After months of discussion and planning, the Sag Harbor Village Board on Tuesday approved affordable housing legislation, including three amendments to the existing housing rules, which was met with applause from some 50 people in attendance at the meeting.
The first change deals with the way the housing program is administered, while the other two pave the way for accessory apartments in the residential district and work-force units in the office and village business districts. Mayor James Larocca called it “very important public policy.”
Two board members, Ed Haye and Bob Plumb, were the main drivers of the legislation. Mr. Haye said there was “still work to be done” and noted that a pending state law could add incentives for homeowners and developers to build affordable housing. He said the village’s laws could still be tweaked and modified going forward.
Mr. Plumb likened the legislation to writing a book. “You never finish a book,” he said. “You just turn it in because time’s up.”
Some criticism came from Bryony Freij, a village resident and an active member of East End YIMBY, a housing advocacy group. She said she was upset that the minimum size of accessory apartments in the residential districts would be 500 square feet, up from 300 square feet in the current code. She called it “totally backwards” and said she had many friends living comfortably in 300-square-foot dwellings. She was afraid the increased square footage might make it difficult for some homeowners to be able to build the accessory dwellings.
Mr. Haye said amending the drafts now would only delay the implementation. He suggested they could be adjusted in the future to “either reduce or eliminate the minimum dwelling size.”
A Hidden Cell Tower?
In other Sag Harbor news, Verizon will be submitting an application “in the next week or two,” according to Denise Vista, an attorney with the Amato Law Group, to replace the 164-foot-tall lattice tower near WLNG with a 165-foot “concealment pole and associated ground equipment.”
She said all antennas would be concealed, except for an exterior component for the radio station’s antenna. Upon completion, she said, the lattice tower, which has been in place for 60 years, would be removed.
For it to move forward, Verizon also needs to file a special-use permit application, and then have it approved by the village’s planning board and harbor committee.
Mr. Plumb asked Ms. Vista if Verizon had considered using its own building on the west side of Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike. Ms. Vista said it “would not work to cover the need for this area.” Previously, however, Verizon had sought to place the tower even farther south, in a depression of land adjacent to the village impound lot, in the environmentally sensitive Long Pond Greenbelt.
Several residents spoke up with questions before Tom Gardella, the deputy mayor, noted that the tower was also essential for WLNG’s survival. He said the current lattice tower could not sustain the needs of the radio station.
WLNG employees were in the audience and said they’ve always had a tower, but they cannot afford to remove the old tower and replace it with a new one, so Verizon’s help is needed.
Emma Hamilton, a resident of Redwood and a member of a group of residents opposed to the tower, asked the employees to clarify. They said they could only reiterate what Mr. Gardella had said.
Liz Vail, the village attorney, put an end to the public comments, as Ms. Vista was there only to introduce the project. There would be time enough for public comment in the future, Ms. Vail said.
Mayor Larocca promised the “nexus of the radio tower to the rest of the story” would be examined.
Balloon Ban Approved
The board also banned the sale of balloons within village limits and enacted a law against their intentional release.
A public hearing was held beforehand, noting balloons’ detrimental environmental impacts, mostly on marine life.
The law would prohibit the sale of both Mylar and latex balloons, and the ban on releasing balloons would apply to both individuals and businesses. The punishment would be a fine of up to $1,000, imprisonment for up to 15 days, or both.
Susan McGraw Keber, an East Hampton Town Trustee, spoke out for the ban. She has spearheaded similar actions in Suffolk County and said the New York State Senate and Assembly were also considering the ban. “Balloons are single-use debris, like cigarettes,” she said.
Kate Plumb, a Sag Harbor resident and employee of the Wharf Shop, said just in the past week, customers who had boated up from Florida observed “thousands of balloons” just offshore.
“I’ve seen that myself,” Mayor Larocca said just before the board voted to approve the ban.
