'The Legs' artwork in Sag Harbor ruled a violation of village code

A 16-foot-tall sculpture of a pair of women's legs displayed outside the Sag Harbor Village home of Ruth Vered and Janet Lehr have to take a walk, a Suffolk County Supreme Court judge in Riverhead has decided.

The fiberglass casting of original artwork by the late Larry Rivers has been attached to the Madison Street house since 2008. Village officials received complaints about the display, and a summons was issued four years later to Vered, stating she did not have the required building permit to display the legs.

Vered, who collected 700 signatures in favor of letting the sculpture stand, contended it is art and needed no permit.

Vered and Lehr filed for a variance to be allowed to keep the casting, known as "The Legs," but village officials denied the variance, saying the sculpture was too tall and too close to the street to meet village building code regulations.

The homeowners took their case to state Supreme Court in Riverhead and, in a Nov. 4 decision, acting Justice James Hudson found the case didn't have a leg to stand on.

The ruling means the legs violate village code and may have to be taken down.

Stephen A. Grossman of Sag Harbor, the attorney for Vered and Lehr, said in a telephone interview Monday that the decision was the wrong ruling and that he would discuss options with his clients.

"Taking it down isn't the issue right now," Grossman said. "It's what my clients choose to do with that decision. It just upheld the decision of the zoning board."

Brian J. Lester of Amagansett, the village's attorney, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Hudson noted in his decision that the village Zoning Board of Appeals found that letting the legs remain would "result in an undesirable change in the character of the neighborhood" and noted a neighbor on an adjoining property opposed the variance application because the legs house is located in a historic district.

The neighbor said the sculpture had become a "business opportunity advertisement product and merchandising model." Vered owns an art gallery.

The judge said granting the 1-foot variance would set a precedent "which would undermine the purposes of the Zoning Code and that any hardship that would result was self created." He said the applicant built the structure and "it was not until the complaints were received and the notice of violation issued that the applicant brought the matter to the ZBA."

Hudson said the zoning board's decision "should not be disturbed" and that there was no proof the homeowners' civil rights were violated by the application of the village building code.

"The ZBA properly found that something can be a structure and considered art at the same time," Hudson wrote, but noted the ZBA was "dealing with the structure as it's affected by the Village and State Zoning Laws" and that it was built in a location not allowed under the code. He said the code is designed to "control the orderly appropriate placement of structures within the village."