Bay Street Proposes Summer Productions In 7-Eleven Parking Lot

They say the show must go on — even if it has to take place in a parking lot. That was the gist of a request by representatives of Bay Street Theater brought to the Sag Harbor Village Board at the end of a marathon meeting Tuesday night.

Tracy Mitchell, the theater’s executive director, told the board Bay Street wants to erect a 95-foot-by-90-foot tent in the 7-Eleven parking lot so it can hold its Summer 2021 Main Stage season there from May 29 to September 5. Performances would be held nightly at 7:30 p.m. from Tuesday through Saturday and 5 p.m. on Sundays during the months of July and August. Performances would be held only on the weekends in June.

Citing ongoing restrictions posed by the lingering coronavirus pandemic, Ms. Mitchell told the board, “This is really the only way we can have any kind of summer season.”

She said the theater had approached the Mashashimuet Park board about holding productions there this summer, but had been rebuffed. She held open the possibility of working with the village to find another location, perhaps using a portion of Steinbeck Waterfront Park.

Although she agreed a parking lot would not be the preferred venue, she said of her own experience over the past year of attending theater in makeshift settings, “After the first 15 minutes, you forget where you are.” Besides, she added, “people have been desperate to see any live art.” Reopening is essential to the theater’s financial wellbeing, she added.

Besides citing concerns about safety and how the arrangement would work, board members asked what would become of parking for 7-Eleven, Sing City, a Chinese takeout restaurant, and other businesses in the Water Street Shops complex that was purchased last year as a future site of a new theater building.

“We have given them notice. All the tenants are on a month-to-month basis,” said Adam Potter, the chairman of Friends of Bay Street, the not-for-profit created to find and build a new home for the theater. “We would prefer to not kick them out but let them remain for the summer season.”

The board agreed to table the matter at the recommendation of Trustee Thomas Gardella, who said his primary concern was public safety. “I’m not saying I’m against it,” he said. “I’m just saying I’d like to consult the fire chief, the police chief, and code enforcement before we go forward.”

After the meeting, Mr. Gardella added that although everyone has known that Bay Street’s plans would force the eventual closure of the 7-Eleven and other stores in the complex, “now it’s in your face that they will be leaving.” He added that the request for the tent in the parking lot was going to be “a hard sell.”

Board members Aidan Corish and James Larocca said they were caught by surprise by Bay Street’s request, with Mr. Larocca grousing that Mayor Kathleen Mulcahy had buried the item on the agenda.

“I was very surprised that a proposal of this magnitude, in terms of its duration, its impact on traffic and downtown activity, would have been scheduled for action with no particular advance notice,” he said Tuesday night. “I think it will be very difficult to get this application approved.”

In a terse exchange after Ms. Mitchell said board members should have been aware of Bay Street’s plans because the application had been filed two weeks ago, Mr. Larocca responded, “I would observe that most people come in for a discussion before they bring an application.” And he added that board members had only received the information in their official packets few days before the meeting. “I don’t feel there has been an abundance of time to digest a very big proposal,” he added.

Mr. Corish said he too was struggling with the proposal. “There’s a lot to unpack here,” he said. “I’d have to be moved a long way to support this. It’s not like putting a sign up at the foot of Long Wharf.”

Trustee Robert Plumb said while he supports Bay Street, he saw no way the theater could erect a tent for the entire summer and allow the stores to remain open. “I don’t know how the two would be able to coexist,” he said. For now, he said he would withhold judgment on the application until he learns more about the logistics.

Mayor Mulcahy said the reason the proposal was placed where it was on the agenda — among correspondence requiring action on the part of the board — was because Bay Street had submitted a completed application and she said there was no effort to prevent the board from weighing in on the matter.

She said she did not particularly support the idea, but said it was clear there was no way the village could allow the businesses to stay open if they no longer had parking. “They can close the businesses and evict 7-Eleven and they will lose a lot of local support,” the mayor said of Bay Street. “This is not a decision we can make for them. That’s on their plate, not ours.”

She added that the village could deny the application, “but I’m not sure on what grounds, especially if the police and fire department say it is safe.”