A resolution at a Sag Harbor Village Board meeting last month to appoint members to the Sag Harbor Open Space Advisory Group was approved without discussion, but the group’s ideas could have a visible impact on the village, including at the intersection of Main Street and Jermain Avenue, where it will revisit plans for a traffic circle.
Ed Haye, the deputy mayor, is guiding the group, a subcommittee of the board. He said it has put together a list of 49 properties owned by the village that range from tiny .1-acre parcels to Havens Beach, which is nearly 19 acres. “The goal is to reimagine the parks and open spaces in the village for the benefit of its citizens,” Mr. Haye said by phone. “That includes making them more accessible and if practical, connecting spaces, especially along the waterfront.” The group would make recommendations to the village board, which would then bring them to the public for further input and discussion.
Besides Mr. Haye, the group has seven members: Jeanne Kane, a village trustee, Robert Drake, the acting chief of police, Rachel Dee, the president of the Mashashimuet Park board, Rory McEvoy, owner of Kidd Squid, Ed Hollander, a landscape architect, Drew Harvey, an architect and founder of Dawgpatch Bandits, and John Shaka, the chairman of the village’s planning board.
“The group grew organically out of conversations between myself, the mayor, Ed Hollander, and Tommy John Schiavoni about Cilli Farm,” said Mr. Haye. “We thought about what other groups should have direct input on a preliminary analysis: Mr. Drake for safety and traffic concerns, Mr. McEvoy on how to operate and maintain events.” Mr. McEvoy was director of citywide special events for New York City from 2008 until 2011.
Also vice president of the chamber of commerce, he noticed that when Steinbeck Park opened, events needed a special permit, since it is a passive-use park. But it wasn’t clear if the town or village oversaw permitting. “It’s something that had to be cleaned up.” The same question could affect the park’s eventual connection to Long Wharf. “How do we connect them? What’s the process?” Mr. McEvoy wears many hats, and is also president of AREA4, “an experiential marketing and event production agency.”
Is the group seeking to create more events on village property? “It’s not the intention of the group to activate spaces,” he said. “There will be no raves at Havens Beach.”
But about that traffic circle. It would connect three village roads, Main Street, Jermain Avenue, and Brick Kiln Road, with Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike, a county road, replacing the only traffic light in the village. Back in 1998, plans were drawn up that depicted a circle centered in the intersection, large enough to accommodate tractor trailers and school buses, and a traffic study was conducted. The center of the circle was a bed of flowers, surrounded by a wide, flat brick border.
A traffic study from 1998 sounds dated, and likely is, but it can be used as a foundation for discussion, said Mr. Haye. He was quick to add that the recognizable white arch at the park’s current entrance would never move. The road it spans, however, might move east down Jermain Avenue so that cars wouldn’t be braking in the circle to enter the park.
It’s difficult from Main Street to make the left onto Jermain and then the immediate right through the white arch. It’s sometimes not easy to simply make the left from Jermain either, since one must enter a dreaded no-man’s land that separates two lanes of traffic. The arch itself hardly feels as if it can support the width of two cars and perhaps it can’t, but the issue is rarely pressed.
An added difficulty for the entrance has been the emergence of pickleball. A parking area alongside the turnpike has become overused by players, creating congestion and visibility issues around the intersection. Mr. Haye, who acts as the board liaison to the park, which is privately owned, said the park trustees want to improve safety.
Another village open space that could affect traffic flow is the wide median separating Long Island Avenue from Water Street. Mr. Haye said it could be a potential new drop-off spot for the Hampton Jitney, which now uses Main Street. The same median could play a role in connecting Steinbeck Park to Cilli Farm, a nine-acre property that has been quietly sleeping at the end of Long Island Avenue for over two decades.
The farm is jointly owned by Suffolk County, Southampton Town, and the village. Mr. Harvey’s nonprofit, Dawgpatch Bandits, has contacted the village with a proposal to manage the park under two agreements. The first was passed by the board at its Oct. 10 meeting, when it entered into an inter-municipal agreement with the county and town to manage the property as a passive park. The second would be between the town, village, and the Bandits.
Mr. Harvey proposes to establish an access point into the farm and then clear it of debris and invasive species. Finally, the Bandits would create and maintain walking and biking paths.
“We have already walked the site with Colee Environmental Services, who have offered their services to identify, tag, and oversee the proper removal of invasive species on site,” Mr. Harvey wrote in an email. “Currently identified species include autumn olive, honeysuckle, garlic mustard, and phragmites. The beautiful thing about this site is that there are a lot of native species that currently exist as well, and one of our primary goals would be to highlight those site features and give people access to a very naturalized site.”
Part of connecting all these spaces is improving signage. Mr. Haye noted that a “bike path” that leads from the village down Bay Street is overlooked. “It’s not just about open spaces but identifying ways to connect them,” he said. Connecting Long Wharf to Marine Park without people having to enter Main Street is a priority, connecting Marine Park to Havens Beach, another. “Bay Street is a wide street, it can be a shared bike, pedestrian, and traffic street. Another thing we’re looking at is an East End sponsor for a pedal-share program.”
“We’re focusing on larger spaces first. Between Havens Beach and Cilli Farm you have 30 acres. This won’t be a short process and we’ll be reporting to the board regularly. Ultimately what we’re hoping to get is a comprehensive, integrated plan. We need to understand the history of these spaces and existing uses. Once we gather all the preliminary information, we will begin public information sessions where we hope for early engagement, even from the schools. Figuring out a way to get schoolchildren’s perspectives is important to me.”
