Dunne Seeks Deal With Belle Haven Neighbors

Gayle Dunne, the wife of heavily-indebted developer Sean Dunne, has made last minute bid to strike a deal with locals over controversial plans for a property in the swanky Belle Haven enclave of Greenwich, Connecticut.

Residents opposed to the redevelopment at 38 Bush Avenue were invited to enter negotiations ahead of a public hearing on the matter was due to take place on Wednesday night.

The trustee of the property, lawyer Thomas Heagney, succeeded in having an application to vary the building regulations postponed at the start of a meeting of the Planning and Zoning Appeals Board at Greenwich Town Hall.

"My client is looking at a number of options," Heagney told members of the board.

He said that he had been discussing the matter with the neighbours' attorney.

"We think that might bear fruit and make the application moot, so we would ask for a continuance."

The application was put back until an unspecified future date.

The $2m Victorian-style house is in planning limbo after local officials discovered it had been largely knocked down, with only an outer shell remaining.

The demolition exceeded what was permitted, and inspectors ordered work on the project to stop last October 1.

The true ownership of the property is hidden behind a trust operated by Heagney, but Mrs Dunne lists it as her residence in company files lodged with Connecticut's State Department.

At Wednesday's hearing, Mr Heagney had been scheduled to apply for a variance of the floor area ratio and side yard setback, to allow for the construction of a two storey house and a car port at the site on Bush Avenue.

Residents who turned up at the Town Hall were ready to voice their objections that the house being planned was simply too big for the site.

Speaking after he left the meeting, Mr Heagney said it was "premature" to talk about what kind of deal he was seeking to reach with the other Belle Haven residents.

"We encourage the discussions, and we'll be talking to their representatives in the near future," he said.

"It's a relatively small neighbourhood, and it's a small number of people we're talking to," he added, admitting that ultimately the hope is to proceed with work on the house "in some shape or form".

Richard Case, a retired IBM executive who lives right next door to 38 Bush Avenue, said negotiations between both sides had not yet begun.

"What I understand is that there was a phone call to start that process this afternoon," he said after Wednesday's meeting.

He said his basic objection was that the planned house was far too big for the site.

"It's not too big for Greenwich. It's not even too big for Belle Haven," he said, "There are plenty of houses that are that big, both in Greenwich and in Belle Haven. But it's too big for the lot."

Mr Case would not discuss what kind of accommodation he believed was possible because he did not know "what the owner is prepared to do".

Another Bush Avenue resident Bonnie Copp said neighbors were united in their opposition to the project, saying attempts to build a big mansion on a tiny lot did not "fly well".

She said the Dunnes had been ignoring community rules and regulations, and neighbors would drop their objections if construction was limited to within certain hours and the size of the building was contained.

Belle Haven is an exclusive address, home to singer Diana Ross and at least two billionaires.

The Belle Haven Land Association has hired a lawyer to contest plans for the property linked to the Dunnes.

Belle Haven Land Co. is owned by the residents of the area, and controls certain property in the area including a beach club and common areas.

The Dunnes moved to the upmarket area last year and until recently had been renting a nearby mansion while the Bush Ave property is being redeveloped.

Sean Dunne has been regularly commuting between the US and Ireland, where he retains significant business interests.

He has been dealing with NAMA, the agency set up by the Irish government to work out toxic bank loans, and also has large debts with non-NAMA banks.