Another Moratorium on Horizon in Sag Harbor

Just months since a moratorium on building expired, Sag Harbor Village officials, worried that development is threatening the character of the village, seem to be determined to institute another temporary freeze.

The moratorium, proposed by Sandra Schroeder, the deputy mayor, who is running for election as mayor next week, would affect residences throughout the village. It seeks to suspend most new construction of single-family houses and improvements on existing ones for three to six months. The move, as Mayor Brian Gilbride put it during a meeting on Tuesday night, “is an attempt to catch our breath.”

The village has been a hotbed of development and redevelopment recently, and several projects in the historic district have come under particular scrutiny. Officials say they have discovered holes in the code that allow projects couched as renovations to result in what are essentially new houses.

“Many of these dwellings are at a size and scale that are inconsistent with the historic and rural character of the village,” the proposal said. During the moratorium the board and its consultants would reconsider existing regulations for the maximum floor area of single-family houses.

“If there’s an assumption that there will be no building permits issued, that’s not true,” the mayor  said. Certain exclusions would be permissible for new construction based on floor area and lot sizes or if a renovation was not considered a “substantial improvement.” Additions, for instance, that comply with current zoning would not be a problem, the mayor said. “It’s really for small lots where somebody is trying to do a knock-down and a major renovation.” 

Robby Stein, a village board member who is running against Ms. Schroeder in next week’s election, supports the moratorium she has proposed. “We need clarity on what’s in the code and not in the code, like the definition of demolition,” he said. However, he believes the language in the proposal needs to be clarified, and commented that another month may be needed before it could be adopted.

“This is so important to the village,” Ms. Schroeder said. “This has nothing to do with being mayor. People are buying houses in our historic district and knocking them down. It’s taking the value away from our historic district,” she said.

While a public hearing won’t be held until July 14, village residents came out to address the idea on Tuesday night.

Adam Miller, a Bridgehampton attorney, was dismayed to find out the moratorium would affect the entire village. He said he has several clients on much larger lots in Redwood who have already been held up waiting to see the outcome of the wetlands moratorium. Now, they will have to apply for exemptions from a new stopgap, he said. “It’s really putting a damper on their excitement of being in this village.” 

“We’ve been judicious with trying to give relief, even with those people who have started construction without the benefit of a permit,” Ed Deyermond, a board member, told Mr. Miller.

Stephen Barr of Madison Street strongly came out against any new  hiatus. “To just institute a moratorium and the impact it’s going to have on so many people, I just think it’s creepy. It’s unAmerican,” Mr. Barr said, likening a certain village contingent to the Taliban.

The moratorium, he said, was an insult to the members of the various appointed village boards who do a good job — a comment which drew some laughter from the audience. Mr. Barr said the board was “listening to a cabal of a minority in this village,” apparently referring to the citizens group Save Sag Harbor, and that they will now be hearing from the “reasonable middle.”

Carol Olejnik, whose Main Street house is in the shadow of a construction project many said went awry, told the board she hoped the moratorium would help “prevent future homes from becoming what’s next door to me.”