LOOK OUT BELOW
Buried propane tanks, inside deal investigated in Hamptons village
Owners of multimilliondollar beachfront homes in one Hamptons enclave may be sitting on powderkegs — propane tanks that are too close to their homes or their neighbors’.
A significant number of the 300 homes that make up the seaside village of West Hampton Dunes are believed to have the underground tanks — which are up to 2,000 gallons in size, a source told The Post.
“Not only do these tanks defy basic building codes, they defy common sense,” the source said.
The potential bombs have sparked probes by State Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott and Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota, The Post has learned.
Part of the scrutiny appears to focus on the village government’s role in allowing the dangerous underground tanks. The village administration has been packed with local realestate agents and developers.
State safety regulations require that propane tanks, which are used for cooking and heating, be at least 10 feet from a home and 10 feet from a property line.
The homes in West Hampton Dunes, a village of small cottages virtually wiped out in a 1992 nor’easter and rebuilt in what one observer called “a Gold Rush mentality,” are now oversized manses taking up most of their small lots. In many cases, there would be no room to legally accommodate mo date a propane tank.
But the village apparently signed off on the illegal tanks. Some officials, including the chairman of the zoning board and a former trustee, were actively involved in building and selling houses there.
Mayor Gary Vegliante sent village residents a letter last month warning that “one or more homes in the Village may have installed buried propane tanks that are not in conformance.”
But Vegliante admitted to The Post that the number of homes could reach 60 and acknowledged that the village had received subpoenas in the investigations.
He said the issue seemed to surface when a disgruntled homeowner, involved in a dispute with a builder, “called every state agency in the world making all sorts of allegations.”
Vegliante, who has been mayor since the village was founded in 1993 and whose salary is $92,000, denied any wrongdoing.
“If there were mistakes made, we’ll deal with it,” he said.
Vegliante’s letter directed residents to either move the tanks or seek a variance from the state Department of State.
But the agency is not expected to grant variances because of safety concerns, the source told The Post. The Department of State spokesman said, “variance applications will be evaluated on their merits.”
Removing a large underground tank costs between $3,000 and $5,000.
One resident predicted there would be “lawsuits galore” over the issue.
Lawrence Biondi, a resident with an underground tank, said he assumed “it passed all kinds of inspections when the house was being built.” His home was built by Robert Strecker, a former member of the village board of trustees.
Another builder, Harvey Gessin, who chairs the zoning board, has built more than a dozen homes in West Hampton Dunes. Gessin sells the properties through Kerrigan Country Realty in neighboring Westhampton Beach.
Claire Vegliante, the mayor’s wife and the village treasurer, and Laura Dalessandro, the village clerk, are both realestate agents with the firm, as is David Woolfson, the husband of village trustee Catherine Woolfson.
Controversy has swirled in the tiny village for years.
An audit by the state comptroller’s office released last year slammed village officials for their failure to follow standard accounting rules, which led to a an almost $150,000 budget deficit.
A spokesman for the IG declined to comment. Spota’s spokesman said “because this is an ongoing investigation I cannot elaborate at this point.”