Hearing Tuesday on Building Pause

When the Sag Harbor Village Board reconvenes next week — its first formal meeting under new leadership — the board will hold a hearing on a proposal that would halt some development.

Mayor Sandra Schroeder led the charge last month, before the election, in favor of a temporary moratorium on construction of most new single-family houses and improvements on existing ones.

With the village a hotbed of development in recent years, particularly in the historic district, the board wants an opportunity to reconsider existing regulations. “Many of these dwellings are at a size and scale that are inconsistent with the historic and rural character of the village,” the public notice of the hearing states.

“We have to slow the whole process down,” Mayor Schroeder said. “It’s been going crazy. Our whole Building Department — forget it. We need double the personnel to handle what’s going on there.”

How long the moratorium would last was not established when it was first introduced, but the processing or approval of most applications would be halted for six months. “If we’re done before that, so is the moratorium,” Mayor Schroeder said.

The moratorium would allow some exclusions, however, mainly for new construction based on floor area and lot area. An application for a new house on a lot of 20,000 square feet or less where the floor area does not exceed 3,500 square feet would be processed, as would an application when the lot is larger than 20,000 square feet and the floor area is not bigger than 5,000 square feet. The village board would have to entertain an exemption request, however.

Exclusions would also apply to renovations that are not considered substantial improvements on existing one-family detached houses. A substantial improvement is considered to be any change where the cost equals or exceeds 50 percent of the market value of the house before construction begins. This would not apply to undertakings to correct code violations.

The mayor believes she has board support and that the moratorium will be approved after the hearing. It will be held in the Village Hall meeting room on Tuesday at 6 p.m.