Vote to Extend Wetlands Building Moratorium

The Sag Harbor Village Board voted on Tuesday evening to extend a temporary moratorium on reviews of wetland variances as it prepares for a hearing on April 14 to consider revisions to its wetlands permit regulations.

Mayor Brian Gilbride said that a draft of the proposed changes is ready, but that the board wanted just a bit more time to review it. In the meantime, a six-month moratorium on consideration of wetland variance requests for single-family lots has been extended another three months, until June 1.

Among the amendments to the code under consideration, the harbor committee would have sole discretion over wetland permits. Under the current code, there is a two-tier system in place in which the village zoning board of appeals reviews an application first and grants variances, before the harbor committee reviews the wetland permit requests.

“It just made it too complicated,” said Denise Schoen, a village attorney who worked on strengthening the wetlands code with the committee and Rich Warren of InterScience, a village consultant. The harbor committee felt “pigeon-holed” by the decisions of the Z.B.A., a board that is less experienced with wetlands laws.

The revision also puts the burden on the applicants when they request variances from wetlands setbacks. Applicants will have to show that there are no practical alternatives. “It’s not enough to say I need a 6,000-square-foot house, a pool, and a jacuzzi. You really have to show you can’t live with something smaller and push something back,” Ms. Schoen said.

Buffer systems have been outlined better in the legislative findings to show how important they are, she said. Also, the bluff-dune setbacks have been reduced to 50 feet because few lots in the Village of Sag Harbor can meet the 100-foot setback.

The village board is expected to adopt the changes next month. Once the revision is filed with the state the moratorium would end. Ms. Schoen said residents can likely expect the village to be processing wetland applications at the end of April.

The moratorium was intended to give the village some breathing room during what has been a building boom in the village. An exemption procedure has been in place, and the board has allowed several applications to go before the village’s harbor committee for review.

In other news from Tuesday’s meeting, single-use plastic bags were back on the agenda. The board, which is in the process of joining the rest of the South Fork in passing a plastic bag ban, agreed that the ban would have no negative environmental impacts. It hopes to pass the prohibition next month, in time for Earth Day. It would go into effect on June 1, a “fair deadline,” Mayor Gilbride said. The board had taken into consideration comments from local business owners who said they had a lot of plastic bags still in stock that would go to waste.

Lastly, Mayor Gilbride promised business owners that the village would take action in response to complaints about the parking situation around Washington Street. Heidi Walters, the owner of Ruby Beets on that street, said that contractors working on the redevelopment of the former Bulova watchcase factory park on the street all day along, making it impossible for customers to find parking — a violation of the original site plan approval. “The vans and the cars are insane,” Ms. Walters said. “Please, help us.”

Ms. Schoen confirmed that the site plan approval stipulated that workers were to park in the St. Andrew’s Catholic Church parking lot or be shuttled in from elsewhere, Ms. Schoen confirmed.

“You are absolutely right,” Mr. Gilbride told Ms. Walters. “We’ll be on the phone with them tomorrow.”

Ms. Walters said the business owners had complained last year, but that nothing had been done. Ms. Schoen said Sag Development Partners did received notices of violation for having three uncovered Dumpsters and a trailer parked at Sage and Washington Streets without a permit.

“We did try to rattle them a little bit, maybe not enough,” Mr. Gilbride said. Ms. Schoen said parking citations will be issued to anyone violating parking regulations, but that Tom Preiato, the building inspector, or Keith Payne, the code enforcement officer, could issue a notice of site plan violations if need be.

Correction: The hearing on the wetland code changes will take place on April 14, not April 17 as originally reported.