Give It A Chance

Within moments of the news breaking that a developer had filed plans with the Village of Sag Harbor for a 79-unit affordable housing development, with retail on the ground floor, spread over a cluster of residential and commercial properties behind Main Street, social media was abuzz. Supporters shared praise for the potential of the project. Some questioned the design and whether it was too suburban. Others came out in full-throated opposition, distrustful and wary that this project — one that will, it must be said, change the village’s downtown significantly — really will address the desperate need for affordable housing without doing more harm than good.

At the outset — and this is just the beginning of what will likely be a very long planning process — we would encourage the community to become involved, but also to keep an open mind. For Sag Harbor residents, walking away from a large-scale affordable housing project is not an option, but working with village planners and the Village Board to ensure that it is a project that works for Sag Harbor should be a top priority for all residents and business owners.

The lack of affordable housing on the East End of Long Island was a crisis before the pandemic launched an already unaffordable rental and buying market into the stratosphere. It’s safe to say, at this point, that the housing crisis is a complete disaster, with businesses unable to hire staff, restaurants reducing hours even in high season, and many local business owners choosing to cash out. Traffic coming onto the South Fork remains unbearable, and an aging group of volunteers provide much of the emergency services to the East End who may not be replaced if the region continues to trend away from a year-round community and into a resort community only.

Sag Harbor officials, to their credit, have expressed a desire to lead the fight to combat this growing crisis. The reality is, if there’s truly an answer, it might not be exactly what’s been proposed in Sag Harbor, but an effective approach will look an awful lot like that. Sag Harbor, and other villages and hamlets, should realize that.

Last week, in announcing plans to develop the Pantigo Hill affordable housing project in East Hampton, members of the Town Board called on planners to maximize the property to achieve as many affordable units as possible. The board also expressed its support for increasing the cap on the number of affordable, accessory apartments in each of the five school districts across the town and began mapping a strategy should voters approve the creation of the Community Housing Fund this November, a critical funding tool that would give the five East End towns millions of dollars to address the lack of affordable housing.

There was an urgency to the board’s discussion, and rightly so, for as Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc pointed out, losing the year-round community to this crisis — municipal workers, hospital staff, volunteer firefighters, ambulance service, teachers, police officers and more — will be “a very sad situation.” He didn’t say it, but it’s also something else: an unworkable, cataclysmic scenario.

It is understandable there is hesitation by some in the Sag Harbor community. One of the developers of this project, Adam Potter, has been part of a flawed roll-out of proposals for the future Bay Street Theater on the Long Island Avenue site that used to house 7-Eleven. As more properties were purchased by Potter and other individuals on the west side of the business district — and with the Bay Street proposal still not filed with the village for review — the lack of transparency early on was concerning.

That said, Potter’s cards are now on the table for what he plans to do with the land on Bridge and Rose streets, and as a property owner he has the right to develop them. How, of course, remains the question to be resolved.

That the project has the potential to help dozens of people achieve what has become an impossible dream — to be able to afford to live where they grew up, where they work and where they volunteer — makes it one worth considering. It also could add to the village’s stock of storefronts, which can be a healthy investment in its business district.

As Trustee Aidan Corish noted last week, the devil is in the details. But it is incumbent on the community to consider those details — and this project’s potential benefits — instead of rejecting it at the outset. Questions abound, but there could be a few answers in there, too.