Letters

I am in support of the acquisition of the Marsden lots to be used by Sag Harbor students, and request that the community vote yes on November 3 to purchase these lots.

Pierson is located in a residential area and is land-confined/landlocked by its original footprint from over 100 years ago, with not enough property to properly serve students. While the surrounding school districts, including East Hampton, Southampton and Bridgehampton, have multiple athletic fields on their properties, Sag Harbor is woefully deficient, with only one athletic field. This means that almost no athletic competitive events can occur on school property. Additionally, this field is also used for physical education classes, lunch breaks and other extracurricular activities, making it impossible for the field to be in competitive shape.

For years, the district had hoped that surrounding property might become available to purchase, but nothing meaningful every materialized — until now. The Marsden lots represent the largest potential undeveloped property near the school, and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to expand our physical facilities and provide better space to our students.

And what makes this opportunity even more compelling is that the Community Preservation Fund will contribute the majority of funds needed for this purchase, with the balance coming from already existing reserve funds from the district.

One of the key directives of the CPF is to help preserve “green space” within the East End villages. The acquisition of the Marsden lots certainly would reflect that core purpose. With this acquisition, these five lots would remain open green space not only for students to enjoy but for the entire community. If not purchased for this use, they will likely be developed into five large private residences.

The Sag Harbor School District is in desperate need of additional athletic fields within its campus. This unique opportunity will not come along again, and a vote yes is a vote for Sag Harbor’s children.

Chris Tice

Sag Harbor

Tice is a former Sag Harbor School Board member — Ed.