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Religion See other Religion Articles Title: Bedford zoning board tells couple to move Mayan pyramid BEDFORD — Diamond heir Bruce Winston and his wife, Barbara, put their Mayan temple replica on a particular spot on their 13-acre Katonah estate to "take full advantage of the sun," their lawyer said, but that didn't appease the zoning gods this week. The couple's choice to erect the roughly 9-foot-high lawn monument — which the Winstons say is a 1/17th-sized replica of a Guatemalan temple — about 25 feet from the property line of their disapproving neighbor was rejected by the Zoning Board of Appeals. "Just because (the neighbor) doesn't like it, that doesn't make it a detriment. That's personal taste," attorney Michael Sirignano argued unsuccessfully Wednesday night. "This was sited specifically to catch the sunlight and reflect it back to the main house." The stone form is based on the 150-foot Temple of the Great Jaguar, built around A.D. 700 in Tikal, Guatemala, according to Sirignano. "Barbara Winston holds a special interest in Maya culture and monumentation," Sirignano wrote in a May 19 memo. "She experiences spirituality in the Mayan cycles, which were timed to rotation of the Earth and the sun." The $25,000 lawn monument, crafted by a Guatemalan stonecutter, was built last summer in the northeast portion of the Winstons' property off Route 35. It's a neighborhood of long private drives and gated estates where it's not unusual to spot a security camera overlooking the driveway. Bruce Winston is the son of the late Harry Winston, known as the "King of Diamonds" who donated the 44.5-carat Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958. Neighbor Diane Lewis referred to the pyramid as "tall and unusual" at a December zoning board meeting and said it was built a short distance from a grass paddock on her land. Sirignano said there are trees between the pyramid and Lewis' property. Neither Lewis nor the Winstons could immediately be reached for comment yesterday. The town, on Aug. 31, 2005, cited the couple for building the monument too close to Lewis' land and putting it up without a permit, charges that are still pending in Bedford Town Court. Sirignano tried to convince the zoning board this week that the pyramid was created to be a sacred place, but also that it didn't have a use and wasn't a structure, meaning it didn't require a building permit. Zoning Board member Peter Michaelis was skeptical. "If, in fact, this is exercise of one's religious beliefs, there is a use," Michaelis said. "You can't have it both ways." The board voted unanimously that it was a structure and that it was too big for its current spot and denied the Winstons a variance that would have allowed it to stay put. "They have 13 acres, and they chose to put it right there, on the edge of their property," said zoning board member David Menken. Sirignano said afterward that he had to speak with his clients about whether they wanted to challenge the zoning board's rulings in state Supreme Court in White Plains.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 3.
#1. To: Morgana le Fay (#0)
A philosophical question: Why do the nuts always have so much money?
I'm a nut and I am broke. Splain that.. ;o)
#4. To: Lady X (#3)
That's what marriage is for, my dear.
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