Over 60 residents crammed into the meeting room at the LI Science Museum on June 23 for a Plandome Manor Board of Zoning Appeals meeting. At issue was a home on Gristmill Lane that had been 80 percent remodeled until in December 2004 the village was alerted to several building code violations, and a stop-work order was issued.

At the meeting, from the exchange between parties, it was apparent there was disagreement in interpretation of the code, such as whether the bottom floor was a basement or a cellar, height and how it is measured, even which side is the front of the house. An earlier meeting on May 26 generated a 158 page report.

According to the upset residents, there were multiple violations of the village building code including total height, total square feet, front yard setback, maximum eave height at setback and open space ratio. Any one of the violations as they saw it-four floors instead of 2.5, or 9,934 square feet instead of 5,269 square feet-should have been dealt with earlier. At the heart of the matter was that the villagers had put their trust in the zoning board, five of their neighbors headed by Mario Harris, and felt they had not been well served. They made the point: Over the years many had had to comply with code, why not this house? They cited other villages, more vigilant in enforcing building codes than theirs, and complained Plandome Manor had become too informal. "We've lost confidence in the board," one said, "you're not representing us." Others voiced fear that "McMansioning" was at their doorstep.

The family on Gristmill Lane bought their home in 2001 and lived in Plandome Manor three years before beginning renovation in August 2004. Their family was growing and they opted to renovate and make the house symmetrical-make one side the mirror image of the other.

John Ryan, with the firm Ryan, Brennan & Donnelly Lld., lawyer for the owners, said the property is so sloping from back to front and from side to side that the differences occur from where and how measurements are taken. The prior building inspector interpreted the code requirement for height to be 35 feet because, Ryan said, 97 percent of the property is at a certain height. He added that it is the unique nature of the topography of the property, and it becomes a question of interpretation. The neighbors measure from different points and calculate the height to be 43 feet.

The building code allows for 5,269 square feet and residents complain the house now has 9,934. Ryan said when the owners purchased the house it was already over code, was about 6,250 square feet, a difference of about 1,000 square feet. The owner requested a variance for 7,366 square feet, or an increase of about 1,000 square feet. The neighbors identified the bottom floor as a basement and included it in their calculation, while the owner submits it is below grade, a cellar, and excluded it from their calculations.

A group in Plandome Manor, initially 10 homes, hired an attorney to represent them concerning the code violations that were, they said, ignored during the construction of the house on Gristmill. They want the house to conform to the village building codes, they said, and want assurance that future structures are required to conform to code.

Mario Harris said "I listened to all sides and I'll have to make a decision." The decision will be rendered at a board of zoning appeals meeting on July 7.