Consultants hired by Sag Harbor Village to create a new zoning code for waterfront development addressed residents' concerns about the proposal at a board meeting on Feb. 24.
The Nelson, Pope, and Voorhis engineering firm, along with the Form Based Code Institute, a nonprofit organization that helps municipalities develop regulations that guide the shape and size of buildings, and Chuck Banas Design, a planning firm based in Buffalo, developed the new code. At a board meeting in late January, they presented a proposal that would create a new Sag Harbor Waterfront Overlay district.
Since then, the village board has received "50 pages worth of comments" from the public, said Mayor Kathleen Mulcahy. The board's waterfront planning committee, which is overseeing the effort, discussed the comments and suggested revisions to the code, which Valerie Monastra of Nelson, Pope, and Voorhis presented at last week's meeting.
The proposed district would 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 building that will be the future home of the Bay Street Theater. Properties on Main Street would not be part of the overlay, but a section of the commercial core to the west, which includes the post office and parking lots, would be.
Parts of the overlay would be in a historic district, and members of the public expressed concern that the new code would diminish the power of the Board of Historic Preservation and Architectural Review to protect the architectural style of historic buildings, Ms. Monastra said. To allay that fear, wording that makes it clear that such determinations are solely in the board's purview would be added to the code, she said.
The overlay would contain four zoning districts: waterfront, parks and conservation, village business, and office.
To prevent the construction of oversize buildings in the waterfront district, the code would require a maximum building height of 25 feet, and only two stories, unless the developer provides public waterfront access and at least three other benefits, in which case it would be allowed 10 more feet of height and a third story, which would have to be set back at least 10 feet. Installing environmentally friendly building systems, sustainable landscapes, and public art were among the suggested public benefits.
In response, however, to concerns that art might be controversial or distasteful, that incentive will be removed, said Ms. Monastra. Clear guidance on how the planning and architectural review boards should determine whether an applicant meets the criteria for a height increase will be added to the code, and since the current language does not specify that mechanical equipment on rooftops must fall within the 35-foot height requirement, it too will be revised.
According to the new code, a maximum height of 35 feet and three stories would be allowed for buildings on the south side of Bay Street and Long Island Avenue as long as the third story is set back by at least 10 feet. Based on input from the public, the code will be changed to allow just two stories for buildings on parcels across from Marine, Windmill, and Steinbeck Parks.
A section of the proposed code that pertains to buildings' refuse areas says that "Dumpsters and garbage cans must be located in the rear yard adjacent to the principal building." Adam Potter, the founder of Friends of Bay Street, a nonprofit created to oversee the development of the new theater, which will abut Steinbeck Park, took issue with that provision. "We must put [garbage] at the back of the building, but we can't, because it's on a park, so where do we put garbage?" he asked. He also objected to a requirement that the only entrance to a building in the overlay be on the "front facade."
"To not allow an entrance on the side of the building, and to have 300-plus people congregate on Long Island Avenue, I think is dangerous," he said.
According to the new code, development on lots abutting a public park with waterfront access must provide a "visual access yard," that is, unobstructed open space, of at least 20 percent of the lot width. Mr. Potter said that Bay Street, which will span 300 feet across the park, would be happy to provide 60 feet of open space, but it would be hard pressed to build a suitable theater given the other size limitations on the building.
The code would allow a boutique hotel with a maximum of 10 rooms to be built in the village business and office districts within the overlay. Nathiel Egosi, the owner of the Sag Harbor Inn, warned the board that hotels can easily turn into apartment complexes, and recommended providing specific limits to the size of the rooms, and a prohibition against cooking on the premises. "You need to put some boundaries on it," he said.
Ms. Monastra said she would discuss land uses permitted in the overlay, parking management strategies, and other issues raised by the public at a board meeting on Tuesday.
