For most visitors, Sag Harbor is accessed by automobile. During the summer, crawling across the bridge from North Haven, drivers might stare into the harbor and envy the relatively large spaces between boats. But the bay is a big blue parking lot if you’re a boater. At a Tuesday evening workshop hosted by the Sag Harbor Village Board, at issue was the number and spacing of those “parking spots,” or moorings.
“We’re trying to create the perfect number out there, that everyone will be happy with, if that’s possible,” said Chris Duryea, a village harbormaster, who presented the village board with a proposal for a mooring grid. His comment was met with laughter from the packed room.
In 2021, the village amended its waterways law, giving it additional jurisdiction beyond 1,500 feet from the shore, into waters known as the outer management area. The outer management area is one-third of the harbor management area, which also includes the cove area west of the North Haven bridge, and the inner harbor inside the breakwater off Long Wharf. Mooring is allowed in each area.
The village board has the authority to set the number of moorings. However, according to the waterways law, only Robert Bori, the village harbor master, has the authority to dole out permits for the moorings. Each permit costs $350. Because the owner of the mooring and the holder of the permit do not have to be the owner of the boat on the mooring, renting mooring space is a thriving business in the harbor. The village at present recognizes four mooring operators.
The largest, Sag Harbor Launch, owned by Ken Deeg, charges $2 per boat foot and controls 34 moorings. So, a 100-foot boat moored for one night pulls in $200, covering more than half the annual expense of the mooring permit. Of course, there are other costs associated. To install the moorings (which sometimes weigh thousands of pounds, depending on the size of the boat they hold) costs thousands, and there is maintenance. But there are approximately 200 days in the boating season. Business is good. Mr. Deeg said at the meeting that he was not requesting any additional mooring permits in 2024. “I don’t want to add anything else.”
Despite having the authority to do so, the village never set the number of moorings, and there were no fixed spaces for moorings. The proverbial parking lot is unlined, causing the potential for confusion. “We’re afraid someone could come out and drop 50 moorings and be in the mooring business,” said Mr. Duryea. Working with Jeanne Kane, a village trustee, Nelson Pope Voorhis, the village’s environmental consultant, and taking suggestions from the mooring operators, the harbor master proposed an 85-spot mooring field, spaced using GPS coordinates, in the outer management area.
“We want to limit unchecked expansion,” said Mr. Duryea. “This has never been about expanding the mooring field, but about organizing it.”
However, many view it as an expansion. Between July 4 and Labor Day 2023, only 67 moorings were permitted in the outer management area, and they were never fully occupied. The average day saw only 37 boats moored, and the busiest had 56.
“Where did 85 come from?” asked Aidan Corish, a village trustee. Ms. Kane said the number represented a compromise, between what was out there last year, the total amount of space available, and the wish list by the commercial operators. “At no point will there be 85 boats out there,” said Jim Scheel, manager of the Sag Harbor Yacht Yard. The yard was sold last year, and is looking to become a big player in the harbor. It has requested 32 mooring spaces for 2024, up from only five in 2023.
Derek Galen, owner of Galen Marine, said, “Honestly, I don’t care how many are out there. I’ve been advocating to limit it. There is tons of pressure coming into that area and it’s going to continue. Whatever you can do to hold it back, hold it back.” Mr. Galen had permits for four moorings in 2023 and requested nine for 2024. He criticized the proposed mooring map. “There are some large boats in close to shore, which I think is a bad idea. It’s like planting a garden, you put the big flowers in the back.”
“If the village is allowing a commercial use on village property, shouldn’t that be an open process for people to bid on, because they’re using public assets for a commercial use?” asked Russell Kratoville, a village resident. He said the $350 permit fee was very low, considering the amount of work each moored boat requires of the harbormaster, who conducts random checks of boat sanitary systems. “Organizing is a good thing, but we definitely don’t need more spaces.”
Tiffany Scarlato, a Sag Harbor lawyer who represents applicants in the business district, pointed out that parking spaces in the bay equate to parking issues for the village. “When you’re driving to a mooring, you’re leaving your vehicle in the village for a large number of hours.” She said the board should consider that, just as her clients have to consider parking calculations when they seek to open businesses.
Shannon Richards, a village resident, said operators were “seeking to squeeze every dime out of the bay at a cost to the village.” He criticized the village for bowing to their needs. “The bay is a public resource and I’m not sure why the tail is wagging the dog here.”
Lou Grignon, the former owner of the Sag Harbor Yacht Yard, said if the village set a high number of mooring spaces, it could lead to a land grab by the local operators. “It will be like the Oklahoma land rush out there. My understanding is that when a customer comes into your office and says they’d like a mooring, that’s when you set the mooring. You don’t go out and set 85 moorings in one shot. When no one is using them, those chains are out there scouring the bottom of the bay. We talk about bay scallops. They are not coming back if the bottom is being scrubbed all year long.”
Environmental and aesthetic concerns were also top of mind for Steve Williams, a village resident and chairman of the board of historic preservation and architectural review. He said setting larger boats off the private beaches of the historically black beachfront communities would impede views of the bay. “We’re concerned about the damage to the bottom of the bay. We’ve seen the decrease in eelgrass, and you don’t see shells washing up on the beach anymore. We don’t see horseshoe crabs.”
He wondered where American Cruise Lines, set to visit Sag Harbor this summer, would moor. Mr. Bori said the cruise ship was slated to remain in state water, outside of the village’s jurisdiction, “In the vicinity of buoy 12.”
Talk of mooring spilled over into the village board meeting, held 30 minutes after the conclusion of the workshop. “There’s a serious risk that we’re going to have an expansion on the number of moorings before this board can take action,” John Parker, a member of the village’s harbor committee, said during the public comment period. “Right now, nothing prevents me, you, or someone else from putting down a number of moorings and requesting a permit because we have no limit. Last year was above the number that was there only a few years ago.” He requested a spot resolution to prevent further expansion, which would limit the number of mooring permits in 2024 to the number issued in 2023.
However, Liz Vail, the village attorney, said the board couldn’t just vote on a resolution like that. “It has to be drafted. It’s going to take some time.”
“As an aside, the yacht yard just bought a new mooring boat,” said Bob Plumb, a trustee.
“When this process started, I said we shouldn’t add one more mooring. We should try to manage and possibly even shrink what was out there, because I share these concerns,” said Mayor Tom Gardella. He noted that aside from the permit fees, the village doesn’t receive a dime from the mooring fields.
