Sag Hampton » Historic Preservation

Mrs. Sage’s Return on Investment

Saltbox — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 21:23:10 +0000

Just about 100 years ago, Mrs. Russell Sage spent a tidy sum of money building a library for the Village of Sag Harbor and environs. She even stocked the new library with books and other materials that formed its early lending and reference collections. She was a believer in using the best materials and artisans available, and so the library she built was an elegant, stately, imposing edifice. It was also durable. She named it after an ancestor, Major John Jermain, who fought in the revolutionary war. Since that time it has been known as the John Jermain Memorial Library, and has served as the public library for Sag Harbor.

The John Jermain Memorial Library, the public library in Sag Harbor, NY, donated to the community by Mrs. Russel Sage in 1910.

Over the intervening near century, Sag Harbor has made good use of her donation. The library has remained in its original home, adapting its programs and collection to the whims of various eras. Over the years, the inside of the building has seen a few changes — mainly the addition of many more “stacks” — the library term for bookshelves — to accommodate its growing collection. In addition a small renovation was undertaken about 15 years ago to allow the basement, formerly a storage area, to be used as a public space with a handicapped accessible entrance and bathroom. Minor repairs, and necessary replacements (the boiler, for instance) have also been undertaken, and paid for from the library’s operating budget, with monies provided by the taxpayers of the Sag Harbor school district, as are virtually all of the library’s operating expenses.

Other than the work on the basement, however, the taxpayers have not been asked to foot the bill for any refurbishment or expansion of the library building in its entire 99 years of existence. We’ve all been getting a free ride courtesy of Mrs. Sage’s commitment to high end materials and quality construction. She built it to last, and last it did…until now.

Members of the community who attended the public meeting hosted by the Library on the evening of Monday, April 20th, saw a presentation by Victor Conseco, president of Sandpebble Builders, the firm hired by the Library to do a cost analysis of its plan to refurbish and expand the building. As he spoke about the various factors that must be taken into consideration: restoration, code compliance and expansion, Mr. Conseco flipped through a depressing slide show of disrepair. From a decaying roof, to water-damaged plaster, from inadequate wiring to masonry in need of serious repointing, his presentation revealed the kind of wear and tear that is nearly invisible to regular users of the library, but jumps out at a fresh pair of eyes, especially ones trained to see these conditions.

So, as it turns out, while Mrs. Sage did a great service to many generations of Sag Harborites in providing us a library building that was seemingly capable of lasting forever, her meticulous attention to quality also misled us into believing we did not have to plan and pay for the care that any heavily used, aging structure requires. For generations, we’ve continued to rely on Mrs. Sage’s investment to pay dividends by providing us with a functional, usable library. As with any investment, though, the capital must be preserved. In this case the capital is the building, and it has been, if not squandered, at least diminished by our lack of attention.

No one can deny that Mrs. Sage’s investment in a library for Sag Harbor has paid a bountiful return on her investment. However, at this point in the building’s life a new injection of capital is required. It’s our bill to pay, and it’s long overdue.

The Five Top Problems Facing Sag Hampton

Saltbox — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 01:22:00 +0000

Over Development / Inappropriate Development
Simply put, over development is the poison that will kill the golden goose. As we all know, people love this area because of its natural beauty, open vistas, fresh air, and rural feel. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that suburban sprawl, McMansion ghettos, charmless villages filled with chain boutiques and real estate offices, condos lining the waterfront, mega-yachts clogging the harbors and bumper to bumper traffic are the antithesis of the characteristics that made this place desirable. Yet, all that and more just keeps on coming. So, as we approach full build out — a scenario that’s not nearly as far away as you might think — it is ever more imperative that we speed up our progress towards that “goal” (full build-out) by dramatically reducing the amount of land available for development through upzoning and open space preservation.
The Automobile
If you live in the remote reaches of Northwest, or somewhere towards the middle of Deerfield Road in Water Mill, you better have a car so you can get to work, shopping, or the doctor’s office, because there just isn’t any other way to get there. Looked at the other way around, the fact that we almost all have cars, has made it possible for us to build houses in these remote areas. Without cars, most of us wouldn’t put up with the inconvenience of living so far from the hamlets and villages where essential services are located. This, in a nutshell, is the cause and effect of the suburban sprawl that is rapidly destroying the beautiful vistas, unspoiled woodlands, pristine coastline and rural feeling of this area. Getting people out of their cars is a worthy goal on many levels, but one that seems almost impossible to achieve. One technique that has some hope of working, is smart growth: pushing development in close to the hamlets and villages through intensive upzoning of areas further away from the hamlet centers, and incenting developers to build and re-purpose properties closer in. This has the effect of increasing density to the point that some forms of public transportation make sense, thus getting people out of their cars, at least some of the time.
The Cost of Living
A community consisting entirely of wealthy second-home owners is not a sustainable community. As the cost of homes (and everything else) rises, working people are driven out of the community, as are the businesses they need to sustain them, and which are in turn, sustained by them. Eventually, the community itself is gone, replaced by a make-believe version that only exists for a few months of the year, and has no ability to provide the underpinnings of a real community such as a volunteer fire department and ambulance service, police department, and local government. Wealthy part-time residents don’t volunteer to serve in the fire department, or run for local office. Police can be brought in from somewhere else, but will not be as effective as a force made up, at least partially, of local residents. When local family businesses close, because their customers have been driven out of the area, what will replace them? Who will we turn to for groceries, hardware, and other household necessities? Ralph Lauren? Starbucks? Corcoran?
Provincialism/Nimbyism
Either we all bail together, or we all sink together. Don’t want that windmill in your neighbor’s yard, or that wind farm off your coastline? Well then, tell us where we can locate them, or sit back and watch your house disappear under the rising ocean. Don’t want that bicycle path running next to your estate, or cutting across your greenbelt? Well then, you’ll just have to put up with more automobile traffic and the massive amounts of pollution it generates. Don’t want affordable housing in your community? Then say good-bye to your community (see #3 above). This problem isn’t unique to individuals either; it also applies to local governments. One example of this type of provincialism with which I am familiar is in the area of transportation. In order to solve the area’s transportation problems, it is necessary for all five east end towns to work together. Local government officials understand this, and yet only pay lip service to the concept. One town doesn’t want ferries. Another doesn’t want buses. Another wants to sue the one that doesn’t want ferries. Villages block improvements to roads because the businesspeople in those villages are afraid their bottom lines may be hurt if a few parking spaces are lost. The net result is that we’re all so busy protecting our backyards that we don’t notice that the house is burning down.
Loss of Place
A sense of place is not something you can fake. I’m a big fan of historic preservation, but when I see the facades of historic buildings acting as camouflage for obscenely swollen McMansions tucked away behind the original modest structures, I am keenly aware that something important has been lost. When local agriculture, once a mainstay of the East End’s economy has come to mean horse farms for polo ponies and jumpers, a way of life that defined this area has slipped through our fingers, along with the definition it provided. When what was traditionally an artist’s community has more art galleries than working artists, it’s an indicator that the community’s balance has shifted away from individualism and towards commercialism. When the vast majority of the people who work here come from someplace else, a large hole has been torn in the fabric of the community that robs it of its sense of place. An authentic sense of place is what makes a community vibrant. For generations, people have come here because eastern Long Island was a “real” place. Once that’s gone — and we’re pretty darn close to losing it — well, once that’s gone, what’s left is Disneyland.

Save Sag Harbor (Cinema)

Saltbox — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 04:19:00 +0000

Yikes! This is serious. The Sag Harbor Cinema is for sale. There’s nothing more iconic in Sag Harbor than the Sag Harbor Cinema, the art-house theater that’s been a part of the local scene for decades. Just look at all the fuss that arose when my fellow Sag Harborites thought they were losing the theater’s sign! Now, it seems, we may be in danger of losing the entire theater and all that it stands for.

I know that a phrase like “all that it stands for” is a bit pretentious when talking about a commercial enterprise; but the Sag Harbor Cinema does a darn good job of representing the iconoclastic nature of our village in an easily identifiable way. It is after all an art house theater that plays lesser-known, usually small-budget, quirky, independent movies. Doesn’t that sound a lot like Sag Harbor itself? OK, well we’re not really lesser-known anymore, and we’re losing our small budget cachet, but we’re still arty, quirky and independent; in a nice example of symmetry, the Sag Harbor Cinema is one of the features of our village that keeps us that way.

It’s old, and slightly seedy, with a musty smell and seats that fall somewhat short of comfortable, but so what? Where else can you find so many stimulating and entertaining foreign and independent films week in and week out? East Hampton? I think not. Southampton? Don’t make me laugh. Westhampton? Where? OK, so maybe you don’t go to foreign or independent films that often, but isn’t it nice to know that you can see one locally now and again if it should come to your attention? Unfortunately, I suspect that most of us (myself included) don’t go to this type of film all that often, which probably means that the owner of the Sag Harbor Cinema isn’t exactly raking in the dough. It also means that it will probably be tough to find someone who wants to buy the theater to keep it going as it is.

On the other hand, the alternatives are pretty unsatisfactory. While the facade of the building may, or may not, be protected if it is designated as an historic landmark — it’s not clear that it is — anything could happen on the inside of the building. Perhaps it will be split up into several small retail spaces, or one large one. With retail rents being what they are, the probable inhabitants of such spaces will most likely be limited to high-end designer boutiques. Not exactly the small-scale, mom and pop businesses for which our village is known and loved. Whatever it ends up becoming, it will be a far cry from the integral part of the village it is today.

Now we come to the part of the post where a more ingenious thinker would lay out a strategy for preserving the theater in some way that would be more acceptable then turning it into boutiques. If only that writer were penning this article! Unfortunately, all we’ve got here is me, and I haven’t a clue as to what can be done. Here’s the best I can come up with: Let’s all start going to the movies more often here in Sag Harbor. Perhaps, if we do so consistently, we can make the Sag Harbor Cinema a more economically viable business that may attract a buyer interested in maintaining this local institution just as it is (perhaps with more comfortable seats). Got any better ideas? Think the Library should buy it? Add your thoughts to the comments section below. Otherwise, I’ll see you at the movies.

Not Every Good Idea Is…Well, a Good Idea

Saltbox — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 03:08:32 +0000

Sometimes I get an idea, and at first blush it seems like a world beater. Fortunately, I’m a bit of a procrastinator, so I usually don’t act on these brilliant insights immediately. Usually, over the next few days, I’ll share this idea with friends or colleagues, and they gently (or sometimes not so gently) point out the the things I’ve overlooked, or misunderstood, and suddenly my amazing insight is just road kill, better left by the side of the road.

That’s the way it goes. For every really good idea, there are countless others that are interesting, maybe even exciting, but that just don’t hold up to close scrutiny. Such is the case with the suggestion now being floated in various corners of Sag Harbor that the former Methodist Church building be somehow purchased with Community Preservation Fund (CPF) monies and then used by the John Jermain Memorial Library in some way to relieve that facility’s chronic shortage of space.

The whole concept seems amazingly serendipitous at first glance. The church is around the corner from the library. The church is empty and for sale. The library needs space and is planning on adding space in the near future. The church should be preserved. The CPF was established, in part to preserve historic structures. The Library needs to raise money through a bond issue in order to expand, and the voters have been reluctant to approve such an issue, but the CPF has money; that could be used to buy the church without raising taxes. The library is currently housed in an historic building. The church is also an historic building. It’s perfect!

Or is it?

As it turns out, there are a few problems with this plan, the biggest being that while CPF money can be used to preserve historic structures, that is the limit of what it can be used for with regard to buildings. It cannot, say, be used to adapt historic structures to make them suitable for new uses. Who says so? Mary Wilson, Community Preservation Manager for Southampton Town says so.

Then there is the problem of the church’s suitability for use as a library. Not so suitable as it turns out. The church is in serious disrepair, which is why the Methodist congregation had to leave…and they were just looking at the cost of repairing the existing structure. The library, however, would be looking at a change of use, which would mean not just repairs, but also bringing the building up to current code standards for public spaces. This would be hugely expensive, more expensive, in fact then just building a new building on the piece of property that the library owns down by Mashashimuet Park. Who says this would be more expensive? The library’s architect for one. The library’s previous architect and construction manager said the same thing. Rehabilitation and restoration of historic structures for use by the public is always more expensive than new construction.

Those are two very major issues. Other issues include the fact that the church is a wood-frame structure which raises fire-safety concerns, as well as concerns about the ability of the building’s support structure to bear the weight of the library’s book stacks. Oh, and parking. The current library has none, which is a problem. The church has a few parking spaces, but not nearly enough to address the library’s parking issues. Finally, it should be pointed out that the church’s interior configuration is very unique, spread over several levels that intersect in unusual ways — ways which are not at all consistent with the needs of a library.

So, what we have is a lovely idea, which just doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. And, the truth is, it really didn’t take that much scrutiny to find some serious problems with this idea. More in-depth analysis will undoubtedly turn up more problems, but why bother? There are already enough serious issues to relegate this idea to the good-idea-gone-bad scrap pile. Our library provides many important services to the community. Its need for expanded facilities is serious and well-documented. Those charged with delivering library services to the community cannot afford the time or the expense of pursuing this idea any further. Many of us wish it would have been workable, but it’s not. Time to move on.

Sag Harbor: Still Making History

Saltbox — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 02:20:00 +0000

What’s the one constant in Sag Harbor’s 300 year history? Change. Starting as the port for the farmers in Sagaponack, Sag Harbor went on to become a bustling center of trade, home to one of the country’s largest whaling fleets, and an industrial center producing everything from watchcases to parts for the lunar landing module. As you walk the village, you can see bits and pieces of those various histories: The Custom House dating from the earliest days of the village; the Bulova Watchcase Factory, perhaps the jewel in our industrial crown, and the many lovely structures on south Main Street that started life as the homes of the prestigious and wealthy captains of the whaling fleet. Commercial, industrial, residential, waterfront, religious, and other structures from many different eras crowd together in the barely two square miles that is the entirety of Sag Harbor village. Wherever you walk history abounds, some from long ago, some of a more recent vintage — for history is an ongoing process. Yesterday’s obscenely modern structure is today’s honored period home. (Think Norman Jaffe’s south-of-the-highway homes.) A previous generation’s cheap motel is now a chic boutique hotel (Think Alexis Stuart’s Bridgehampton Motel.) Yesterday’s Watchcase factory is tomorrow’s luxury condos.

Many say that Sag Harbor has entered a period of unprecedented change that may irredeemably alter its character forever. Others, with perhaps a more long-range view, understand that there has never been a quintessential Sag Harbor. This village is not frozen in time. It evolves to meet the needs of its inhabitants. Looking back, or ahead, we may not recognize those inhabitants, but it was, and will be their village, not ours. Ours is the Village that we have today: historic, funky, upscale, charming, nautical, artistic, resorty and small-town. It’s the culmination of all that came before, and the root from which the Sag Harbor of tomorrow is sprouting even as we watch.

To help us reflect upon these changes and consider how the village will continue to evolve and adapt, a few members of the 300th anniversary organizing committee, led by Benito Vila, have put together a workshop which will be held on Saturday, October 13th at the Methodist Church on Madison Street, to celebrate the character and legacy of Sag Harbor. This workshop, which looks to be a lot of fun, will begin with a presentation and discussion led by experienced preservationists and local artists, after which everyone will head out into the streets to “catalogue” in photos, sketches, or what have you, various aspects of the village’s public and private spaces. Once the cataloging has concluded, the collected materials will become the basis for one or more collaborative projects. One such project might be an online “wiki” where digital photos and digitized sketches are stored, tagged as to content, and commented on by participants, and later by others who view the wiki. The John Jermain Memorial Library has offered the use of its computers to facilitate the creation of the wiki, or other online project, and will make the results available to the public through its website. Other projects may also be developed based on ideas brought forward by participants.

Everyone is invited to participate. At the very least we hope to enjoy an afternoon with friends and neighbors celebrating together the place we live. At best we will create a time capsule of sorts, recording images of the village, documenting what is currently here, and identifying the qualities we hope to retain and encourage for the future. Given the proposed commercial development of existing properties and parcels throughout the village, there will be much to compare and contrast. The effect of those initiatives will be an important consideration as we observe Sag Harbor continuing to make history.
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Currently listening to: Our Little Town by Greg Brown.

Saving Sag Harbor

Saltbox — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:49:47 +0000

There’s a new and very active group in our community calling itself Save Sag Harbor. Its primary mission is to preserve Main Street’s traditional look and business mix — mostly small locally-owned stores and restaurants — by preventing national chains and big box stores like CVS from moving in and driving up commercial rents to the point where they are the only businesses that can afford to have a presence here. For an example of what that looks like, visit East Hampton. As regular readers of this blog can probably guess, I’m very sympathetic to this cause. But, the name of the group strikes me as problematic.

The problem I see can best be stated as a question. Would Sag Harbor actually be “saved” if chain stores were outlawed here? And, that question leads me to another: what would a saved Sag Harbor be like? Let’s start with the easy stuff. Clearly, there would not be a CVS here. With CVS out of the picture, Sing City, the liquor store and 7 Eleven would be able to stay. Did I say 7 Eleven? That’s odd. 7 Eleven is definitely a chain, and a few short years ago nobody wanted them here either. I thought I was starting with the easy stuff, but I’m already running into difficulty. Fortunately for Sag Harbor, 7 Eleven’s original franchisee, the Young family, was determined to prove that 7 Eleven could be a good, if not perfect, neighbor. They obviously succeeded, since no one talks about keeping out 7 Eleven anymore. Quite the opposite. We want them to stay. Times change, as does our perception of a “saved” Sag Harbor.

I know it sounds like I’m revving up to defend CVS, Starbucks and their ilk. Trust me, I’m not. I just want to point out that one has to think carefully about the issues facing our little village. Nothing is ever quite as straightforward as it seems. Another example of this is historic preservation. Everyone’s for that. Right? A saved Sag Harbor would certainly retain its place in the National Register of Historic Places. Well, yes, but I have a couple of quibbles with Sag Harbor’s Architectural Review Board. It seems they are, to put it mildly, resistant to alternative power generation devices, such as solar panels and wind turbines. I find this attitude quaint, which I guess is appropriate for people whose mission is to preserve the past. However, I pose this question to the ARB: how quaint will Sag Harbor be when the entire historic district is under water? It’s pretty clear that the world’s best hope for preventing the polar ice caps from melting is for many people to take many small steps to conserve energy and reduce carbon emissions. Unfortunately for the historic purity of our village, that includes people who live in historic homes. Which is worse, solar panels or homes under water? In my version of a saved Sag Harbor, there are solar panels on many roofs.

Now for my other quibble with the ARB. In spite of the fact that I’m in favor of allowing solar panels and/or modest wind turbines to appear on the roofs of historic homes in our village, I really am strongly in favor of historic preservation; so much so, in fact, that I question whether the ARB and the other agencies that regulate the look of our Village are too. As I walk down our lovely streets, I find my sensibilities assaulted by what appear to be charming historic homes with huge inflated cancers growing on them. What the heck is up with 168 Main Street? Is Ira Rennert moving to Sag Harbor? What about the house across the Street from 168 Main where a small cottage was expanded to three or four times its original size, all of which expansion is clearly visible from the street? How can one say the historic look of that house has been preserved? Clearly the codes governing the expansion of historic homes are not adequate in the face of today’s “bigger is better” home owners. In my version of a saved Sag Harbor, this trend will not only be stopped, but reversed.

Unfortunately, the questions only get harder. What to do about traffic? Sag Harbor is a delightfully walkable community; or it would be if there were fewer cars on the roads. Have you ever tried to cross at the intersection of Jermain and Madison on foot? Clearly, until we get people out of their cars, Sag Harbor will continue to suffer from ever increasing traffic woes. An integrated network of light rail, buses, and…gasp!…passenger ferries would go a long way toward enabling people to come to Sag Harbor while leaving their cars at home. Can we truly say that Sag Harbor is saved if we don’t address the traffic problems?

Another tough one: affordable housing. I’ve always believed that what sets Sag Harbor apart from the surrounding communities, and made it the best place to live in the Hamptons is its heterogeneous mix of social, economic and ethnic populations. Not only was there a healthy mix of different types and classes of people, but also, these groups were not divided. Everyone lived side by side in the same neighborhoods. As in a classroom where students of differing abilities are mixed together, everyone benefits. In a village, it’s the year-round, working families that provide the necessary infrastructure, and a good deal of the character of the place. They, in turn benefit from the culture and economic opportunity provided by the second-home owners. Cultures mix and something new and better emerges. Homogeneity — in this case represented by a community of only the wealthy — results in inbreeding and an ultimately sterile environment, lacking in all the charm that attracted people here in the first place. Unfortunately, the “free” market in real estate has killed any hope of retaining the mixed economic neighborhoods of Sag Harbor past. Artificial life-support in the form of mandated affordable housing units is the only hope of preserving some remnant of this tradition. To really save it though, the affordable units must be integrated into all new housing developments, not segregated in affordable-only sub-divisions. In a saved Sag Harbor, there are affordable units in the Bulova condo renovation too.

Speaking of condos, I would say that without a doubt the monstrous and obtrusive condo development proposed by Michael Maiden for Ferry Road near Long Wharf has no place in a saved Sag Harbor. This property clearly must be acquired and preserved by local government for use as a public space. If allowed to go through, the impact of those condos on the character and livability of Sag Harbor’s downtown will be overwhelming, maybe even a tipping point beyond which “Saving Sag Harbor” becomes an empty rallying cry.

There are, of course, other issues that need to be addressed before Sag Harbor can be considered saved: bike lanes and sidewalks, the library, open space preservation (yes, even in Sag Harbor) and more — too many to address in one sitting at the keyboard. None of this is simple; all of it is interrelated. Saving Sag Harbor requires action on many fronts by an informed and concerned populous. It is not now, and never will be a one-issue campaign.

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Currently listening to: Who Will Save Your Soul? by Jewel

The Importance of Historic Preservation

Saltbox — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 03:22:57 +0000

Sometimes I read something and am so struck by its “rightness,” that I just have to share it with everyone I know. That happened today when I read a column in the March 1, 2007 edition of The Southampton Press by Anne Surchin, a Sag Hampton-based architect and writer. Ms. Surchin used the Press’ s architecture column to discourse on the importance of historic preservation. She first compared and contrasted the difference in approach taken by the Towns of Southold (effective) and Southampton (virtually non-existent outside of Sag Harbor). She then speculated on the reasons for this disparity, concluding with the following paragraphs that I really wish I had written.

“Since the goose that laid the golden egg, the very sense of place that has attracted tourists to the East End for over a hundred years, is fast disappearing, newcomers arrive with the conviction that what they are placing in the landscape is somehow appropriate for this place. And since they have no connection and no historical memory regarding the Hamptons, they offer a pitch about improving the economy with their projects.

“How much more improved does this economy need to be?

“It is simply a mono-economy no longer based on tourism but rather on second homes.

“Ironically, preservation is good for a diversified business economy, for investment, for attracting visitors, for establishing unique places to live and work, for increasing property values, for federal tax benefits and for saving valuable resources.

“It’s all about the value of our identity, stupid!”

Amen.

Thanks to Mike Anthony, Chairman of the Southampton Town Democratic Committee for bringing this article to my attention.
Note: There’s no link to the full article here, because you have to be a paid subscriber to read the Press online.

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Currently listening to: Not California by Hem