Don Louchheim Reflects On Time As Mayor Of Sagaponack Village, Set To End Next Month

Most people would consider themselves a local after living in the same town for 50 years.

Not Don Louchheim.

Despite the outsized role he played in the incorporation of Sagaponack Village, and the visibility he has earned after serving on the board since the village was incorporated in 2005 — the first two years as a trustee, and serving as mayor from 2008 to the present — Louchheim insists he cannot lay claim to true local status, because he was not born in the village.

But plenty of people who were, as well as those residents who care deeply about everything Sagaponack has stood for across generations, regardless of how long they’ve lived here, would acknowledge that Louchheim has used his time serving the village in a leadership role for more than 15 years to preserve the land and the way of life that have made Sagaponack one of the most desirable ZIP codes in the country.

Louchheim, who will turn 85 in June, decided not to seek reelection this spring. Instead, he will hand mayoral duties over to Bill Tillotson, who was Sagaponack’s first mayor and served until Louchheim took over. Tillotson is running unopposed in next month’s election.

Earlier this month, Louchheim reflected on his time as mayor, what incorporation has meant for the residents, and the legacy of the bucolic area cherished for its beaches and farming history, but that in more recent years has earned a reputation as one of the wealthiest places to live in the world, where the majority of people living there are part-time residents with large and often ostentatious homes.

Despite the change that has occurred, much of it inevitable, and not all of it bad, Louchheim said that, generally speaking, he feels comfortable walking away.

“I’ve accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish as mayor,” he said.

Preserving farmland and open space, as well as several historic buildings, were key objectives of the newly formed village administration back in 2005, and were touted as reasons why residents should support forming the village. Louchheim said he and fellow village officials stayed true to those early goals.

“We said we’d operate a bare-bones government and that we’d do it providing better services and at a lower tax rate than we would’ve had if we had not incorporated,” he said. “And now, 17 years later, I’d say we’ve really delivered on those promises.”

Along with money from the Southampton Town Community Preservation Fund, Sagaponack Village, largely under Louchheim’s leadership, worked to preserve half the village as permanent open space. Doing that with a village operation that Louchheim said “has been a model of efficiency” is a point of pride for the soon-to-be former mayor.

Along with preserving open space, Louchheim said he’s also proud of the acquisition and renovation of the building on Montauk Highway that became Sagaponack Village Hall, which he said “reflects the character” of the village. He added that he’s also proud that he and village officials were able to push through a restoration of the Sagaponack Bridge, rather than replacing it with a new and more modern structure that would not have been reflective of the history and character of that well-known Sagaponack landmark.

Louchheim did not initially anticipate that he’d reach half a century and counting as a Sagaponack resident. In fact, he said he initially thought he and his family would only spend two years in the area. He came to Sagaponack in 1971, having traveled the world working as a foreign correspondent for the Washington Post for several years, including three years living in Europe and three years living in Africa.

By the early 1970s, Louchheim and his wife, Pingree Louchheim, wanted to raise their children in an area that represented “classic small-town America,” and Sagaponack, with its wide open spaces, the ocean nearby, and its quaint small red schoolhouse, fit the bill.

He purchased The Southampton Press, serving as publisher until eventually handing over operation of the paper to his son, Joseph Louchheim, in the early 2000s. Moving to the village in the early 1970s meant that Louchheim had a front-row seat to the second-home building boom that started not too long after his arrival.

“I hate to say it, but from 1970 to about 1990, there was really more change in that time than in the previous 350 years,” he said.

When asked how he felt about that as a local, that’s when Louchheim, who was born in New York City and still owns a residence there, stressed that he is “not a local,” and quipped that he is only “a year-round summer person.” Where he fits in the unofficial hierarchy still has him falling short of true local status, he says, earned only by being born either in Southampton Hospital or in a home with a Sagaponack address.

“Of course, I consider when I moved here to have been the glory days,” he added.

Louchheim said that not all the change has been bad, and acknowledged that much of it is inevitable. But he said that helping lead the push to incorporate the village was a vital step in helping to preserve any remnants of the area’s original charm, and that balancing the need for some necessary change while also staying dedicated to maintaining the village’s character has been the challenge and the goal.

He lamented the fact that the current sky-high real estate values have made it all but impossible for most families to have a year-round existence in the village, which in turn makes it an uphill battle to have a true sense of community, and even to find residents able to make the year-round commitment to serving in elected positions in village government. But he is buoyed when he hears feedback from residents and others who admire the area.

“I do think we’ve preserved something, because a lot of people will tell me that they drive through Sagaponack, and say that what they love about it is that it’s so rural,” Louchheim said. “And it’s really more suburban, but at least we’ve preserved that much open space, and it will always be here.”

While Louchheim is largely proud of the legacy of preservation that has been prioritized under his leadership, he said one regret, if it can be called that, that he has as he steps away is that he is unable to see through to fruition the renovation of one of the village’s most iconic landmark buildings, the Sagg General Store. The new owner unveiled preliminary plans to a joint meeting of all the village boards earlier this month, and heavy involvement and back and forth with the Village Board, as well as the ARB and ZBA will be part of the process of finding a way to have the store open for business again while maintaining its important place in history.

“I’m doing my best to ensure that project will have a good result,” he said, adding that keeping the post office in its location there is equally tantamount. “In my opinion, that’s one of the most important buildings in the village that has to be preserved, along with the schoolhouse.”

As for what he will do with the free time he’ll have starting next month, Louchheim said he’ll “find a way to stay busy.” He said he and his wife would likely spend a bit more time at their pied a terre in Manhattan, and would make the occasional trip to Florida to visit his grandchildren. As for making any kind of more permanent move to Florida or anywhere else, Louchheim ruled that out pretty quickly, saying he is committed to staying in the village he helped build — and, perhaps, to inching closer to true local status.

“We’re certainly not going to move to Florida,” Louchheim said. “But if I weren’t here in February, it wouldn’t break my heart.

“I still think the beauty here, particularly at this time of year, is spectacular,” he added. “I can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be, particularly at this time of year, than Sagaponack.”