Letters

Based on Trustee Jim Larocca’s sometimes wildly contradictory stances on land use near and surrounding the 7-Eleven properties, I can see his election resulting in the worst possible outcome for all.

If he abandons the waterfront moratorium, with its building size and public amenities provisions, all waterfront properties will revert to the existing code. Generally, this means 35-foot-tall buildings, property line to property line.

The work done by the moratorium committee has taken some eight months to refine and has still not come up for a vote by the Board of Trustees to enact or decline. This committee was established in large part as a reaction to the disastrous condos at 2 West Water Street.

In a letter to The Express this past February, Trustee Larocca called for a halt to the moratorium in favor of a villagewide planning study, which most would agree is desirable, but would also be very costly and time-consuming. Significantly, in Trustee Larocca’s five years as a trustee, he has failed to pursue a comprehensive village planning study that he now says is vital.

Despite requests for Trustee Larocca’s input on the proposed zoning revisions, a request made to all those interested, there has been no constructive feedback whatsoever from him. Easy to criticize, much harder to be useful in this complex undertaking.

While Trustee Larocca says that he would stop the moratorium in its tracks, he seems to be oblivious to the speed at which developers might submit proposals for waterfront properties, using the old code. If, a day after the election, someone submits a proposal for, say, the Malloy property, perhaps a 35-foot-tall and line-to-line multi-story structure, the Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Appeals will have very little grounds to deny.

If Trustee Larocca succeeds in chasing away the theater altogether with his meddling, the entire 7-Eleven lot could be up for development at the current 35-foot height, property line to property line. So much for a bigger park, greater water views and open space, and so much for the theater, an important economic engine for merchants and restaurateurs in the village.

As a community, I believe that we have learned from the mistake made with the condo fiasco, and, unlike that development, we would not accept the first design proposal submitted, but reduce and redesign it to fit the property, and the waterfront as a whole. I have heard informally from the theater that their design was preliminary, and they know, and are willing, to reduce the size of the building, and redesign the overall hardscape in order to gain approval.

Of course, under current zoning, none of this would be necessary.

Bob Plumb

Trustee

Sag Harbor Village