Sag Harbor Village Will Retain Gas Ball Parking Lot Lease — for Now

The State Public Service Commission has requested that National Grid continue its temporary lease with Sag Harbor Village for the gas ball parking lot on Bridge Street and Long Island Avenue beyond its December 31 termination date, Mayor Jim Larocca announced last week.

The decision comes as the village seeks to annul the long-term deal National Grid signed with developer Adam Potter in 2021 after he outbid the village for the lease. The village’s temporary lease will last until the PSC issues a ruling on the village’s petition, the mayor said.

In 2021, after Potter had won the right to a long-term lease for the parking lot, Larocca negotiated an extension of the village’s existing lease through the end of this year and began to negotiate with Potter on a deal that would guarantee the village retained access to the lot, which holds up to 100 vehicles and which has been used for overflow and long-term parking since 2016.

In August, Larocca announced that Potter had agreed to assign to the village the 99-year lease his company, 11 Bridge Street LLC, had signed with National Grid, although he would have presumably needed the parking for the 79-unit affordable housing and commercial development he has proposed nearby.

But Potter backed out of the deal at the 11th hour, and attempts to reach another short-term lease failed, although Potter’s attorney, Tiffany Scarlato, has said he remains open to any offers the village might make.

In the meantime, the village announced in late November that it would ask the PSC to annul Potter’s lease because it was not in the public’s best interest. It argues removing the parking spaces from the village’s inventory would pose economic harm. It also argues that village law does not allow a private entity to operate a stand-alone parking lot.

The PSC’s file on the village’s petition includes a copy of Potter’s lease, which showed that 11 Bridge Street LLC was required to pay National Grid a lump sum of $400,000 upfront to lease the property for the first 10 years. For the next 15 years, 11 Bridge Street LLC would have been required to pay $50,000 per year, with 5 percent increases every 15 years.

In the deal he had signed with the village, Potter had agreed to pay the $400,000 up front and collect it from the village in $40,000 installments for the next 10 years.

Public comments to the PSC’s file can be made by going to the State Department of Public Service’s website at dps.ny.gov, clicking on “Popular Searches” on the home page, entering the case number, 22-02220, and following the prompts.

James Denn, the commission’s public information officer, said via email that the petition remains under review, but did not say when that work would be completed.