Madonna's Fence Still Permit-less at Bridgehampton Farm

Pop icon Madonna has a fence problem.

Nearly a year after she was slapped with a stop-work order for erecting a paddock fence on protected land without permission, the permit conditions have still not been met, according to Southampton Town Planning Department documents.

In August, the county issued a tentative retroactive permit, since the fence around her Bridgehampton farmland had already been erected. To make the permit permanent, she had to adhere to several conditions, including filing storm-water mitigation and erosion control plans and offering proof that a commercial horse boarding operation had been established within nine months from the permit issue date.

But letters written this month from the county department of planning to the town planning board and Madonna’s Wild Horses Farm LLC state that, as of May 31, her representatives offered no proof that all of the conditions had been met. 

Suffolk County’s farmland preservation program owns the development rights on the 24 acres at the southeast corner of Scuttle Hole Road and Mitchell Lane. The county and Southampton Town jointly purchased the development rights to protect the open space. Any construction, even fences, must be cleared with the county’s farmland committee first.

Madonna also owns the adjacent 26-acre horse farm, which she bought from Kelly Klein, the ex-wife of Calvin Klein, in late 2009, according to The New York Post. She acquired the rights to the protected 24-acres next door in early 2010, according to Newsday’s Real LI blog.

Madonna has a special exception permit that allows for a horse farm on the 26 acres, but to keep the fence she must expand that permit to the neighboring 24 acres, according to town documents.