“I have to point out that John Steinbeck would be 100 percent in support of public housing,” Kathryn Szoka of Sag Harbor told the village’s board of trustees last week, in a perfect transition from a discussion about affordable housing to another about preserving the author’s Bluff Point Lane house.
In February 2021, the house went on the market for the first time in six decades, with an asking price of $17.9 million. Ms. Szoka, a co-owner of Canio’s Books, told the board she’d immediately sprung into action to save it. The fact that a year and a half later it’s still on the market, now for the lower price of $15.4 million, brings her no comfort, she said.
“For me, every day is an opportunity for the property to be sold out from under us, and for Sag Harbor to lose a unique chance to preserve this location,” Ms. Szoka said in a phone call Tuesday.
She launched a petition to preserve the house, which as of yesterday had 33,091 signatures. She formed an advisory committee and brought in the Sag Harbor Partnership to raise money. She contacted Southampton Town to inquire about the community preservation fund, and was told that a well-financed steward with experience running writing retreats was needed before money could be committed.
Enter the University of Texas, Austin, which was interested. Not only does it have experienced people managing writing retreats, but it was willing to give the project a $10 million endowment.
“The C.P.F. has dedicated a large amount of money to the project, but not at a price where the seller wants to be,” said Tommy John Schiavoni, a Southampton Town board member, at the meeting. “We are not at the point where we have an offer and agreement between buyers and sellers,” he said.
An additional $500,000 was raised with the help of Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. in the form of a state capital grant. “I grew up in Sag Harbor in the 1960s when John Steinbeck was walking the streets of Sag Harbor. I didn’t have the appreciation for who he was when I was 10, but I do now,” Mr. Thiele said.
The Steinbeck house is at the end of a narrow road. John Avlon, who lives near it and shares Ms. Szoka’s desire to see it preserved, told The Star that “a lot of people had the same idea at the same time,” referring to other neighbors on the road. There is “a desire to save the Steinbeck house because it’s such an iconic local landmark, but not dramatically change traffic patterns,” he said.
At the meeting, Ms. Szoka explained how the writers retreat would work. Writers would apply to have residency at the John Steinbeck Center, which would include community engagement. Over the course of a year, there would be three to four cycles of residents. The house could hold two writers at a time. Four weekends a year, the house would be open for public tours.
“The core idea is that writers would come, get inspired, create, and then feed back into the community,” said Mr. Avlon. “They could do readings at John Jermain, at Pierson, at Canio’s. The retreat would create a feedback loop for continuing the literary community in Sag Harbor.”
It all sounded great, but Mayor James Larocca had questions. “I don’t understand the plan for governance,” he said. “I want a full explanation of how the property will be used.” He questioned whether Bluff Point Lane was in the village’s inventory of roads, and, if not, whether the village would incur expenses to bring it up to compliance. He also wondered whether having a writers center in a residential district would create a change in use.
Mr. Schiavoni said Bluff Point was indeed a village road, citing a vote by the 1971 trustees that brought it under village purview.
Susan Mead, speaking for the Sag Harbor Partnership in lieu of their lawyer, Chris Kelley, who had to leave the meeting, said, “The house just needs a new certificate of occupancy. Only thing that would require a site plan change is if the property were converted to a museum or a not-for-profit office. Neither is going to happen.”
In a follow-up phone call, Mr. Kelley said having two writers in a house did not require a change in use.
“Can you imagine the outcry if writers couldn’t work from their Sag Harbor homes?” he said.
Mayor Larocca was the only board member who seemed dissatisfied with the answers he was receiving. Aidan Corish and Thomas Gardella both indicated their support. Liz Vail, the village attorney, said it would be up to the village inspector, and not the board of trustees, to make a judgement on the roads.
“Having my motives misunderstood is too bad, because I’ve been an advocate for this going back to when I was dean of Southampton College,” the mayor said afterward. “I’m also bound by my legal education and oath of office. Their process has been secretive. The information that they do share has been fluid. Suddenly we’re hearing about four weekends a year for the public. That’s the first time we’re hearing that.”
“If there was tension at the board meeting” Mr. Larocca continued, “it wasn’t about the availability of C.P.F. funds, but the loss of our fund-raising partner. Because of the Steinbeck House, we learned they were too occupied with fund-raising for that, to give any attention to Steinbeck Park. That was a disappointment and left us without a fund-raising partner for the moment.”
However, after a conversation with Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman, the mayor said he was left “assured and comfortable” that there would be enough C.P.F. support for both the Steinbeck House and Steinbeck Park.
“Steinbeck is one of only 13 Americans who have won the Nobel Prize in Literature,” said Ms. Szoka. “When they selected him for the prize in 1962, one of the reasons they did so was because of the quality of his writing in ‘Winter of Our Discontent,’ which he wrote in Sag Harbor, about a community that was much like Sag Harbor.”
“I would hate to see his house lost on our watch because we were too distracted by details we will work out going forward,” she said.
Nada Barry, 92, walked to the lectern at the end of the discussion. “My former husband was John Steinbeck’s best friend,” she said. “John would just love this to happen. It just fits into his whole being.”
