Lloyd Harbor Landowner Seeks to Subdivide 32 Acres

The Lloyd Harbor Planning Board is considering an application to subdivide a 32-acre waterfront property in to three parcels.

The property is owned by Gabriele Lagerwall, who purchased it from Robert and Gilbert Colgate, descendants of the founder of Colgate-Palmolive, in 1961, according to the application. Lagerwall is also known as Baroness W. Langer von Langendorff and has been prominent on the Manhattan social scene. She was married to Baron von Langendorff, the creator White Shoulders perfume.

A private home called Villa Rielle or Riele, according to various public documents, was built in the early 1960s and has been in use as a private residence ever since.

In June 2005, Lagerwall submitted an application to subdivide the 32.28 acre parcel as well as a two-acre parcel owned by OCU, LTD in to seven lots. At that time, however, the Lloyd Harbor Board of Trustees approved Local Law 2006-2 that imposed a moratorium on subdivision applications while it developed an updated master plan.

Lagerwall objected to an extension of the moratorium in April 2007 and sought an exemption in January 2008. Both requests were denied.

When the new master plan was approved on December 21, 2009, it included a new, more strict Residence A-2 zoning district, in which most of Lagerwall's property now sits. It is located in the northwestern section of the village on Cold Spring Harbor. The existing home and the middle building lot would be accessed from Watch Way. The third lot would be accessed via Spring Bay Lane.

The property includes more than 12 acres of tidal wetlands,  steep slopes and approximately 1,380 feet of beach frontage on the harbor.

Each of the approximately ten-acre properties resulting from a subdivision would have a small building envelope and, hence, could not be resubdivided. In any case, her attorney, Peter Mineo of  the law firm Forchelli, Curto, Deegan, Schwartz, Mineo, Cohn, & Terrana LLP., said his client would be willing to sign a covenant preventing it. Lagerwall does not intend to develop the properties, Mione said, but rather let a potential homeowner build their own house. She is merely getting approval for a home of a certain size being placed on a certain portion of each site in order to market them more effectively.

Lagerwall did participate in the development of the updated plan, Mineo said.

 "From April 2006 to the early part of this year, the board considered  drafts of the master plan," Mineo told the Planning Board at its Thursday, March 11 meeting. "During that period of time the applicant was participating in the comprehensive plan update process in a way that I like to call 'loyal opposition.' We believe zoning that was in place was sufficient to protect the environment. Nonetheless, the applicant worked with the village to develop new zoning regulations and drew new plans anticipating what the new zone would be and what you see before you I believe complies with the new zoning."

Mineo said that the Planning Board adopted a 'positive declaration' with regard to the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) regarding the application in 2006 because it deemed the potential environmental impact to be adverse.

That declaration meant that the applicant would be required to fill out the full environmental assessment form for the second time, having done so for the previous application. Mineo compared the document to "a phone book" and the work that goes in to completing it "extensive."

Mineo asked the board to rescind the positive declaration, "because this is a much more modest proposal with much larger lots," he said. "The village undertook a multi-year study to create new zoning regulations  for the purpose of protecting sensitive environmental features. This project complies. I keep saying it because I think it's an important point."

Engineer Frank McMahon of Nelson and Pope, an engineering and surveying firm located in Melville, confirmed Mineo's statements. "All three lots are compliant with the new zoning code, even in the areas that are still zoned A1 and don't need to comply," he said. "All three lots meet all setback requirements including front yard, road frontages and flood plain."

The board did not take any action on the application as an adjoining property owner, John Chase, wanted to speak but was unable to make it as he is the village attorney for the Village of Old Brookville, which was also meeting that night, said Board Chair Gilbert Henoch.

Another property owner of an adjoining property William Cappadona was present and said that it appeared the applicant's experts had done "a thorough job."