Judge OKs controversial Centre Island home

Plans for a controversial elevated beach house are back on the drawing board in Centre Island after a judge reversed the village's denial.

State Supreme Court Justice Thomas A. Adams earlier this month ruled in favor of Robert Jonas, 87, the landowner whose proposal for a 3,330-square-foot house, raised on pilings along protected wetlands, roiled the community.

Late last year more than 100 people signed an online petition opposing the application. That represented a quarter of the population in Nassau County's second-smallest village, known for its single dead-end road and remote feel, where modest midcentury homes mix with the mansions of Billy Joel and Rupert Murdoch.

Opponents worried the home would destroy wildlife and vegetation, and that its septic system would be vulnerable to flooding, possibly contaminating Oyster Bay Harbor.

"A normal election may only get 70 votes," Mayor Lawrence Schmidlapp said this week. "More were involved here, and personally, I thought it was a travesty to put a house there."

Centre Island village law restricts dwellings to sites at least 12 feet above sea level. Jonas' application required a variance because his 3-acre property rises only about 8 feet above the water.

The Zoning Board of Appeals on Dec. 27 approved Jonas' elevation variance by a 2-1 vote. But because a majority of the five-member board is required for an approval and two members did not attend the meeting, the lone dissenter was enough for denial.

Jonas filed suit in February.

In his Aug. 5 ruling, Adams noted the home's first floor would be raised 18 feet off the ground by hidden pilings, with a garage below. He cited Jonas' findings that construction wouldn't hurt the area's ecology, disputed by residents.

"Whether or not . . . the denial of the elevation was merely the result of community pressure," Adams wrote, "the unrefuted evidence in the record is sufficient to conclude that the petitioner has satisfied the requirements of village law."

Jonas, in an interview earlier this year, compared the opposition to an "angry mob of bullies." His attorney, Judy Simoncic, said Monday she was "very pleased" with the reversal.

If Centre Island doesn't appeal, it must issue a decision granting the elevation variance before a building permit can be issued. Village trustees are expected to discuss an appeal at their Sept. 14 meeting.

"It is the local community's responsibility to adopt laws that help protect its own natural resources," said Lisa Ott, president of the North Shore Land Alliance, which opposed the home on environmental grounds.

She called the property, one of the area's largest tidal wetlands, a significant breeding ground for piping plovers.

"We believe the best use of this ecologically valuable property is conservation," she said.