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02/28/2017 03:00 PMIt’s a lot of drama for a little building. Claims that Oceanco, LLC, is not in compliance with the town’s Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance, as it pertains to improvements made to the detached garage at 485 Whitfield Street, brought the Guilford Building Code Board of Appeals together for the first time in years on Feb. 23. After much debate, the board determined Oceanco was not in compliance with the flood ordinance, but subsequently approved a variance for the building, relieving Oceanco of any requirement to remediate.
How the compliance issue with the flood ordinance came to the appeals board is complex (see sidebar on page 11). Oceanco, LLC, owned by Michael Rothberg, a trustee of Jonathan Rothberg, purchased the residence at 485 Whitfield Street and the detached garage in May 2014. In December 2015, Oceanco received a special permit change of use for the detached garage from the Planning & Zoning Commission to be used as a model shop for the residents of the dwelling.
Work was performed on the garage from December 2014 until March 2015 according to town documents. However, the value of the improvements to the garage is what brought the issue forward. The garage is located in a FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area and therefore subject to certain provisions.
According to town code addressing coastal high-flood-hazard areas, any substantial improvements to existing structures must result in a structure that complies with the Flood Ordinance, meaning in this case the building would have to be elevated and moved away from the flood zone. A substantial improvement is determined if the value of all the improvements in a given year are greater than 50 percent of the market value of the structure prior to the improvements.
The issue of determining a “substantial improvement” was turned over to Assistant Town Engineer Mark Damiani. In a letter from Damiani to Rothberg dated Sept. 30, 2016, Damiani said while the town was in receipt of the appraisal of the garage submitted by Blue Ribbon Appraisals, LLC, the town hired Advisra Consulting LLC to appraise the garage as well.
“The appraisals submitted by Blue Ribbon and Advisra significantly differ in determining the market value of the garage prior to any improvements,” Damiani said in the letter. “The Town of Guilford has hired Advisra to provide appraisals for other properties in town in the past and has obtained positive results with its work. It is this relationship the town has with Advisra that has convinced this office to accept Advisra’s value of the garage over Blue Ribbon’s appraisal.”
Advisra set the market value of the structure prior to improvements at $20,500, while Blue Ribbon set the value at $68,875, according to the letter. The value of the improvements of the garage has been submitted at $29,630.22—greater than 50 percent of the original market value by Advisra’s number.
“Therefore, this office concludes that a ‘substantial improvement’ was conducted on the garage and the garage needs to be brought into compliance with Guilford’s Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance,” said Damiani in the letter.
On Oct. 14, 2016, Oceanco’s lawyer, Peter Berdon of Berdon Young & Margolis, PC, appealed the ruling of Damiani in a letter sent to the appeals board, claiming Damiani improperly assessed the value of the structure and the value of the work completed, and abused his power by selecting Advisra over Blue Ribbon. Berdon also requested a variance from the requirements of the flood ordinance, citing hardship.
At the meeting, lawyers, appraisers, and town officials went back and forth for over two hours on the validity of each appraisal. In the end, the appeals board unanimously sided with the town’s appraisal and deemed the work a substantial improvement, denying the appeal.
“I have seen these actions before and so often the applicants’ values of properties are much higher than the real values are,” said Appeals Board Chair Bernie Lombardi. “The appraiser that the town used is an appraiser that the town has used consistently and satisfactorily.”
However, considering the historic status of the building (which is listed on the National and State Register of Historic Places), the board took up a discussion on the application of a variance from the flood ordinance requirements. The team from Oceanco, including architect William Thompson, said there is very little space to move the garage building.
“That outbuilding has been there through how many unnamed storms and named storms and hurricanes, so there is no example of risk to the neighborhood for it to remain,” said Thompson. “If we were to modify it, there is risk to the historic nature.”
Board members agreed on the historic nature of the building and the impracticality of moving the building.
The board voted ultimately to approve the variance, allowing the building to remain at its current location and elevation.
A Contentious History in Town
The reemergence of Oceanco bring backs memories of the fall of 2015 when Oceanco was the focus of heated and lengthy public hearings.
In May 2014, Oceanco, LLC, purchased the home at 485 Whitfield Street and the detached garage. The house, the home of family of Uncle Tom’s Cabin author Harriet Beecher Stowe, is currently used as a residence for company employees.
On July 31, 2015, the Stone House Restaurant announced it would be closing its doors. Oceanco quickly purchased the former restaurant space for $2.75 million to be used as an office space for marine research.
Oceanco applied for two special permits for the two buildings—the former restaurant and the detached garage at 485 Whitfield. Oceanco sought special permits for the restaurant space to be used for marine research and for the detached garage to be used as a model shop.
The public hearings, which stretched over the course of fall 2015, were long, testy, and laden with accusations as to the true motives of Oceanco, particularly in regard to the detached garage.
Some residents claimed the garage would be used as extra office space for the scientists living in the property’s main home. Rothberg Institute for Childhood Diseases Director of Operations Charles Beckius said at a public hearing on Oct. 21, 2015 that was not the case, and the 526-square-foot, three-car garage would be used only as a model shop.
“It has been described in many venues as a machine shop, but it is not a machine shop, it is a small model shop,” he said. “The people staying at the house—please understand that these are very high level engineers who like to play, like to build after hours. It is maker space.”
In the end, on Dec. 16, 2015, the Planning & Zoning Commission voted to approve the special permit for the former Stone House Restaurant to be used as an office for marine research in a 5-2 vote and approved the special permit change of use for the detached garage located at 485 Whitfield Street to be used as a model shop for the residents of the dwelling.