An overflow crowd packed into the Municipal Building in Sag Harbor Tuesday evening on one of the hottest days of the year and half the people were there to talk about Adam Potter’s large-scale development proposal for the village’s office district.
Bob Plumb, a village trustee who has spearheaded the affordable housing legislation that made the Potter proposal possible, said to start his affordable housing report, “I didn’t think people would be interested in affordable housing,” to much laughter from the crowd. He noted that the proposal for a 79-unit affordable housing and retail complex, without mentioning it by name, is only in the “earliest stages, nascent.”
Also seeking to limit debate on a project whose application is still technically incomplete, Mayor James Larocca stressed allowing the five village boards to do their work. “We have set up a platform for considering these matters,” he said to Sarah Kautz, who raised concerns about demolishing “designated landmarked buildings” to make way for the project.
But Kathryn Levy, a village resident and poet, was concerned about trust in the process. She said in her 30 years of village life, “I don’t think I’ve seen the bitterness and division I’ve seen in the last year and a half.” Along with April Gornik, Susan Mead, and Maziar Behrooz, she published an “open letter” criticizing the Potter plan, which has gathered 281 signatures in the last week.
Gesturing to the standing-room-only crowd, she said to applause, “This meeting makes it clear we need a large public forum that allows more than three minutes for each person to speak about these proposals.” She also said the village should indicate and inform residents when any application is put in for a building of over 3,500 square feet.
Another person in the audience echoed Ms. Levy’s sentiments, adding, “It’s really important that we have the meeting in a place where we can all hear. Many of us cannot hear what you’re saying, and in a place where we’re not jammed in like sardines. I don’t understand some of the issues. What’s being called for is a sensible discussion in the community in the future.”
