Late-Arriving Permit Means Sag Harbor Dock Replacement To Be Delayed a Year

The good news is that the State Department of Environmental Conservation has issued a permit that will allow Sag Harbor Village to rebuild A Dock, which is one of several municipal piers scattered across the village’s waterfront.

But the bad news, according to Trustee Jeanne Kane, who oversees the waterfront for the Sag Harbor Village Board, is that the permit came too late for the work to be completed this winter. Instead, the project, for which the village has already secured funding, will have to be put off to next year.

Kane said that A Dock, which has 20 slips, “was built in the 1970s and on its last legs. That’s why we are so anxious to get it replaced as soon as possible.”

The DEC permit was issued last week. Even if the village were to solicit bids for the job, it would not be finalized until early January at best, with work extending into the start of the boating season on April 1, Kane said. Besides, she added, “all the companies that are potentially able to bid for us are all booked up.”

A Dock is located just west of the Beacon restaurant. The T-shaped dock includes an aging bulkhead designed to protect boats from heavy waves.

Kane said the village has big plans for the entire area, including removing a cable system that has space for 43 small boats, and replacing it with floating docks. A third step calls for the construction of a bulkhead along West Water Street that will help in the village’s effort to create a pedestrian walking path from Marine Park to the Cilli Farm property.

“The hope is that we would be able to do them both simultaneously,” Kane said of the A Dock and cable replacement. “But that is all going to depend on whether the DEC approves the new project.”

Assuming the DEC permit to replace the cables is issued in a timely fashion, the project likely would begin in early November 2026 and be completed by late March, Kane said.

She noted that the cable system is declining in popularity. While there is space for 43 boats, only 32 used the system last year. She said one problem is that to access their boats, people often have to wade through the water, something that could be avoided with floating docks in place.

Earlier this year, the Village Board approved borrowing up to $4 million to replace A Dock and the cable system, and to build the boardwalk, which will require a separate set of permits.

The boardwalk project is part of a longer-term village effort to improve public access along its waterfront.

“It’s really our intent to have people no longer walk through the parking lot,” Kane said of the West Water Street area. Instead, she said the goal is for people to be able to walk along the Windmill Park beach and follow an as-yet constructed path under the Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter Veterans Memorial Bridge.

The ultimate goal, she added, is to connect the waterfront path with the Cilli Farm property. The village is currently working on an agreement with Southampton Town and Suffolk County, which co-own the property with the village, to put in trails on the property.