SHHS Trustees Take a Stand on Preservation and Tear Downs

The SHHS Trustees are working on several fronts to expand our preservation in advocacy in a way that will be more than just another loud angry voice, trying to focus on education and partnership building.

Our Board's recent Letter to the Editor of the Sag Harbor Express is printed below. Quotes from our letter were also referenced in this recent article by Sag Harbor Express writer Dawn Watson, titled "Land Ho(ld)!"

Dear Mayor Sandra Schroeder, Village Board of Trustees, Mr. Thiele,

The Trustees of the Sag Harbor Historical Society wish to go on record in support of your efforts to change our existing zoning codes. Our mission statement requires the Historical Society to help foster respect for Sag Harbor’s exceptional heritage. We believe that a community has a right and even an obligation to protect the historic treasures which it has been fortunate enough to inherit. We are profoundly aware of the courage being demonstrated by the Mayor, all of our village Trustees, and the professionals who are working hard to come up with stronger laws in support of that goal. For the many, many people in this community who care about such things, the need to improve our ability to preserve old homes and the feel of Sag Harbor is quite obvious. For them, changes in the size and scale of Sag Harbor’s houses have been rapid, obvious, and, in some instances, wrong. This community also understands that when people have a financial interest in this jumbo sizing activity they will organize in support of their own interests. This is why we believe it is important for us, an organized group of community residents, with a long term commitment to Sag Harbor, should publicly applaud the Board’s efforts.

We recognize that there are inevitable challenges to the preservation of this village, and in the present circumstance those challenges are greater than they’ve ever been before. Money is being spent on paid advertisements and law suits which might erode the fighting instincts of some elected officials. However, we believe that under very trying circumstances, you are demonstrating in a most convincing way that Old Sag Harbor is not yet ready to give up the ghost. We urge you to continue your efforts with full knowledge that you have the support and gratitude of the Sag Harbor Historical Society.

Respectfully,

The Trustees of the Sag Harbor Historical Society

Jack Youngs, Diane Schiavoni, Muriel Falborn, Deanna Lattanzio, Jean Held, Barbara Schwartz, Deborah Anderson, Neil Slevin, Ryan Horn, John Borjoren, Nancy Achenbach, Pierce Hance, Joseph Zaykowski, Martha Siegler, David Bray, Andrea Meyer, Christine Roth

SHHS Trustees, and our new part-time office manager, have helped several homeowners research the historic character of their house to help them find the most appropriate ways to add to, preserve and restore their home and property.