John Jermain Memorial Library Gets Sag Harbor Village ZBA Approval for New Heating System

The Sag Harbor Zoning Board of Appeals on January 21 issued three variances to the John Jermain Memorial Library that will allow it to replace a failing heating and ventilation system.

The variances allow for a soundproof fence that will be placed around the system on the north side of the library building to be 6 feet tall, where 4 feet is ordinarily the limit. Two other variances would ease restrictions on total lot coverage and building coverage, which the library building already exceeds on the 14,172-square-foot lot.

The library has been operating with a failing open-loop geothermal system that, according to the library’s engineers, is not salvageable. They have recommended that it be replaced with an air-source heat pump system that would have to be installed outside the library.

Last May, the library went before the Village Planning Board seeking site-plan approval for the new system. However, after neighbors complained about the potential noise, the library agreed to install a taller fence, triggering ZBA review.

With the variance now in hand, the library is expected to receive site-plan approval from the Planning Board. And not a minute too soon. The library reported that its existing heating system broke down on January 13.

Also on January 21, the ZBA issued a written decision approving the request of Page restaurant to convert a second-floor apartment into additional restaurant space that would result in an increase of 41 seats, from 124 to 165 and an enlargement of the restaurant from 3,806 square feet to 6,415 square feet.

The board agreed with Page’s attorney Tiffany Scarlato that the restaurant had been entitled to the additional seats because the Village Board had eased parking restrictions related to the number of seats a decade ago, and Page was one of the few restaurants in the village that had not taken advantage of that easing of the law.

The board also agreed that while an expansion of a new building would not be permitted in the village business zone, the Page application was for a preexisting, nonconforming building.

The approval came with several conditions, including one that prohibits wait staff or dining service in the lounge area known as Back Page on the Division Street side of the property.