Sag Harbor School District Plans To Buy Lots On Nearby Marsden Street, With Eye Toward Creating A New Athletic Facility

The Sag Harbor School Board will move forward with a plan to purchase five properties across from the middle-high school, with hopes of using it to create an athletic complex for the district.

The board also agreed to hold off on plans to finalize a deal for a $13.5 million capital improvement project at Mashashimuet Park. But officials said that improving athletic facilities at the park — to some degree — would still be pursued.

At a special meeting on Tuesday night, September 6, the Sag Harbor School Board voted unanimously to approve a contract of sale with Marsden Street Property LLC for the purchase of a roughly three-quarter-acre lot at 12 Marsden Street, located across the street from the middle-high school, for a price of $700,000.

That purchase will be made using capital reserve funds, specifically from the district’s facilities improvement capital reserve fund, and will be subject to voter approval via referendum.

Board President Sandi Kruel signed the agreement at the end of the short meeting, and the board also approved plans for a vote on November 3 on whether to authorize the use of the funds.

Superintendent Jeff Nichols announced at the meeting that the district will also seek to purchase four other adjacent lots on the street, using capital reserve funds and money from the Southampton Town Community Preservation Fund.

He explained that the purchase of the three-quarter-acre lot, known as Lot 12, is contingent on the purchase of the remaining lots, which are adjoining lots on the other side of Marsden. Each of the five lots ranges in size from three-quarters to nine-tenths of an acre.

State law requires school districts to hold a vote authorizing the use of any money it wants to spend out of capital reserves. Nichols said that between what the CPF will kick in and what it has in reserves, the district has enough to cover the cost of the purchase of all five lots, meaning there will be no additional tax impact on the district’s residents.

The total cost of the four adjacent lots is $8,575,000, $6 million of which will be covered by the CPF, with another $2,575,000 coming from the district. If voters approve the proposition on November 3, the projected balance in the reserve will be reduced to $120,422.

The plan is for the district to create an athletic facility on the properties, specifically on the adjoining lots that will be purchased with the help of the CPF.

The deal to buy the land on Marsden came together behind the scenes at the same time the district was working on finalizing a deal for a capital improvement project at Mashashimuet Park.

At Tuesday night’s meeting, Nichols announced that, in light of the Marsden deal, he recommended postponing the scheduled September 29 vote to approve the park plan, a recommendation the board unanimously agreed with. That $13.5 million bond plan was set to include upgrades to baseball and softball fields, bathroom facilities, and the creation of a new track, with a new natural grass field for soccer and field hockey on the interior of the track.

It would also put the district into a 17-year lease that would cost up to $350,000 per year, a significant cost increase from the annual lease price the district is currently paying the park.

“One of the things I shared with the board is that I always want to be thoughtful and responsible with taxpayer money, and I think this acquisition changes the landscape with how we should proceed, and most definitely should cause us to rethink things with regard to the athletic facilities as it relates to Marsden and the park,” Nichols said at the meeting.

“My suggestion is that we hit pause on the September 29 vote, and take an opportunity to step back, and talk to the school community and get feedback in terms of ideas and what they want, not only at Marsden, but as it relates to the park, and then use that feedback to guide us going forward.”

While the district had finalized a plan for the project at the park and was set to put it to a vote later this month, several residents had expressed disappointment with certain aspects of the plan at board meetings in the late spring and into the summer.

The main complaint was that the plans did not include the installation of an artificial turf field, something the district had identified as a facility need and had asked the park to include. But the park board has remained adamant that it would not include a turf field in the plans, saying that it had both environmental concerts related to artificial turf, and also did not feel a turf field was in keeping with the aesthetic of the park.

After the meeting, Nichols addressed whether installing an artificial turf field would potentially be part of the plan for the Marsden properties. “We haven’t decided definitely, but that will certainly be part of the discussion moving forward,” he said, pointing out that once the deal for the property on Marsden is closed and the school officially owns the land, the district will then go out to the community for a bond vote, after sourcing input from the community about what it would like to see there in terms of athletic facilities.

Nichols said he spoke privately before the meeting with Mashashimuet Park Board of Trustees President Janine Rayano, and he said at the meeting that, in that conversation, he reiterated to her and the rest of the park board members that the district was still committed to moving forward with a capital improvement plan at the park.

“I don’t think the acquisition of Marsden changes the fact that we will likely partner with the park moving forward,” he said. “Marsden doesn’t address all of our facilities needs. The scope and magnitude of the redevelopment plan may have changed, but we’re looking forward to working with the park to come up with an idea that makes sense.”

Kruel reiterated that point.

“It does need to be clearly stated that we’re not walking away from the park,” she said. “We’re committed to seeing that project to fruition and want to make sure the community understands that. This will be an extension of our athletic program. We’re really blessed to have had this come to us and to bring it here tonight.”

Nichols said that Rayano and another park board member congratulated him and the district on the purchase, telling him that it sounds like a great opportunity for the district. The district is in the middle of a one-year lease with the park, which will expire in the spring.

Board member Alex Kriegsman, who was instrumental alongside Kruel and Nichols in helping to bring the deal for the Marsden lots to the table, said the chance to purchase the lots is “incredibly exciting” and congratulated everyone who worked on putting it together.

A CPF hearing is set for October 11, and a vote on October 25 at a Town Board meeting will officially secure the money from that fund to help purchase the land. Kriegsman said it was important to thank State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., who created the fund, which will enable the district to purchase the land.

Nichols pointed out that the land was identified as a good use of CPF money because the athletic facility, when it is built, can be used by community members whenever it is not in use by the district.

The land on Marsden has been vacant for decades. In January 2021, the Sag Harbor Village Architectural Review Board voted against a plan to build three new houses on the lots that each would have been in excess of 6,500 square feet. ARB members said they rejected the plans because the homes were too large and not in keeping with the character of the village and the neighborhood.