Town Board denies demolition of Skippers Lane home

The Southold Town Board unanimously denied an Orient couple’s appeal to demolish a home located in the hamlet’s historic district.

The decision was announced at Tuesday’s Town Board meeting.

During a public hearing in August, Louis Potters and Lenore Brancato, who own a 1,827-square-foot house on Skippers Lane next to Poquatuck Park, argued that their home has no historic value and that the town’s Historic Preservation Commission did not adequately review the application for their proposed “teardown.”

A majority of Orient residents, however, opposed their plans to replace the existing house with a roughly 3,000-square-foot home.

The homeowners appealed to the Town Board after their initial application was denied by the HPC in May.

The Town Board found the “application for approval on a hardship basis is hereby denied on the ground that the proposed demolition of the structure at 675 Skippers Lane does not meet the criteria for approval under Section 170-10 of the Southold Town Code.”