Last week’s Express Session at The American Hotel focused on the subject of parking [“Sag Harbor Panel Tackles Parking Problems, Business Impacts at ‘Local Matters’ Discussion,” 27east.com, October 29]. The format called for the audience to ask questions of the panelists, unlike prior Express Sessions, where preprepared subjects were given to the panel by the moderator for comment.
About halfway through this meeting, former Mayor Jim LaRocca rose to deliver an off-topic statement critical of the village’s review boards’ conduct regarding the 2 Main Street/7-Eleven properties on West Water Street. Mr. LaRocca suggested that the review boards were working in consort with the developer to further his agenda. Further, Mr. LaRocca took the somewhat illogical position that informal discussions were weakening the village’s legal position should a denied application wind up in court.
During LaRocca’s term, we passed Code Section 300-14.5, which established a site plan procedure, where a pre-submission conference was to be held for major projects that met certain requirements. A public hearing was part of this mandate.
The concept behind this section was to let all developers put their ideas out there before committing too much money to architecture and engineering firms, and also to give the property owner an initial overview of how a given property could be used, and the general public reaction to how it might look, in a quicker and less expensive way. This protocol allowed boards to react to general use and size and design parameters, and not to a particular building, as happened with the theater building that was floated for this property a few years back.
In the case of the West Water Street properties, the developer came to the Planning Board a year or so ago, and such a conference and public hearing was held. The Planning Board was established as the lead agency for SEQRA, but no other binding determinations have been made.
Recently, the West Water Street developer met with Save Sag Harbor and also submitted renderings to the Historic Preservation and Architectural Review Board as a discussion item. These are the kinds of preliminary, informal reviews, envisioned by Section 300-14.5.
I believe that the developer is trying to work with the village and not subverting the rules for his gain. To suggest otherwise is oddly misguided.
Bob Plumb
Trustee
Sag Harbor Village
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