A seemingly innocuous discussion item, listed as “Azurest, Ninevah, Sag Harbor Hills status proposal” on the Sag Harbor Village Board’s agenda, blossomed into a full-scale, hourlong debate Tuesday night, with Mayor Larocca cutting it short by saying, “I don’t want to see this get personal on any level.”
One side, calling itself the Tri-Community Working Group — the presidents of the three communities along with 14 residents — seeks an overlay district as the best means of preservation. The other, led by the SANS organization and Preservation Long Island, is pushing for historic designation of the communities.
According to Errol Taylor, president of the Ninevah Beach Association, 95 percent of the residents of Ninevah Beach, Sag Harbor Hills, and the Azurest subdivisions of Sag Harbor Village voted in support of an overlay district to help preserve those areas. Altogether, there are 330 homes in the three communities, he said.
“For much of our existence, we’ve been a bit of a secret in Sag Harbor. This is surprising, because our communities comprise about a third of the village,” Mr. Taylor said.
Concern with recent changes has led to fears that the character of the community is evaporating. “This real estate boom has become a proxy for cultural erosion,” Mr. Taylor continued. When polled about conservation, he said, community members indicated “closeness in our community” was foremost. “Not a single person said it was about architecture. No one talked about saving bungalows.”
Lisa Stenson Desamours, president of the Sag Harbor Hills Housing Association, described the specifics of the overlay proposal, which the association hopes will be incorporated into village code. For example, houses in the district could not exceed 4,000 square feet without a variance, and no more than two accessory structures would be allowed on a lot. “Clear-cutting of lots is strictly prohibited,” she said, with tree removal limited to the minimum.
An overlay district runs counter to the way Georgette Grier-Key, executive director of the Eastville Community Historical Society, and Renee Simons, president of the SANS organization, formed in 2016 to advocate for historic designation of the three beachfront communities, would like to see the neighborhoods preserved. Ms. Grier-Key read a letter from Ms. Simons, and Sarah Kautz, of Preservation Long Island, also spoke.
Despite the 95-percent approval among residents for the overlay district, Ms. Kautz said a historic designation could be “designated without homeowner approval” much as a wetland is demarcated.
But Mr. Taylor, in a phone call, said the “historic” designation would come with “pretty severe architectural and other restrictions.”
“Ms. Kautz says preservationists are used to forcing through historic designations over the objections of homeowners,” he said. “I get that, if you look at housing stock and understand the importance of the structures,” but he said their community shouldn’t be equated with the homes in the village center.
“There has to be some guardrails and standards that are consistent and sensible,” he said. “They make the argument that every home in every neighborhood that’s over 50 years old is historic.”
The next step for the proposed overlay district is a public hearing, which Mr. Taylor hopes will be scheduled in September or October, where the debate will certainly continue.
