Sag Harbor Golf Club: State Says It Plans No Expansion

The days of unlimited play for a single greens fee are probably gone forever, but state officials meeting on Friday with prospective operators of the Sag Harbor Golf Club and other interested parties said they have no plans to expand the rustic nine-hole course or develop other portions of the 341-acre Barcelona Neck preserve.

Otherwise, during a two-hour meeting and tour of the club that was at times confrontational, state officials provided few details of their plans for the future of the course, where many retirees and others enjoy golfing.

"This is a proposal process," said Mark Lyon, director of concessions for the State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation. "We are reaching out to the pro golfing community to get their views. We are not going to second-guess anyone. Nor are we going to prejudge any proposal."

Air Of Suspicion

Mr. Lyon was joined by Chuck Hamilton and Dave Sinclair of the Department of Environmental Conservation, which owns the property but wants to turn its operation over to the Office of Parks and Recreation. Ed Wankel, deputy commissioner of parks for the Long Island region, was also present but kept a low profile. Mr. Wankel was Suffolk County parks commissioner in 1993 when a master plan that proposed to turn over part of the Montauk County Park to private concessionaires ignited fierce protest.

An air of suspicion hung in the air. At one point, as state officials discussed the course with bidders, a bystander said, "Don't leave them alone." His friend added, "They've just signed a contract."

Others in the crowd said they had heard the state was planning to allow a developer to install docks at Northwest Harbor.

That's No Birdie

Thor Anderson, an East Hampton resident, said last Thursday he saw "a dock-building-type guy walking in the meadow" on the west side of the harbor from his vantage point at the foot of Northwest Landing Road. The man, he said, was clearly gesturing to several other men where pilings could be placed and how a dock could be laid out, he said. "There was no doubt what they were doing," said Mr. Anderson, who watched him with a spotting scope. "They weren't birders."

But Mark Levanway of the D.E.C. said Mr. Anderson was mistaken. "The boat dock is totally new to me," he said. Any development of the site will be limited to the "footprint" of the existing 50-acre course, he added.

Sag Harbor Mayor Pierce Hance and two Village Board members, Ed Deyermond and Brian Gilbride, as well as Southampton Town Supervisor Vincent Cannuscio and Councilman Steven Halsey attended Friday's meeting. But East Hampton Town Board members, who were meeting at Town Hall, were absent.

Town's Concerns

Yesterday, East Hampton Town Supervisor Cathy Lester said, "The town is certainly very concerned with what the state is planning. This has been a battle that has been going on since we worked to preserve Barcelona."

She said the Town Board, which met with Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. on Friday afternoon, would "support the Sag Harbor Golf Club's effort to operate the course" and would also look into the possibility of running the course "on a cooperative effort" with Southampton Town and the Village of Sag Harbor.

Since the state acquired the land in 1990, the not-for-profit Sag Harbor Golf Club has run the course on a year-to-year basis. While its officers said they knew the state wanted a more long-term arrangement, they said they were caught off-guard by a request for proposals that was formally released two weeks ago.

Club Plans Bid

The document calls for an operator to invest either $500,000 or $750,000 in capital improvements for a 10-year lease or between $1 million and $1.25 million for a 20-year deal. The new operator would be required to pay the state a minimum of $25,000 annually for the right to run the course as of May 1.

Mr. Levanway said on Tuesday that the state had extended the deadline for proposals originally due in Albany by Feb. 18 to March 18.

Although the Sag Harbor Golf Club plans to make its own bid, Paul Bailey, a member of the club's board of governors, said, "I don't know how we can come up with a meaningful proposal" in the time frame allowed by the state.

"We didn't expect it to come down this quickly," said Mr. Bailey. "I predicted, much to my chagrin, that this could never happen in 1997."

Mr. Thiele, who said the proposal was "thrown together very quickly" and "substantially different" from what he was told the state in tended, charged the move was an attempt by the state "to maximize the revenue stream from the course," as it has done at other state parks.

"The idea is to get as much money out of these properties as possible," he said. "And they can't do that without getting the Sag Harbor Golf Club out of the way."

In its own proposal, the club notes that the state's requirements are "slightly above the maximum net revenue that can be derived" from the club.

Mr. Bailey said the club was prepared to pay the state "a tad over $65,000" in 1996 profits from the course on Jan. 1 but was directed instead to use the money to have the access road repaved.

Thiele Teed Off

In a face-to-face confrontation with Mr. Lyon and Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Thiele charged the state was trying to "get around" the State Environmental Quality Review Act by failing to develop a management plan for Barcelona Neck before soliciting proposals for the golf course.

"The D.E.C. wanted to abandon this," he said. "They said the use was too intense. Now we're talking maybe $500,000, maybe $750,000 in improvements and you can't tell us what those improvements are."

"If we ran town government that way, I'd be in another line of work," he added. "This is a slam dunk. You haven't done your homework."

"Are we talking about nine holes, or are we talking about bulldozing the woods down in the middle of the night?" asked Marshall Garypie, president of the Sag Harbor Golf Club.

No Expansion

"We are not talking about an expansion of this nine-hole course to an 18-hole course," responded Mr. Lyon.

"The entire plan will be subjected to a draft environmental impact statement," Mr. Lyon said yesterday. "I can't imagine participating in projects that would have no review."

Mr. Lyon also said the state was following its normal timetable and was not rushing the matter. It sent approximately 100 letters to prospective bidders advising them of their plans early in January, he said.

While the state does not plan to expand the course, it would accept proposals to irrigate it by connecting it to a Suffolk County Water Authority line on Route 114, Mr. Lyon said.

At Nature's Mercy

The Sag Harbor Golf Club's own proposal notes that "lack of irrigation is the course's most remarkable feature. The fairways are at the mercy of nature and are normally burned brown and become hardened by mid-July."

The club, which uses portable pumps to irrigate greens only, would not change things because the fairways are "natural course conditions in the best tradition of the sport of golf, to which players must adjust."

While the club does not apply any fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides to the course, the state proposal allows for "an integrated pest management plan," subject to D.E.C. approval.

The state's proposal also requires the new bidder to have a professional golfer on its staff, something the Sag Harbor Golf Club does not have.

Projected Fees

Mr. Garypie and Mr. Bailey also expressed concerns about the projected fee schedule. Mr. Wankel said fees would be "consistent with other state nine-hole courses," or about $9 to $11 a round. The current fees in Sag Harbor are $10 on weekdays and $15 on weekends, but they include unlimited play.

The Sag Harbor club also offers a modestly priced annual membership at $230 for an individual or $350 for a family, which allows unlimited play. "We don't contemplate memberships," said Mr. Lyon. "But we would look at an annual permit."

"If someone is going to be the demon, it is not going to be us," said Mr. Bailey about the fee structure.