And Now for the Not So Good

A couple of weeks ago I made a list of some positive developments here in Sag Hampton in an effort to cheer myself (and you, if you needed it) up. It worked. I had a very pleasant holiday, barely giving a thought to local issues. I hope your holidays were equally pleasant. I called that post “The Good” and promised “The Bad and the Ugly” would follow. With the holidays over, now is as good a time as any to explore the clouds whose silver linings I praised last time.

First on the list was the affordable housing initiative being developed by Sag Harbor Mayor Greg Ferraris and Trustee Tiffany Scarlatto. That’s the good. The not so good is that it’s too late for government to do anything to require affordable housing in the three largest development projects Sag Harbor has seen in quite a while — perhaps the largest single spurt of development Sag Harbor has ever seen. I’m referring, of course, to the two  condominium projects, one at 21 Water Street, and the other on the site of the Sag Harbor Professional Building next to 7-Eleven, and the redevelopment of the old Bulova Watchcase factory on Division Street.

All three of these projects are well along in the planning stages, and so will not be impacted by any changes in Sag Harbor’s Zoning Code or Local Waterfront Revitilization Plan (LWRP), the Master Plan for the Village of Sag Harbor. Should the Village try to apply newly changed laws to these three properties retroactively, it would undoubtedly be sued by the property owners, who would most likely prevail in court. Unless you’re the President of the U.S. (another story — not for this blog), the courts frown on government officials changing the rules in the middle of the game. So, with very little village land available for development, changes to the village zoning code or LWRP that encourage affordable housing, while important, won’t have as much impact as they would have had they been made a year or two ago, before the projects in question were brought before the various village boards.

Rather then just feel bad about this though, I would like to use this opportunity to tie together a few threads from earlier posts, namely:

1. Where is it written that developers must squeeze every dime possible out of a piece of property? Unless property owners (including you and I) start to make some small concessions price-wise, we will never be able to put a stop to the ever-escalating spiral that housing prices are riding.
2. It’s time for more Sag Hamptonites to speak out about the values that are important to us — to take a stand; be a hero.

I think this is actually a perfect opportunity to put both these concepts to the test. Since we can’t legislate affordable housing into the the condo projects already underway, the only option left is to ask and/or demand of the developers that they do it voluntarily. The community needs to step up and make its voice heard. Lack of affordable housing is the number one issue facing the year-round working community here in Sag Hampton. Everyone complains about it, many even move away to less expensive parts of the country. The least we can do is go down fighting. I suggest writing to the developers responsible for these projects, to let them know how important affordable housing is to the continued viability of this community. Let’s ask them to be responsive to the community from which they will be deriving so much in the way of future profits. Let’s ask them to make a little less, while helping to sustain the community that makes their profits possible.

At the same time, I encourage you to write to your Village, Town, County and State officials and ask them to come up with some creative bargaining chips with which to encourage the developers to include some (at least 20%) affordable units in their projects. This is not a time for our representatives in government to be throwing up their hands and saying “there’s nothing I can do.” This is a crisis that calls for creative thinking. Tell your government to get off their collective butts and get working to make this happen.

And yes, I’ll be the first to say to both developers, this community expects you to take an interest in its concerns. The projects you are proposing will have many and major impacts on the place we call home. Yes, we understand the free market, and we understand that you have to make a profit. Most of us are OK with that. But if you want to be part of our community, then you must understand that the people of this area are concerned with preserving the heterogeneous economic environment that has made Sag Harbor such a unique and desirable place to live. We expect you to share those concerns, and that means making sure that the residences you create include affordable units to help ensure that Sag Harbor will retain its ability to house a working population.

And, no it’s not acceptable to say it can’t be done, ’cause there’s a developer doing it right now in Water Mill, and he’s showing us that it can. This developer is including affordable apartment units above the offices he is building on Montauk Highway. In a letter to the East Hampton Star he says that he can do this, while also designing buildings that are environmentally state-of-the-art (LEED certified), and still make a profit. He’s willing to make a little less, though, on the overall project, in order to provide his community with something that it desparately needs. And yes, he is getting some concessions from the Town of Southampton that will help to ensure that he doesn’t lose money on the project. It is possible, if you have the will, the heart, and the good sense to do it.

I’ll cover the problems underlying the other positive developments I cited last time, in future posts.