Consultants hired by Sag Harbor Village to create a new zoning code that will control its redevelopment, presented the goals of the project on Oct. 28 at a village board meeting.
Marta Goldsmith, director of the nonprofit Form-Based Institute, which helps municipalities develop rules to guide the shape and size of buildings, said the new code will be designed to protect the village's historic charm and water quality, preserve and enhance views and access to the water and open spaces, and maintain a diversity of architectural styles. It will also encourage a pedestrian-friendly environment that allows for bicycling and other alternatives to driving a car, safeguard the village's water-oriented businesses, and create spaces for ground-floor commercial and civic uses and, where possible, upper-floor residential units.
The "vision statement," she said, was developed after listening to members of the village board, the waterfront planning committee, property owners, developers, and residents. "That's the picture of your village that we've heard you say."
Ms. Goldsmith said she and Kathryn Eiseman of the Nelson, Pope & Voorhis engineering firm, are analyzing existing regulations to determine "where the current code may not get you to the vision." Afterward, they will develop a new code tailored specifically to the waterfront areas, which will incorporate a new waterfront overlay district.
The village has suspended until March 1 the planning board's authority to grant approval of site plans, special permits, and subdivisions, while the code changes are developed.
The waterfront overlay district will include the Long Wharf shopping plaza, the Breakwater Yacht Club, and properties on Bay and West Water Streets, including the Beacon restaurant and the West Water Street Shops, a more than 15,000-square-foot commercial building that was recently purchased by the Bay Street Theater (it currently contains a 7-Eleven and other stores).
Properties on Main Street are not part of the study nor subject to the moratorium, but a section of the commercial core to the west, which includes the post office and parking lots, would be.
Ms. Goldsmith will outline the principles of "form-based code" on Tuesday, at a village board meeting. At the board's meeting on Nov. 23, the consultants will discuss the results of their analysis of the existing zoning regulations.
