In 2022, Sag Harbor voters narrowly approved a plan to spend about $3.3 million from the school district’s cash reserve toward a purchase of the four lots, plus a stand-alone one on the south side of the street, contingent on Southampton Town contributing the balance, $6 million, from the town’s community preservation fund. That shared deal fell apart amid differences between the school and town over how the land would be used — for a basic, grass sports field or something fancier with lighting, parking, and a comfort station.
District officials tried going it alone in 2023, but by then opposition to a deal involving the school had grown. Turnout in the failed vote in May 2023 was heavy, with a slim majority of the more than 2,200 voters weighing in on the proposal saying “no.”
The four contiguous parcels finally changed hands in May 2024 for just over $8.5 million — hundreds of thousands less than the seller would have received had either public purchase worked out.
Part of the problem lies with the way the community preservation fund law places control of the money entirely in towns’ hands. Despite incorporated villages like Sag Harbor and East Hampton contributing millions of dollars annually to their respective towns’ bank accounts, their elected officials do not get a final vote on how the money is spent. Villages can ask that the towns agree to pursue one deal or another, but ultimately have no more say than the residents who show up at town hearings to offer their own opinions one way or the other.
While effectively cutting incorporated villages out of preservation fund deals might have been intended as a safeguard, it has left village boards in the position of going hat-in-hand to the towns. In the case of Marsden Street, had Sag Harbor had the right to control some portion of the preservation fund money generated within village limits, the land might have been saved from residential development. Over the years, the law has been amended, notably to allow spending on water-quality improvement. Going forward, it would make sense to give village boards — and their residents — a more formal role.