East Hampton - The Town of East Hampton and billionaire investor Ron Baron have come to terms on the remediation of a wall constructed on Baron's property on Further Lane, which the town had contended encroached upon the sensitive Atlantic Double-Dune system that stretches over 200 acres of East Hampton's shorefront from the Village to Amagansett.

Last November, after reviewing before-and-after aerial photographs of the property, East Hampton's Director of Natural Resources Larry Penny discovered that a wall had been constructed along the southern boarder within the dune habitat without the necessary natural resources special permit (NRSP) and alleged that a tertiary dune had been leveled in the process. Penny brought the issue to the attention of town officials, leading to charges being brought against Baron in East Hampton Town Justice Court.

The town and Baron reached an agreement in late-April, early-May to allow for the wall to remain on the eastern and western thirds of the property (the western portion of the property is in East Hampton Village and had prior approval), according to Deputy Town Attorney Tiffany Scarlato, while the central portion was removed and the dune restored and revegetated.

Baron was allowed to keep two portions of the wall, on the Village side and the western-most third of the property, however the center section was removed and the dune restored.

Baron has submitted an application to the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) for a NRSP to allow the eastern section of the wall to remain and a variance to allow an accessory structure on a property where there is not a primary one. There is a home on the 40-acre property, on the Village side, however Baron has also submitted a pre-preliminary subdivision application with the Planning Board that would parse his property into six lots. According to the application currently in the Planning Board's files, Baron plans to split the southerly-facing part of his property into three separate building lots with an additional lot to the north of each, apparently to accommodate individual, independent guest home parcels.

The walls in question in the violation brought before the Town Justice Court in March were originally constructed to separate the property lines of the proposed subdivision. So long as the structures were less than four feet above grade, Baron's construction crews were assured that they would not need a building permit, however they were warned about encroaching on the nearby sensitive ecosystem, as the town's code restricts any building within 100 feet of a dune crest (the peak) without a variance.

The western wall is actually higher than four feet above the natural grade and will require a building permit, according to the Planning Department's Chief Environmental Analyst Brian Frank, who is handling the ZBA application, and the structure will therefore be subject to the Architectural Review Board (ARB), as well.

Hearing dates have yet to be set for the various review boards.