A Gift for Steinbeck Park
When Mayor Sandra Schroeder addressed a crowd gathered under a tent on Long Wharf for the Party for the Park in July, she said they were making history. In her 20 years in local government and her conversations with officials elsewhere, she found that “nobody has ever thrown a fund-raiser for a village project,” she said. “Not in Sag Harbor, not on the Island before.”
The Sag Harbor Partnership, a not-for-profit dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of the quality of life in the village, raised $131,025 for the village-proposed John Steinbeck Waterfront Park on Ferry Road. The board presented village officials with a check on Tuesday afternoon.
The village owns a small parcel of land already, but is in the process of trying to buy other neighboring parcels from developers, who want to build condominiums, in order to create a two-acre park with beaches, a fishing pier, a pedestrian walkway connecting it to Windmill Park, public restrooms, trails that celebrate the village history, and much more. The village is working with the Town of Southampton to use community preservation fund money for the purchase, if the developers are willing to sell. Condemnation is also being considered.
The donation, given in the form of a grant, comes with some conditions. The village cannot use the money for legal fees, and it must be used on land the village already owns or for which it has a signed agreement, according to Susan Mead, president of the Sag Harbor Partnership. The stipulations were the decision of the board and expressed to the donors. The village will furnish quarterly reports about how the money is being used.
“This is going to be a long process, the development of this park,” Ms. Mead said, adding that she expects the money will be spent on studies, plans, and securing matching grants.
Mayor Schroeder said the village could also use it for surveys, or perhaps an irrigation system. The exact usage remains to be decided. The village already has a design, if it can acquire the adjacent parcels, from a top landscape architect, Edmund D. Hollander, a Sag Harbor resident.
Mayor Schroeder said the group initially told her it had raised $100,000. “It came in higher. I was thrilled.”
“I think it’s the biggest effort Sag Harbor has ever seen,” said April Gornik, who lives on North Haven and served as the event chairwoman. “There was a point in which we were led to understand that it was very important to have a strong show of support from the community. We organized the party so everyone could show everyone else how important it was.”
Over 100 individuals and businesses participated in the event. Works by almost 60 artists, including Eric Fischl, Joe Pintauro, Dan Rizzie, and John Alexander, were auctioned to raise money.
Asked if more benefits for the park were planned, Ms. Mead said, “At the moment, we’re all taking a big break.” The village board hopes the group’s fund-raiser can become an annual event, whether or not the park is the beneficiary.