Village Board Declares Jobs Lane Courtyard Derelict

The Southampton Village Board voted Tuesday, October 26, to declare a courtyard on Jobs Lane derelict, a move that opens up enforcement options for the village.

At 38-42 Jobs Lane, the courtyard surrounded by small shops dates back to the 1970s. In 2017, the owner, John Vigna, sought to redevelop the property, but he withdrew the application a year and a half later after meeting resistance. Since 2019, Vigna has left the storefronts vacant and the courtyard blocked off, and at one point he demonstrated his dissatisfaction with the village by leaving the brick courtyard half torn up and installing plastic flamingos.

Architectural Review & Historic Preservation Board Chairman Jeff Brodlieb made a presentation to the Village Board on Tuesday detailing the village code on protecting historic districts. Most pertinent was the chapter on maintenance and repair. “No owner or person with an interest in a property shall allow that property to deteriorate or fall into disrepair as to cause a detrimental effect to the character of the landmark or historic district,” Brodlieb said.

The maintenance and repair provision of the code had been the sole domain of the Architectural Review & Historic Preservation Board, known as the ARB, but in August a new village law allowed the Village Board to be the body that declares a property in violation.

Brodlieb explained that the village building inspector had approached the ARB two years ago asking the board to make a judgment on whether the state of 38-42 Jobs Lane constituted a detriment to the historic district. He said most of the board members agreed then that while there was some disrepair, it did not rise to the level of detrimental. But in the two years since, the property has fallen into further disrepair, according to Brodlieb. “It’s apparent to the eye that it is a detriment to the historic district.”

There are a number of penalties, including imprisonment and fines, for allowing a historic property to fall into disrepair, Brodlieb pointed out.

The code states that penalties could include up to 15 days in jail and a fine of up to $5,000 for a total demolition or significant alteration. For offenses short of total demolition or significant alteration, the fine is capped at $1,000. However, each day that a violation of the code continues is considered a separate offense, so the fines can quickly add up.

The code requires violators to restore sites to their prior appearance.

Last month, a village ordinance inspector issued a number of citations that state that bricks had been removed without a certificate of appropriateness and that maintenance and repair were required.

“The goal here is not to single out one particular property, nor is it to have the goal of giving citations,” Mayor Jesse Warren said. “Many of us took office with the goal of revitalizing the village and also making sure that we preserve the historical integrity of the village. … The goal is for these properties to go into compliance so they are consistent with our historic district.”

He noted that he has spoken with the soon-to-be new owners of 22 Windmill Lane — a deteriorating historic building that Brodlieb included in his presentation — and that their goal is to restore the building.

In the case of 38-42 Jobs Lane, Warren said the owner has had ample time to get into compliance and the village welcomes a conversation and is willing to help in any way. “But under no circumstances can the village tolerate properties that are falling in disrepair where the owners do not have an interest in getting into compliance,” he said.

Vigna’s 2017 proposal called for a pair of two-story buildings directly fronting Jobs Lane and housing five shops. Totaling 9,500 square feet, the buildings would be double the square footage of the buildings they would replace.

Vigna’s representatives went to the village Planning Board to request a lot line modification to combine two of the three parcels that make up 38-42 Jobs Lane and to win approval for the new buildings.

Village Board member Roy Stevenson was a member of the Planning Board then, and he recalled during Tuesday’s meeting how the plan was met with community opposition.

“That plan received considerable opposition from the community because the courtyard was viewed in the community as a tremendous community asset,” Stevenson said. “I believe the vital question of that application was, did the property owner have the right to do with his property as he saw fit or was the community’s interest in keeping the fountain and the courtyard more paramount? That question was never answered. The applicant decided to withdraw his application and shortly thereafter made the changes to the courtyard — the degradation of the fountain, the degradation of the steps and whatnot — and leaving us in the position we are today, two years later, with an increasingly debilitated property.”

He agreed that the village has the responsibility to ensure that properties in the historic district are maintained to “a standard of respectability.”

In summer 2019, half of the courtyard’s red bricks were torn up and scattered, and plastic flamingos were installed around the pool of a fountain. The fountain itself had been removed. The courtyard entrance was blocked with a stockade fence, the storefronts remained vacant and weeds grew tall.

“We all know that on Jobs Lane, there’s a courtyard, and that courtyard was actually intentionally destroyed by the landlord,” Mayor Jesse Warren said at an August 2019 Village Board meeting. “I know this, because he told me this.”

Today, though the flamingos are gone and the scattered bricks have been removed, the courtyard remains fenced off.