Main Street in Sag Harbor Business District To Be Repaved Next Week

Contractors made faster than expected progress on the repaving of Sag Harbor Village’s Main Street this week.

By Tuesday afternoon, the entire business district, from the Civil War monument to the Bay Street flagpole, had been repaved. Workers, who started at 6 a.m. both days, had completed their jobs by early afternoon, allowing the street to be reopened for much of both days.

As of Tuesday evening, only the final striping of center lines, crosswalks and parking spaces needed to be completed.

Superintendent of Public Works Dee Yardley announced the project late last week and urged merchants and residents to be prepared for three full days of closures, more if the weather failed to cooperate.

Yardley said the village was able to contract with Rosemar Construction to undertake the paving project immediately after a larger project in Montauk. He said the company typically works from east to west across Long Island, so that the village, with its relatively small job, was fortunate to find a place on the schedule. “We’re the second one out of the gate,” he said.

Yardley added that paving projects can only be undertaken during warm weather months when asphalt plants are open.

Ellen Dioguardi, the president of the Sag Harbor Chamber of Commerce, said some local merchants were upset about the timing of the project, coming as it did when local schools were on spring break and the village was expected to be busier than normal. She pointed out that merchants had already had to cope with a National Grid gas line replacement project last year and sidewalk repaving just before Christmas.

Dioguardi said she had taken those concerns and a request that the project be delayed to village officials, who, she said, were sympathetic but told her they could not change the contractor’s schedule.

“We tried to get it changed, but it’s out of the village’s hands, so we [had to] grin and bear it for a few days,” she said. “The thing to remember is, Sag Harbor never closes down. Unlike some of our neighboring villages, which are still more seasonal, we are open for business, dining and entertainment year round. There will still be places to park and ‘open’ signs on doors. We aren’t rolling up Main Street, just resurfacing it.”

The paving is the final phase of the National Grid project. Yardley said the utility had agreed to foot half the $230,000 cost of the project, and the village will cover the rest.

It’s also important that the job be done as soon as possible because “we’re in a position where it’s ‘use it or lose it,’” Yardley said of the National Grid contribution to the job.

Before the job began,Yardley asked for the public’s patience. “It will be two or three days and then we won’t be back for 20 years,” he said.