Signing of New One-Year Contract Between Sag Harbor School District and Mashashimuet Park Is Delayed

The Sag Harbor School District will likely sign another one-year contract to keep Mashashimuet Park as the home of Pierson athletics, at its next Board of Education meeting, set for June 5.

The agreement was on the agenda at the most recent meeting, on May 22, but was withdrawn at the last minute because Mashashimuet Park Board President Janine Rayano said there were a few details in the contract language that needed to be double checked.

Superintendent of Schools Jeff Nichols did not anticipate any difficulties in having the agreement signed at the June 5 meeting.

One condition that the district had requested be added to the contract was the provision for an additional field that could accommodate the middle school and junior varsity baseball teams. Nichols said that Rayano agreed in principle to that request and expected it to be included in the contract.

“We have three softball fields and one baseball field, and that’s the opposite of the teams we have in each division,” Nichols explained. “The park said yes to that.”

When the contract is signed, it will be the second consecutive one-year contract agreement between the park board and the school district. The district had agreed earlier in fall 2022 to a $13.5 million capital improvement project that it had planned to put up for a bond vote. But it put that plan on hold when an opportunity to purchase nearby lots on Marsden Street became available.

That effort became the district’s main focus from September until last week, when a districtwide vote to purchase the properties failed by just 75 votes.

The fate of much-needed capital improvements at the park is still up in the air. The district said months ago — when the details of what the improvement plan would include were being negotiated — that it would not sign a long-term deal with the park until the plan was agreed to and approved.

Southampton Town also is in the early stages of exploring whether it could purchase development rights at Mashashimuet Park with money from the Community Preservation Fund, a move that could potentially cover the cost of necessary upgrades and thus save the district from having to ask residents to approve a bond issue to cover the cost.