Friday, June 27 is the deadline for public comment on the environmental review of a controversial Sag Harbor development that would include 48 apartments and 8,500 square feet of retail space in an oft-flooded downtown area of the village.
The Sag Harbor Village Planning Board, which is the lead agency coordinating its review under the State Environmental Quality Review Act, is accepting public comment on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the project through 5 p.m. today, June 27, via email at boards@sagharborny.gov or klocascio@sagharborny.gov.
The building, totaling 81,257 square feet, would also include a ground-level parking garage. It is proposed by 11 Bridge Street LLC at 7 and 11 Bridge Street, on properties currently developed with a commercial building with several small stores and a gym, and a historic house.
The properties are adjacent to the site of a massive environmental cleanup at what’s been known in the village as the “gas ball site,” and are currently undergoing environmental testing through the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Brownfields remediation program.
The properties are also in a low-lying section of the village adjacent to Sag Harbor Cove, not far from one of the sites where the village was inundated with stormwater during Superstorm Sandy.
A massive municipal parking lot adjacent to the property in a “bowl” just 1.3 feet above sea level, was historically known as “George’s Pond,” fed by several springs that are still running, according to the Sag Harbor Backyard Bathtub Project, a student and scientist-led exploration last year of the village’s threats from sea level rise.
Initially pitched as an affordable housing complex, addressing the village’s explosive real estate prices, as currently designed the project would include 20 workforce housing units and 28 market rate units.
The Planning Board received an outpouring of comment from the community opposed to the project at a May 27 hearing, at which time advocates opposed to the project asked for answers to their numerous questions before the public comment period was closed, stating there wasn’t enough detail in the DEIS upon which to base their comments.
On this Tuesday, June 24, the board reviewed its own comments on the DEIS prepared by the applicant’s consultants, P.W. Grosser Consulting, Inc.
The Planning Board is working with its own consultants, Nelson Pope Voorhis, to draft its comments. NPV Senior Associate John Ellsworth gave the board an overview of the comments, which he said “ID’d a handful of issues that require further analysis.”
Those issues included a request for more detail on the installation of pilings and dewatering planned during construction, the Brownfields remediation currently underway, the demolition of the historic building at 7 Bridge Street, stormwater management during and after construction, and the loss of parking on Bridge Street as a result of the project.
Mr. Ellsworth added that the DEC’s most conservative estimate of sea level rise will be “above the bottom of [the property’s] stillwater leaching structures within a few decades, making the stormwater system inoperable.”
The potential hookup of the project to the village’s sewer system was also identified as an issue.
“If the sewage flow was granted to this project, a big chunk of what was considered [in the village’s master sewer plan] to mitigate existing problems would be taken off the table,” said Mr. Ellsworth.
The draft comments also ask for more details on how the workforce housing on site would be administered and how the property’s homeowners association would operate.
Mr. Ellsworth added that the “DEIS does not demonstrate the proposed development would avoid significant unmitigated impacts,” adding that this fact would be key to the board’s decision-making at the end of this process.
The next step is for the applicant to prepare a Final Environmental Impact Statement. Mr. Ellsworth said it is his understanding that “the applicant has already started on that document, based on testimony at the public hearings.”
Mr. Ellsworth said the Planning Board would review the FEIS once it is completed, and at that point it could issue more comments or take over the drafting of the document from the applicant. The board would then issue either a positive or negative Findings Statement outlining the reasoning behind its approval or denial of the project.
Board members had said at the May 27 hearing that they would also hold a public hearing on the Final Environmental Impact Statement.
The project, which is far beyond the scale that the village’s zoning would allow, would also need seven variances from the village’s Zoning Board of Appeals.
The Group for the East End launched a campaign last week to ask residents to give feedback before this afternoon’s deadline.
“As sea levels continue to rise, coastal villages like Sag Harbor are increasingly at risk of flooding. Now, in the middle of a designated hazard flood zone and an area with a complex history of serious groundwater and soil contamination, an oversized, non-conforming mixed residential and commercial project has been proposed,” says The Group. “This project represents a significant increase in the intensity of the use of the site, which will be impacted by sea level rise.”
“The wastewater generated from the project would be nearly 20 times greater than what’s permitted, while the residential density would be nearly 10 times what is permitted,” they added. “Given the serious contamination onsite, the property is enrolled in the NYS DEC Brownfield Cleanup Program…. With a substantial amount of review still needed within this process, it may take several years to remedy.”
Many of the Planning Board’s documents relating to this project are available online here.
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