Potter Development Plans Submitted to Sag Harbor Village Show Pair of Three-Story Buildings

Developer Adam Potter, who announced plans in early August for a new mixed-use development on property he owns between Bridge and Rose streets in Sag Harbor, has formally submitted his application to the Sag Harbor Village Building Department, seeking site-plan approval from the village Planning Board.

The plans call for two buildings. One of them would be a three-story, mixed-use building with 39 apartments, including 19 set aside as affordable, and just under 11,000 square feet of first-floor retail space.

The second would be a 16,144-square-foot community center called “The Complex.” A letter accompanying the plans from Potter’s attorney, Tiffany Scarlato, describes The Complex as “a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering education, music, the arts and social community development” that would include an auditorium, a variety of meeting spaces and offices.

The two buildings would be separated by a courtyard, providing green space.

The development replaces an earlier proposal by Potter to build 79 affordable apartments and about 30,000 square feet of retail space on the site. That proposal was derailed last year after a lawsuit successfully challenged the adoption of a village law intended to make it easier for developers to create affordable housing.

The project, which would require environmental remediation to the site and would provide a 65,000-gallon containment system to control rainwater runoff, would cost an estimated $30 million and take two years to build after all approvals are obtained, the application states.

The development is slated for five separate lots totaling 1.44 acres that are each owned by a separate limited liability corporation.

A date has yet to be set for the Planning Board to begin its review of the application. Building Inspector Christopher Talbot would only describe the application as “pending review.”

Reached on Tuesday, Scarlato declined to comment on the application. Potter could not be reached for comment. Mayor Tom Gardella also declined to comment.

However, the letter submitted by Scarlato outlines a number of variances from the Village Zoning Board of Appeals the project would require to go forward.

The variances are needed to allow:

• Twenty market-rate apartments, where only eight would be allowed on the property.

• Some apartments to be as small as 743 square feet, where 800 square feet is required.

• The construction of three-story buildings, where only two stories are permitted.

• A total of 133 parking spaces, including 93 on the neighboring gas ball parking lot site, where 235 are required.

An environmental assessment form required as part of the application and signed by Potter indicates that the project requires a change of zoning to be allowed to build a theater, which is prohibited in the office district zone. Only the odd-numbered pages of the 13-page document were filed with the application.

Scarlato’s letter describes The Complex as “a philanthropic, fraternal, social, educational, institutional meeting room/nonprofit,” which would be allowed by special permit. Her letter stated that the building inspector had “verified” that proposed use as complying with the code.

In describing the space earlier this month, Potter said it would be a theater. The site-plan layout submitted with the application calls for a 299-seat community center, and Scarlato’s letter describes the space as an auditorium. How a community center or auditorium would differ from a theater is not explained in the application.

Parking could also be a sticking point. Although it is common for applications in the village to request variances for parking shortages, the scale of the request in Potter’s application is unusually large.

In addition, it remains to be seen if Potter would be allowed to use the gas ball lot, for which he was recently awarded a long-term lease from National Grid, to provide parking for a development on a separate property. Village officials have maintained that a standalone private parking lot is prohibited by the code.

Although the village code defines a retail space larger than 10,000 square feet, even if it is divided into smaller units, as a superstore, Scarlato has said that prohibition does not apply in this case because the types of businesses all being considered for tenants are clearly defined in the code.

Potter has said he would connect his development to the village sewer system, but the village recently adopted a sewer master plan and has begun the process of applying for grants to obtain funding to extend sewer lines into selected low-lying areas that would be more prone to pollute the groundwater and bay if they remain connected to traditional cesspool systems. It remains to be seen whether a new development would be connected to the sewer line before existing houses, for which plans are already in place, would be hooked up.

Finally, the property lies in the village historic district and three of the properties are listed as contributing to that district, while a fourth is listed as eligible for such listing. Demolishing those structures to allow the construction of new buildings would also require the approval of the Village Board of Historic Preservation and Architectural Review.