Sag Harbor schools' plan for athletic field draws controversy
Next Thursday, voters will be asked to authorize the Sag Harbor school district to access its facilities improvement capital reserve fund to buy five vacant lots totaling 4 acres on Marsden Street, near Pierson Middle/High School. Credit: Gordon M. Grant
A proposal by Sag Harbor schools to purchase wooded lots near Pierson Middle/High School has divided the community, as parents, the school and its neighbors disagree over a district plan to use the land as an athletic field, with a vote looming next week.
Next Thursday, voters will be asked to authorize the Sag Harbor school district to access its facilities improvement capital reserve fund to buy five vacant lots totaling four acres on Marsden Street. The proposed purchase is priced at $9.325 million, with Southampton Town’s Community Preservation Fund contributing $6 million of the sum and the school district paying the rest.
The vote was announced in a Sept. 6 school board meeting and has become increasingly controversial in recent weeks.
School officials called it a once-in-a-lifetime offer that would benefit students for generations to come. Critics raised concerns over the plan's impact on neighbors. They also questioned whether the town should spend money intended for land preservation and improvement on helping a school district turn wooded land into an athletic facility.
School officials said the field would be open to community use and would allow its students to play sports across the street instead of walking 15 minutes to Mashashimuet Park. They also said the teams would have greater flexibility in scheduling practices and games. The school currently has one field.
“This property has been eyed by the school district since the late ’60s,” said Sandi Kruel, the school board president. “To have this come to us was like a dream come true.”
“The opportunity to play right next to the school and practice is just a significant game-changer when compared to what we are doing now,” district Superintendent Jeff Nichols said.
The middle/high school had 456 students last school year, according to enrollment data. The superintendent said nearly 70% of them play in at least one sport.
A rendering from the school district showing a plan for the land. Credit: Sag Harbor Union Free School District/H2M Architects + Engineers
The land is bounded by residential streets, and neighbors said they are concerned about traffic, noise and environmental impacts.
Resident Raymond Pepi, a member of the Citizens of Sag Harbor, a group recently formed to oppose the proposal, said the school district failed to give the community adequate time to consider the plan.
“All that we are asking is to postpone the November 3 vote so that there could be an open forum for the community to discuss what viable options are for the best use of this land,” Pepi said. “Why rush into a vote like this when the implications are so large and so permanent?”
Another point of contention is the potential use of artificial turf. Voters in 2016 overwhelmingly rejected a bond referendum for a synthetic turf field, despite approving it in 2013.
School officials said the surface and final designs of the field have not been decided and said the school board is open to community suggestions.
If voters approve the proposal, the district has one more hurdle to clear before it can advance to designing the field and holding a bond referendum. That's the town board's approval of spending $6 million toward the purchase, an action the board has not taken, said Tommy John Schiavoni, a Southampton Town councilman.
One issue the town board faces is whether partnering with a district to purchase land for building an athletic field is an appropriate use of its Community Preservation Fund, which is intended to preserve open space, farmland and historical structures, officials said.
The town website said the Community Preservation Fund preserves and improves parcels of “historic, recreational, and environmental value.”
“Providing this kind of support for a school, as laudable as it is, may or may not be consistent with the purpose of [the] Community Preservation [Fund],” Schiavoni said.
The vote will be held at the Pierson High School gym between 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. at 200 Jermain Ave. in Sag Harbor.
Dandan Zou covers education for Newsday. Previously, she worked for a community newspaper in Maryland and a personal finance magazine in Washington, D.C.
