Harbor Committee Upheaval

Bruce Tait, a longtime member of the Sag Harbor Village Harbor Committee, resigned from that committee, not because of his recent demotion from its chairmanship, he said, but because the committee isn’t focused on the issues he finds important.

In an email to Mayor Brian Gilbride and the village board on Nov. 5, Mr. Tait said he was stepping down due to personal and professional commitments. The board accepted his resignation at a meeting on Nov. 12.

Reached by phone on Tuesday, Mr. Tait said he has “great confidence” in Stephen L. Clarke, whom the mayor appointed as chairman in August, over Mr. Tait, who had led the harbor committee for several years and had served on it for about 15.

The board accepted his resignation with regret. “I think Bruce has done a great job. Him and I have sparred a little bit,” Mayor Gilbride said. “I think Bruce’s dedication to the waterfront is second to none.”

“The major lifting of the harbor committee is, right now, dealing with the very difficult and intricate job of wetlands permits,” Mr. Tait said. The committee is in the midst of working to amend the village’s wetlands code during a moratorium on wetlands permits for single-family house lots put into place in September for 180 days. The village is, however, considering an exemption to the wetlands moratorium for 10 Cove Road in the Redwood subdivision and will discuss the matter at its December meeting.

“I’m more concerned with harbor management and the direction the village is going in general,” Mr. Tait said, adding that there is “a lack of vision of how to deal with the harbor.” He had wanted the harbor committee to be included in discussions with the village board about how to better implement harbor management, better allocate mooring and dock slips — over all, a better management system, he said, for the village’s harbor.

“The trustees would never really bring us into that discussion,” Mr. Tait said, despite it being “a huge resource of revenue for the village.”

Meanwhile, the village will advertise for a replacement for Mr. Tait. The mayor said he had hoped Joseph Tremblay, an alternate who was appointed in August, would take the position, but he declined. “He will remain as an alternate and sit in while we’re looking,” the mayor said.

In other news, the village board will hold a hearing next month on a proposed law to prohibit the use of single-use plastic bags. The proposal is part of a movement on the East End to ban such bags in time for Earth Day 2015. East Hampton and Southampton Villages led the way, implementing bans in recent years. The hearing will be held at the village board meeting on Dec. 9 at 6 p.m.