Historic District Designation Sparks Opposition

EAST MARION, NY — The honorary designation of a historic district in East Marion has at least one resident livid.

And at a town board work session this week, Southold Town Board Supervisor Scott Russell said the town had no role in what has become a contentious local dispute in the East Marion community.

Resident William Maffettone created an online petition, signed by 78 people, called "Stop the East Marion Community Association."

In June, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that the New York State Board for Historic Preservation had recommended adding 18 properties, resources and districts to the State and National Registers of Historic Places — one in East Marion.

"These historic locations highlight so much of what it is exceptional and exciting about New York's history and honor the legacy of some of the state's most distinguished leaders," Cuomo said. "By placing these landmarks on the State and National Registers of Historic Places, we are helping to ensure these places and their caretakers have the funding needed to preserve, improve and promote the best of the Empire State."

State and National Registers listing can assist property owners in revitalizing buildings, making them eligible for various public preservation programs and services, such as matching state grants and state and federal historic rehabilitation tax credits, the governor said.

The State and National Registers are the official lists of buildings, structures, districts, landscapes, objects, and sites significant in the history, architecture, archeology and culture of New York State and the nation. There are more than 120,000 historic buildings, structures and sites throughout the state listed on the National Register of Historic Places, individually or as components of historic districts. Property owners, municipalities and organizations from communities throughout the state sponsored the nominations, the state said.

The East Marion Community Association sponsored the nomination for the Main Road Historic District.

"The hamlet grew along the primary road on the North Fork of Long Island between the mid-18th and mid-20th centuries, when virtually every household in East Marion was supported by fishing, farming, or a combination of the two," Cuomo's office said. "The district reflects the settlement and growth of East Marion and contains a collection of architectural resources reflecting popular styles from the period of significance."

Maffettone's petition, however, says he believes the process is rife with "corruption." According to his petition: "The East Marion Community Association has become a special interest group, promoting the unlawful rental of properties in east Marion by its membership and committees, and even hosts its annual fundraiser in such a property. They have represented some full-time residents, against our wishes, and without our consent, in a state and federal matter that governs the status of our homes. They sponsored a biased, non-inclusive, unfair, and special interest vote to promote the financial gain of these East Marion Community Association members who rent their homes illegally on internet rental sites."

In response to those charges, Anne Murray, president of EMCA, told Patch: "We are not, and never have been, a special interest group. We do not promote short-term rentals and no board members engage in short-term rentals. If any of our members do they are subject to fines from code enforcement," she said. Murray said she attended a town board meeting with Maffettone and other East Marion residents several years ago and asked the town board to enforce the short-term rental code and has written about the short-term rental issues

"EMCA did not represent anyone against their wishes," she said. "The process was mandated by federal law."

Maffettone has also questioned why a letter from New York State that was sent to EMCA's post office box.

"The letter from the state that Bill is referring to was mistakenly delivered to me as president of EMCA. I called him right away to let him know, and then I delivered it to his home," Murray said.

Maffettone, meanwhile, has questioned why the process moved forward without approval from Southold Town.

Dan Keefe, public information officer for the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, addressed the issue this week.

"Local government approval is not a requirement for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, but comments from local elected officials are taken into consideration in the nomination process," he said. "The supervisor and other local elected officials were notified about the nomination by letter, and there were several public information meetings leading up to the nomination."

Russell said he never received a letter. When asked about a letter, dated April 11 and received by the supervisor's office, Russell responded that he had never seen it."However, I get a lot of mail. Besides, we weren't a party to the initiative so it may have been filed. I can only address town matters given the volume of mail I get. The application was not made by the town so, naturally, I could have overlooked it. The fact that my office was sent a copy and they received no response underscores the fact that they should have assumed that the town had no role nor, wanted one."

On Tuesday, at the town board work session, Russell said he put the matter on the agenda "for the express purpose of letting everyone know that the East Marion Main Road Historic District doesn't belong on the agenda."

The state, he said, hadn't heard from the town and "they assumed it was support. From my perspective, it's a community-driven exercise and that's for the community of East Marion to sort out."

The state should not presume the town "to be in support or opposition to this. It's a community issue. The town shouldn't mingle in affairs or civic issues that the government has no place in. That's a dangerous precedent," the supervisor said.

Russell asked the board to support a letter to the state asserting that the town was taking no position in the matter; the board agreed.

Councilman Jim Dinizio said the town should be able to respond to the residents it represents who have questions about whether the designation affects their ability to make decisions about their property.

Members of the EMCA assured the designation was just honorary and in no way affected a resident's ability to get a building permit, or, for that matter, tear down their home if they so desired.

Robert Harper of the EMCA, who also sits as a commissioner of the town's historic preservation commission, noted that a resolution was passed that those landmarks listed in Southold Town, on the town's designated landmarks roster, the state or national registers of historic places, or that are listed as "contributing buildings or sites" in a state or national register historic district or national landmark district, and which are designated "historic" in the town code, refers only to properties that met the criteria before Nov. 16, 2004, when that town code was adopted. "Anything after that is not under the purview of the HPC," he said.

The state designation, he said again, was purely honorary.

Russell said the district was not town-sponsored and was not included in the town code regarding historic districts.

"The town is not engaging in this exercise," Russell said. "This is a community-driven exercise and the town has no role."

Murray said the EMCA had three, informational public meetings on the matter and said the process was open and transparent.

Councilwoman Jill Doherty said she wants to be clear on what the state's process is; if the town did not reply, the state should not assume the town had taken any position, she said.

"This idea of tacit approval is ridiculous," Southold Town Councilman Bob Ghosio said.

The letter to Russell from R. Daniel Mackay, deputy commissioner for Historic Preservation an Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer, dated April 11, states that the historic district would be considered on June 13 for nomination.

Benefits to the nomination are federal and/or state tax credits, the letter stated. "In general, there are no restrictions placed upon private owners of registered properties," the letter said.

Owners of private properties proposed for listing in the National Register must be given the opportunity to concur in or object to the listing, Mackay's letter read. "If a majority of the private property owners in the district object to the listing . . .it will prevent the district from being listed. If a majority does not object, no single property owner in the district can exempt himself or herself from the listing via an objection. Each property owner has one vote, regardless of how many properties or what portion of a single property that party owns."

Maffetone said some of the homes in East Marion have more than one owner, meaning that each owner of the home would get a vote, whereas he would have gotten just one because he lives alone, something he deemed unfair.

To object, a property owner would need to submit a notarized acknowledgement before the district was listed, the letter said.

Maffettone said that was also not acceptable, because some residents did not receive the letter. Linda Goldsmith said, on Facebook, that many did not receive letters, including the school; Murray said the school was sent five letters.

And, Maffettone added, if a property owner didn't send in the notarized acknowledgement of opposition, it was perceived as agreement. "The state says if you don't say 'no,' you're counted as a 'yes,'" he said.

He said he was one of the community members that sent in his objections to the state.

Maffettone said he believes the whole process reeked of "corruption," with those who he said allegedly operate short-term rentals seeing their property values spiked due to the designation.

Murray said the EMCA sought the designation because part of its ongoing mission is to preserve the history of East Marion and some of its homes that date back to the Revolutionary War.

The EMCA mailing addressed the controversy and Maffettone's petition: "Recently, we have been saddened to learn about a petition that attacks the credibility of EMCA, contains misinformation, and conflates two unrelated issues: short term rentals and the East Marion Main Road Historic District."

On the topic of short-term rentals, the EMCA said board members organized and participated in meetings over several years with both East Marion residents and homeowners in other hamlets to urge the town to enact a ban on short-term rentals.

"We were glad to see the law finally passed in August 2015. It is the job of the town to enforce the law. EMCA board members attended and spoke at town board meetings and our president, Anne Murray, wrote an article on the topic of enforcing the law. . . Residents should report rentals for less than two weeks to the town and hold the town accountable for enforcing the law. For the record, no one from the EMCA board is involved with short-term rentals," the mailing from EMCA said.

Addressing the historic district, the EMCA said, "Since its founding, EMCA has sponsored numerous meetings on East Marion history and frequently been asked whether we had explored if East Marion would qualify for an historic district."

In February, 2017, the board created a committee of EMCA members to research the issue, prepare a feasibility study, and report back to the board with results. Seven members of the committee owned historic homes on Main Road, three did not live on Main Road, and three were EMCA board members, the mailing said.

"The focus of an historic district is on identifying and honoring significant American architecture that helps tell the American story," the EMCA said. "Our goal was to raise community awareness and pride in East Marion’s history, encourage preservation of historic resources, and protect historic Main Road from projects, such as a road widening, that would threaten our historic architecture as well as our entire community. An historic district in East Marion does not change things, it elevates and honors our cultural heritage and what is historically significant here."

The historic district, the EMCA said, "is purely honorific and does not prevent a homeowner from tearing down or renovating an historic home." There are no plans to link the district to Southold's Historic Preservation Commission, that imposes restrictions on historic homeowners, the EMCA said.

Outreach, the EMCA said, included living room visits, five separate mailings to the legal address of each property owner, and three community meetings to inform historic property owners, answer questions, and hear input into the historic district process.

Maffettone maintained he had questions and objections. Local government officials, he said, did "not have our backs on this. They let EMCA run amok."