A Fresh Start?

On Saturday, Sag Harbor residents, activists and government officials, including members of the Village Board, sat inside Bay Street Theater — the first live audience the theater had hosted in 410 days as a result of the COVID-19 virus pandemic. Many more stakeholders and interested parties watched the two-hour session virtually.

It was the first live conversation, outside of the Municipal Building, held by the nonprofit theater about its plans to build a new, permanent theater space on the West Water Street property next to the John Steinbeck Waterfront Park.

Both Tracy Mitchell, Bay Street’s executive director, and Adam Potter, the chairman of the nonprofit Friends of Bay Street, which raised funds to purchase the property for the theater’s future home on West Water Street, began Saturday’s public forum with apologies. The call for a fresh start is welcome — but what followed was a discussion that left many with just as many questions as answers, a stumble out of the new starting gate.

Mr. Potter sought to clarify some of the other real estate transactions connected to his work with Bay Street Theater. He said he had personally purchased the former Dodds & Eder building on Bridge Street, as well as two other properties on the block, in an effort to relocate some of the businesses displaced by the theater. He also plans to develop “workforce housing” and to rectify some environmental concerns caused by septic systems in a floodplain so close to the waterfront.

He also confirmed on Saturday that the Friends of Bay Street had secured a lease on a West Water Street parking lot, which has been a municipal lot run by the village, but said the lot will continue to be available for public use. It was also revealed that efforts to purchase 2 Main Street, known locally as Fort Apache, and to demolish the building, aiming to sell the property to Southampton Town via its Community Preservation Fund, would be an effort led by a separate, for-profit entity. Yet, as Mayor Kathleen Mulcahy noted, there are no guarantees that the property will be purchased by the town for use as additional parkland.

Bay Street Theater is a nonprofit with humble beginnings, originating in a true grassroots effort that created a cultural institution that helped define Sag Harbor Village. For years, it has struggled under the weight of the expense of running a theater on the East End and has long sought a permanent home for a growing list of programs. This newspaper, and most residents of the village, have been staunch supporters of Bay Street, and remain so.

But very quickly by nonprofit standards, and with very little in the way of a public fundraising effort, millions of dollars were raised to purchase the West Water Street property through what Mr. Potter said were “angel donors,” many of whom remain anonymous. Outside the parking lot on West Water Street, properties connected to members of the Friends of Bay Street appear to be privately purchased.

Mr. Potter said he’s a firm believer in giving back to the community. He said he moved two small businesses from the West Water Street complex to a house he owns on Rose Street and kept their rent low. His intentions with the entire project, he said, are philanthropic, though he admits, of course, to not wanting to lose money.

Mr. Potter and the Friends of Bay Street called for a fresh start on Saturday, but without trust, that could be difficult to achieve. Many in the room expressed worries about what the project’s ripple effect would be on the village and its businesses. Others remain skeptical that tens of millions of dollars were being spent on the Bay Street project simply for philanthropic reasons by largely unknown donors.

Some questioned why there was a need to form a separate nonprofit, when Bay Street itself will presumably own and operate its own theater, if its backers stay true to their word. Others called for the scale of the proposed waterfront theater to be reduced to be more in keeping with the overall aesthetic of Sag Harbor — rather than matching the looming condominiums next door.

Noting that there was a “trust deficit,” Fighting Chance founder Duncan Darrow urged the Friends to disclose even just a handful of names from its donor list. But that suggestion was met with silence.

Ultimately, none of these questions or concerns is unreasonable, especially when they are largely left unanswered.

Joining with other Bay Street officials to ask for a fresh start and an open dialogue on Saturday, just two days later, at a work session of the Village Board, Mr. Potter responded sharply to a statement presented by the Board of Directors of the Sag Harbor Chamber of Commerce, which voiced concerns about the proposed changes to the waterfront zoning code. Mr. Potter questioned the legitimacy and transparency of the chamber’s effort, which, according to chamber board members, was vetted through a community conversation with longtime Sag Harbor business leaders and unanimously approved by a board of directors representing Main Street businesses. The statement also has been endorsed by the board of the Sag Harbor Partnership.

Mr. Potter and the Friends of Bay Street have every right to demand transparency from the Village of Sag Harbor and the various community groups involved in the reworking of the waterfront zoning code — just as the community at large has the right to ask for transparency from a group of developers seeking to remake the west side of the village.

Sag Harbor has always been a village in evolution: It’s a factory town that became an artists’ haven. Evolution is inevitable, but it happens best with full transparency — it’s no guarantee of universal acclaim for the changes, but nobody feels duped.

There’s a debate to be had here, a vigorous one, but it won’t really begin till one side lays its cards on the table for all to see.