logo logo logo logo

Opinions

Sag Harbor Express / Editorials / 2225819

The Conversation Begins

Editorial Board on Jan 10, 2024

Everyone agrees that more affordable housing is needed, in Sag Harbor and elsewhere, to benefit both residents and businesses in need of staff. But it’s the nagging details of how, and where, and to whom it goes that always end up befuddling, and often lead to delays in action.

Action is coming, one way or the other, since both Southampton and East Hampton towns will have money to spend soon, thanks to the Community Housing Fund created in 2023 after voters approved a 0.5 percent tax on real estate transfers. Sag Harbor Village officials are set on figuring out a path forward that will stand the test of the courts and public opinion both. The conversation is about to pick up momentum.

And it’s laudable that the village has made it a priority. On Saturday afternoon, January 27, at 1 p.m., at the Sag Harbor Fire House on Brick Kiln Road, Sag Harbor Village officials have set a workshop to discuss and review options for affordable housing. Village Board members and Mayor Tom Gardella will be in attendance, and the goal will be to give village residents a chance to ask questions and provide input about what should, and shouldn’t, be acceptable. In a Letter to the Editor in last week’s Express, village resident Michael Feirstein laid out seven good ones. There are a hundred more to consider.

One urgent one: Should the village hold off on any affordable housing measures until it completes a long-discussed comprehensive plan? That process is about to kick off this year, and it could be argued that it’s putting the cart before the horse by pushing for more density and other strategies to bring down housing costs in some neighborhoods, before a larger plan has been set.

Village Board member Aidan Corish has voiced this opinion, and he’s right that zoning changes in particular seem better deployed after an overall consideration of the village’s future development, via a comprehensive plan. There’s one problem: A comprehensive plan could be several years in the making, and the housing problem really needed to be addressed in a purposeful way 10 years ago. It cannot wait.

As the conversation begins, this will be a first issue to resolve. Perhaps there is a compromise: A fruitful discussion of affordable housing might yield a clearer path forward that can easily be institutionalized in a comprehensive plan, even as the village starts to put some measures in place. It will be tricky choreography, but if it’s rooted in consensus, there’s reason for optimism that the tenets of a comprehensive plan will be coming into focus as the first steps are taken on housing.

Either way, it starts with talking — and that starts in earnest on January 27.

You May Also Like:

The Urgency of Real

The Hamptons International Film Festival typically takes up a lot of oxygen in the fall on the South Fork, but it’s worth celebrating a slightly smaller but just as vital event in late autumn: the Hamptons Doc Fest. Running this week for its 18th year, the festival of documentaries was founded by Jacqui Lofaro and has become an essential part of the region’s arts scene every year. It’s a 12-month undertaking for Lofaro and her staff, and the result is always a tantalizing buffet of outstanding filmmaking, not to mention unforgettable stories. The arrival of the era of streaming services ... 10 Dec 2025 by Editorial Board

Hitting Pause

East Hampton’s housing shortage is real; the town can’t afford to ignore any potential long-term solutions. But the recent — and now scrapped — plan for a large employer-run complex on Three Mile Harbor Road raises too many questions that haven’t been fully answered. The proposal, put forward by Kirby Marcantonio and an unnamed partner, would have created 79 units of employer-controlled housing, comparable to a project he has pitched on Pantigo Road. To make it happen, the East Hampton Town Board would have had to allow the project to sidestep the town’s 60-unit limit on affordable developments, and rezone ... by Editorial Board

Proceed With Caution

Overlay districts are a common zoning tool used by many municipalities. Southampton Town has used them to varying degrees of success — the aquifer protection overlay district has been a winner; a downtown overlay district in Hampton Bays less so — in various parts of the town. They essentially look at the existing zoning, then allow those rules governing what can be done on properties to be reconsidered if there’s a newer concern to be addressed. In a bid to clean up the process for creating more affordable housing, the Town Board is looking at a new overlay district that ... by Editorial Board

The Whole Picture

When it comes to evaluating a complex development proposal, splitting up the application into separate parts may seem tempting, especially when environmental uncertainties loom. But in the case of Adam Potter’s plan for 7 and 11 Bridge Street, the Sag Harbor Village Planning Board should resist any temptation to segment the project for review. Potter’s attorney has asked the board to consider the gas ball property at 5 Bridge Street — a site that could provide the 93 parking spaces required for Potter’s 48 residential units and commercial spaces nearby — separate from the main development. The reason is understandable: ... by Editorial Board

Sign the Ban

Pity the poor horseshoe crab. It is, without question, a survivor almost beyond compare. Consider this: There are fossils of the creature dating back 445 million years. Dinosaurs arrived about 200 million to 250 million years ago — which means the time between us and dinosaurs is equal to the time between dinosaurs and the earliest horseshoe crabs. And they’re still here, nearly unchanged. But they finally may have met their match. The American horseshoe crab has “vulnerable” status, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The population faces a whole series of challenges, including sea-level rise, coupled ... 3 Dec 2025 by Editorial Board

Gold Stars and Dunce Caps

⭐️ : To Cami Hatch, for reminding everyone why learning to swim and lifeguard training are important. The East Hampton graduate, now a University of Tennessee student, has been studying in Italy and was visiting Malta recently when she heard a fellow beachgoer whistling. “That whistle unlocked a new mode in my brain. For lifeguards, when you hear a whistle it means, ‘Heads up — get ready to go,’ as Big John and Johnny Ryan have instilled in us over the years,” she said, shouting out her lifeguard instructors. She dove in and saved a foundering Englishman, who was in ... 26 Nov 2025 by Editorial Board

Landmark Status

At the Sag Harbor Cinema on Saturday, a group of admirers came together to pay ... 19 Nov 2025 by Editorial Board

Behind the Masks

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions are taking place across the United States, and not just in urban areas, as we discovered on the South Fork last week. But the most alarming thing about ICE raids is the aggressive nature, and the lack of transparency. Many ICE agents are making arrests while wearing masks — they will say it’s because agents have been harassed personally when they’re identified by the public. But the masks are symbolic of the entire process, which is markedly different from most police actions. When agents from New York City swept through gathering places on November ... 12 Nov 2025 by Editorial Board

Stop the Hunger

Setting aside politics for a moment, the federal government shutdown, now in its fifth week, is having significant consequences. A Washington Post story last week estimated that it will cost the economy up to $14 billion. The Congressional Budget Office says up to 750,000 federal workers are being furloughed or required to work without pay. The impact on air traffic controllers is starting to affect travel just as the holiday season begins. But none of that is as worrisome as the impact on the poorest among us, who are about to see the challenge of simply putting food on the ... 5 Nov 2025 by Editorial Board

Expect Delays

Anyone who commutes east and west on the South Fork daily, or who needs goods or services that come by truck — so, really, everyone — endured several days of stress. New York State and Suffolk County officials were able to find a higher gear than normal to repair Sunrise Highway at the Shinneock Canal, which limited the pain, and for that they are to be commended. By now, everyone is aware: Heavy rains last week caused erosion along the bridge abutments on the northeast side of the canal. Two westbound lanes of the highway were closed for days, with ... by Editorial Board