It has been a long three years in the Village of Sag Harbor. As residents and their elected officials tried to balance a growing interest in the village as a world class summer tourist destination and the need to preserve its nationally recognized historic character, the village was stuck in neutral. Major zoning changes proposed in 2019 to the village’s essential waterfront district were rolled back substantially in the face of stiff community opposition; that led to a divisive mayoral election, a change in leadership and a new direction.
As that was playing out, in late 2020, as the world was dealing with the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, it looked as if Bay Street Theater, one of Sag Harbor’s most treasured cultural institutions, might find a permanent home with a grand new theater proposed next to the newly renovated John Steinbeck Waterfront Park. But the project, led by the developer Adam Potter and his nonprofit, Friends of Bay Street, fizzled out without the necessary changes to the waterfront zoning code. Today, the former home of a bustling 7-Eleven, among other businesses, is for sale for $25 million. What it will be is anybody’s guess.
Potter continued to amass property and returned late last year with new development plans that included a three-story building project on property he owns behind the west side of Main Street. It would have included 79 apartments, many of them affordable, and nearly 30,000 square feet of retail space. An application for the project was never formally submitted, and a lawsuit by Save Sag Harbor successfully struck down a law crafted by then-Mayor Jim Larocca to allow an affordable housing development like the one proposed by Potter.
It has been a tumultuous 36 months — to say nothing of the Marsden Street debacle, mounting environmental and water quality concerns, the growing impossibility for middle class families to remain in Sag Harbor, and a summer that seemed to crush the village with people and cars. It feels as if we’ve reached a breaking point.
Potter’s newest plans, officially filed late last month, call for two buildings on the handful of properties he owns on Bridge and Rose streets. One would be a three-story, mixed-use building with 39 apartments, including 19 set aside as affordable, and just under 11,000 square feet of retail space. The other, proposed at more than 16,000 square feet, is called “The Complex” and would be earmarked for nonprofit offices, meeting spaces, a youth center and what is referred to as a 299-seat community center and auditorium. (That last item — the auditorium — is notable, given that the plan for 299 seats matches the capacity of Bay Street Theater exactly.)
The proposed retail square footage, while a big step down, remains a huge ask in a village that has so far struck a successful, if competitive, balance in its downtown business district. Given the infrastructure, traffic and drainage issues facing the village, the entire project is a huge ask, requiring a number of variances from the Sag Harbor Village Zoning Board of Appeals before questions about parking and sewage can even be answered. In a village that prides itself on historic preservation, the project would require demolition on three properties considered contributing to the village’s historic district.
A rendering shows buildings that once again are out of character with the aesthetics of Sag Harbor Village. That, of course, can change during the review process. But it seems inescapable that Potter is not willing to respect Sag Harbor; instead, he sees a generic development canvas that will simply have to adapt to his vision.
Anyone who spent even a single afternoon in Sag Harbor this summer walked away with largely the same feelings: The village is a special place, but also is becoming a victim of its own success. Traffic snarls in and outside the village. Parking is always a problem, but it’s becoming a crisis.
Potter’s development plan assumes that of the 235 parking spaces needed for his project, 93 would come from the “gas ball” parking lot that he now owns the lease to, following a lamentable decision by the State Public Service Commission that flies in the face of public benefit. Currently, Potter’s development plan calls for just 40 on-site spaces; he will need a variance for the remaining 102 parking spaces, and that is only if the “gas ball” lot is part of his calculations.
The one bright spot in this entire proposal is that it offers 19 units of affordable housing. The disappearance of housing that full-time residents can afford is an existential problem for the region, and every municipality must try to do something, anything, to address it.
But whether you support affordable housing initiatives or not, or whether you like this developer or not, is largely irrelevant when you look at the host of issues surrounding a proposal that will forever change the west side of Sag Harbor Village.
Now, more than ever, it is critical that the Village of Sag Harbor create a comprehensive plan to address drainage, traffic and parking issues, guide future development, create housing initiatives and ways to protect water quality and the village’s historic character. A forward-thinking plan must give the Village Board a blueprint, and give clear direction to regulatory boards rather than well-intentioned but piecemeal zoning.
This summer, the word on the street was that Sag Harbor was at maximum capacity. If that is the case, how does Potter’s project fit in? Alas, the answer is simple: It does not.
