Sag Harbor says 16-foot legs need permit

In Sag Harbor, the long arm of the law is gaining on the longest pair of legs on the East End.

For more than three years, a shapely, 16-foot-tall fiberglass pair of female legs has resided on an exterior wall of the home of art gallery owner Ruth Vered and her partner, Janet Lehr.

The artwork was a copy made by the late artist Larry Rivers of one his sculptures that once was part of an art installation at Smith Haven Mall.

Vered mounted the legs on the side of her Madison Street home in 2008 and has been fighting ever since over a village requirement that she have a building permit. Which led to a debate over how the legs were mounted. Which led to a debate over whether they should be classified as a structure.

Which led to no resolution in the ensuing years.

But last month, Vered and Lehr got a letter from the village informing them that, if the legs are not removed by Jan. 23, a summons for violating the village code governing accessory structures would be issued by the village building inspector and they could end up in court.

It's not that officials in the village -- which has been a gathering place for artists as well as blue-collar workers for decades -- don't appreciate the value of public art, they said. It's just that they see their duty in a different light.

"I've gotten some questions about why it's taken so long [to resolve the status of the legs]," Mayor Brian Gilbride said Friday. "It's unfortunate with as many artists as we have in Sag Harbor. The question is -- is it art or a structure? We have the unfortunate task of answering a real question: Should she have a permit to put it up there?"

Fred Thiele Jr., a New York State assemblyman and the village's attorney, grew up in Sag Harbor and said he has grown to love its eccentricities.

"The village has been very lenient," he said. "There are arguments on both sides."

Vered said Friday that she tried to accommodate the village by applying in the past for a permit, although it was hard to classify what she was applying for. It was denied. She said she has also offered to lower the legs or remove the concrete pad that supports them.

Vered noted that she has retained an attorney to respond to any summons and will reapply for a permit. As for the legs -- they add to the character of the village, she said.

"For every complaint I hear about them, a hundred people tell me they like them," she said.