Sag Harbor To Retain Control Over Gas Ball Parking Lot

Sag Harbor Village Mayor Jim Larocca announced this week that the village and developer Adam Potter had reached a deal whereby the village will retain control of the municipal parking lot — commonly referred to as the “gas ball lot” — at the corner of Bridge Street and Long Island Avenue.

Under the arrangement, Potter, whose 11 Bridge Street LLC, outbid the village for a lease on the property in March 2021, has agreed to abandon its effort and request that National Grid, which owns the property, allow the village to work out its own deal for the site.

On Monday, Larocca said the village would seek either a long-term lease on the property or the opportunity to purchase it at a below-market price.

“It belongs in our hands, and that is what we are achieving now,” Larocca said. “In its configuration right now as parking, it’s effectively serving the village.”

Potter could not be reached for comment. His attorney, Tiffany Scarlato, declined to comment.

The agreement means that the village will continue to have 75 to 100 parking spaces at its disposal in a lot that is designated for long-term parking of up to three days. Most other lots in the village are limited to two-hour parking.

The gas ball lot is popular among employees of village businesses and contractors who need the extra time they are allowed to park there. It also serves as overflow parking when other lots are full. The exact number of spaces available is not known because the lot is gravel and spaces are not marked off.

After a major environmental remediation of the site was completed in 2016, the village obtained a five-year lease on the property. Although it was widely reported that the village paid $1 annually for that right, Larocca said that it had, in fact, waived any village property taxes the utility would ordinarily have to pay on the site and had agreed to pay the utility’s town taxes on the property.

Toward the end of that lease, National Grid announced it wanted to sell the property before reversing course and deciding to solicit bids on a new lease.

Potter, the chairman of Friends of Bay Street, the not-for-profit organization that was created to build a new home for Bay Street Theater, outbid the village for the property. Although village officials said last year that Friends of Bay Street had won the lease, it actually went to the limited liability company that Potter set up to buy the 11 Bridge Street property, which is currently the site of Colette Home.

Although 11 Bridge Street LLC’s lease was supposed to begin on January 1, in late December, Larocca worked out a deal with Potter and National Grid to allow the village to extend its lease for another year while negotiations took place to keep it under village control.

The parking lot became a campaign issue in last year’s village election after it was revealed in spring 2021 that former Mayor Kathleen Mulcahy had written a letter to National Grid supporting Friends of Bay Street’s effort to obtain the property.

Mulcahy said she wrote the letter after National Grid had put the property up for sale at a price beyond the village’s reach. She rescinded it after National Grid said it would entertain leases for the property.

Larocca, who had been negotiating on the village’s behalf, said he was not aware of Mulcahy’s letter. He said it was one of the reasons he chose to run against her last year.

A former member of the board of KeySpan, National Grid’s predecessor, Larocca said that when disposing of surplus property, utilities are required to weigh both the benefits to ratepayers as well as shareholders.

He said when National Grid first put the property up for sale, it hired an appraiser who assumed it could be developed as “high-rise condos” and put a $22 million to $23 million price tag on it. Larocca said such a development would never be permitted, and, after the utility “came to its senses,” it adjusted the value down to something closer to $3 million to $4 million.

Larocca added that when utilities dispose of property, they also have to make sure they are acting in the public’s interest.

“I’ve argued with them it’s not in the public interest to sell it to a developer. Period,” Larocca said.

The mayor said he would continue to press National Grid to either donate the property or sell it to the village for a nominal fee.