know if that conversation was somehow for our benefit. To somehow drive home the point that we were, in fact, the newcomers, and that we were surrounded by people whose family origins may have been intertwined for generations, unlike ours. I can honestly say that was the first time I have ever felt like a real outsider, and it was a horrible, scary feeling. If nothing else, I will honor this process for making me more empathetic to people who also feel like outsiders. A silver lining of sorts.)
Forget Fair — Is it even awful?
What happened next denies any semblance of logic or fairness as far as we can tell, but you be the one to decide. The ZBA meeting concluded and we were trying to figure out what the next steps were when we got a curt phone call from The Neighbor. “We have decided to change our plans.” My husband listened on. The Board had discussed two alternatives to the original proposal. One was moving the entire house to the center of the property, therefor alleviating any encroachment issues, or quite simply, as we had repeatedly requested, fill in the house to the East where The Neighbor had 25’ to build. My husband asked which alternative The Neighbor had chosen to go with.
“Neither of those suggestions are gonna work for us. We’re going to continue to renovate to the West as we’ve always intended. We’ve already discussed it with Shelter Island Heights.” My Husband and I were shocked, mouths hanging open. How could Shelter Island Heights have had private conversations with only one side of the parties concerned, then take the proposals made in that conversation back to their committees, get their feedback, and then go back to that one side with further proposals , all without the knowledge of the other individuals involved here, the closest neighbor! How could we have been so left out of what was meant to be a Public Forum between concerned parties?
Our Presentation Never Even Made the Cut
It got worse. I immediately called The Heights Association and was not only told that, yes, they were on their second rounds of negotiations with The Neighbor on the proposed plan. BUT OUR PROPOSAL HAD NEVER EVEN BEEN SHARED WITH THE COMMITTEES MAKING THE DECISIONS IN QUESTION. HOW COULD THAT HAPPEN? HOW IS THAT FAIR? The Heights hesitated, “Well, we looked at some of your pictures…”
“Did you ever allow your committees to read through our presentation before beginning to negotiate with The Neighbor on continuing his expansion toward our home?” “No.” said the Heights. Had I not called to check on if my presentation had been shared with The Heights’ Committees, and insisted it be shown to committee members, our presentation, our voice, would never have been heard. Again, How is this fair?
The ZBA — Not Meant to be ‘Another Bit of Red Tape’
Next I went back to the Zoning Board of Appeals. “How can The Heights negotiate with The Neighbor about accepting a proposal without our knowing? What happened to our voice in this process? And most importantly, why will no one answer our very simple question, “Since The Neighbor’s house plan is a mirror image anyway, why not expand to the West where they have 25’ of buildable space vs further encroaching to 1 1/2 feet from our home?”, I asked.
“The Zoning Board is not here to tell people what to do.” was the response. “We are here to oversee incremental or minor changes to proposals made by residents. We do not make decisions on where people should do their construction or renovations.” (Really? I thought that was the e job of the ZBA?) ‘But if you never take a stand, then how do you protect your people? How do you protect Shelter Island?’ Based on the below, what the State of NY expects from its Zoning Boards sounds very different…
We Were Told to Give Up
We were told to give up. We were told by our well-meaning friends and neighbors on Shelter that this is the way it always goes. This is ‘The Game’. We were told that some very influential people had made their careers ushering paying clients through Shelter’s Zoning Process, with the promise that they know how to fix everything with the Board.
“The Game” apparently involves firstly putting a completely preposterous plan forward that no one would approve, and then negotiating directly with The Heights or the ZBA to, in the end, come away with exactly what they wanted in the first place anyway. I suppose in most cases, that works simply enough, but in our case, this proposal in front of The Heights and the ZBA if passed will result in the loss of our light, in the loss of our privacy and in a serious reduction in the value of our property, so we can’t give up.
But perhaps most importantly, this proposal will set a precedent that your Neighbor may build to within 1 1/2 feet of your property, and erect a windowless wall 6 feet from your home on Shelter Island. If we were to allow everyone, to fill in their porches and creep their walls closer and closer to their neighbors? Would Shelter even be the same? With the same peace and privacy that brought us here — all of us — in the first place? In a time when so many want to join our community, and expand their homes, we need a strong ZBA more now than ever, and we need to be able to rely on them to protect our citizens, and treat everyone fairly.
Fighting for our Home, And Yours
I have written this piece because I am asking for help from the people of Shelter Island. Please, please if you can, visit our home on 11 Locust Avenue. Just look at the proximity of our Neighbor to the East — and then please look at the 25 ft lot The Neighbor has on the other side of their property. The solution presently moving forward within our government to expand further toward our home is nothing less than dumbfounding, we’re sure you’ll agree.
If you can see it in your heart to support and help us we will be forever indebted. Please reach out to our local Zoning Board of Appeals and say “Protect our Porches”. Please let our representatives know that we oppose this type of proposed expansion, that 6 ft between homes is just too close, and that we disapprove of this type of abomination of Shelter Island’s historic porches.
The only way to protect our Island is to let these discussions out into the light, and allow us all to be heard equally. Thank you so, so much for your time and consideration.
With great respect,
Beth and Ed Mulderrig
11 Locust Avenue
Shelter Island Heights, NY
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Excerpt from Appeal to The Shelter Island Heights Association from Mulderrig’s;
“As I understand it — your job, unitedly, is to protect Shelter Island Heights and the residents therein. It is with this understanding that my Husband and I come to you for help and protection. Specifically, I am looking for someone to be able to explain to me, when The Neighbor’s house plan is a mirror image, why is it better to expand, or ‘fill in’ toward us to their West, moving a solid wall 5'3” toward our home, leaving only 6 ft between our homes and 1 1/2 feet from the property line to the wall — when to the East of their property is a 25 foot body of buildable land? I am looking for someone to be able to explain to me how a recommendation that allows build to the West, and sets a precedent that a neighbor may come to within 1 1/2 ft of their neighbor’s property line with a solid windowless wall — is a good thing for the Heights?
It would be just as easy for Shelter Island Heights to recommend ‘no build’ to the West, as it is to say ‘1 story’ to the West is acceptable. The only reason given to me so far for not considering an Eastern side expansion is the time and money it would take to draw up new plans, which I would like to believe is not true. I am struggling, however, to come up with any reason why Eastern expansion would not be more humane, and better for the Heights?
Please also read in our presentation the fact that we very much feel The Neighbor’s proposal will extremely negatively affect the value of our home, although the reverse was sworn to in town documents filed by The Neighbor (in the ‘Area Variance Answer Sheet’ and to the’ Zoning Board of Appeals’.) Would you buy a house that was just about to be encroached by a windowless wall, for the length of your entire first floor, 1 1/2 ft from your property line, and 6ft from your house? I wouldn’t.
As I have said before, I would welcome the committees to come to our home and experience just how close we are to The Neighbor, and how imposing their proposed build would be, even at one story. My husband and I have scoured The Heights by foot and bike, with a tape measure, and we have never found two houses closer than ours and The Neighbor’s , and that is before any more senseless further encroachment is allowed. We feel this type of proximity is a terrible precedent for the Heights to set at a time when more and more people want to join our community and expand their homes.
As your neighbors, we are just asking for you to consider the responsibility you have in your roles, as if you and your own homes were the ones in question. Would you feel a further Western fill by The Neighbors fair, given their 25 ft Eastern buildable side yard? Would it be fair for you to feel the further encroachment would change the feel and character of your home, obscuring water, sky and light and leaving your first floor in darkness? Would you feel the loss of your privacy? Would the proposed expansion negatively and unfairly affect the value of your home? Please ask your committees to consider personal questions like these while reviewing our presentation and hearing our case.
Thank you for your time. We have the utmost faith in your professionalism and attention.”
