A dock on West Water Street next to the Beacon restaurant in Sag Harbor has “reached the end of its lifespan,” according to Chris Duryea, who with his fellow harbormaster, Robert Bori, at a village board meeting on Dec. 10 presented a plan to completely replace it.
One reason is the need for more space. “We have almost 50 boats on a waiting list,” Mr. Duryea said, adding that the planned replacement would add about 15 new slips, bringing the total “to 78 from the 63 we have now.”
The focus is on creating more spaces for smaller boats, under 24 feet. “The slips start at 11 to 16 feet and go up to about 25 to 26 feet,” Mr. Duryea said. The “biggest that could fit in there is a 30-foot vessel.”
The plan also includes building a new floating dock to replace the current dock on pylons. The biggest change would come from removing mooring cables, which Mr. Duryea said are “not fully utilized” and have drawn complaints.
In a couple of instances, Mr. Duryea said, “people jumped out of their boat during the summer, and they cut their feet on rocks in the water.” While there is a waitlist to get into the slips, there are actually vacancies in the cable area.
“It’s not appealing,” Mayor Thomas Gardella chimed in. He supports the replacement, and brought up the possibility of adding a bathroom and shower to the dock area.
A feasibility study and conceptual drawings for a full renovation have already been provided to the village by L.K. McLean Associates, consultants. The work would begin in November 2025.
The village will have to go through the regular bidding process, and the board’s Jeanne Kane and Aidan Corish will be looking into grants for the project. The board has not ruled out the possibility of a bond, and Deputy Mayor Ed Haye believes it could be a “self-sustaining project” because of the fees associated with the dock.
The entire board voiced approval for the idea. The proposal is to be back before the board at its next meeting, the date of which had not been set as of press time.
