Provisions Market To Expand

    After 30 years as a fixture in Sag Harbor, first on Main Street and then on the corner of Bay and Division Streets, Provisions Market is planning to expand a little bit farther down Bay Street into the neighboring space most recently occupied by the Style Bar.

    The renovations to the natural foods market and cafe are expected to begin shortly, with the lease on the space scheduled to start May 1.

    When the plans were discussed at the village planning board meeting on March 27, it was decided that a public hearing could, and would, be waived in order not to delay the process by an extra month.

    The market currently occupies 2,450 square feet, according to Dennis Downs, the applicant’s attorney. In order to eliminate the need for a special exception permit, a storage closet is planned in the former spa, to reduce its available square footage by 105 feet. The extra space would have resulted in a great expense and necessitated traffic studies, among other things. Mr. Downs said that certain requirements for such a permit, such as adding affordable housing upstairs, were not an option, as the market will only lease the ground floor.

    Although the cafe will be reconfigured, it will still have 32 seats as it does now, meaning that the owners will not need to pay for additional parking spaces or undertake septic system upgrades.

    Neil Slevin, the planning board chairman, said that since the square footage is under 3,000, a site plan review could be waived. Richard Warren, the village’s planning consultant, said that he would like the plans to be reviewed by board members and discussed at the next meeting on April 24, with the potential to move forward at that time.