Since 2007, Save Sag Harbor has worked to preserve the historic character, human scale, economic vitality, and community spirit of our village. We have worked in partnership with Village government to strengthen zoning codes, and with other organizations to educate the public and preserve longstanding values of the community. Here are some of our significant achievements:

Preserving Main Street
In 2007-08, we spearheaded the effort to protect locally owned businesses and keep big-box, generic retailers off Main Street, the heart of Sag Harbor Village. The Village created a new comprehensive plan and rewrote its zoning code as a result of this initiative.

Restraining Oversized Residential Development
In 2015, responding to concerns that “supersized” houses were being shoehorned into our small-scale neighborhoods, SSH launched a media campaign and petition drive, advocating successfully to tighten review board oversight and set a new Gross Floor Area Ratio to rein in the allowable size of house construction.

Protecting Our National Historic District
As a National Registered Historic District, Sag Harbor is protected on a local and state level by guidelines aimed at maintaining architectural character and historic authenticity.  Our work helps the village maintain its prized designation. We also help residents, architects, realtors, town planners, and elected and appointed official interpret best standards and practices. We have helped educate our village’s regulatory board members through educational seminars in partnership with the Sag Harbor Historical Society.

Preserving Our Historic Waterfront
SSH, with pro bono contributions from architect and board member Randy Croxton, has supplied architectural imaging and 3D animations to help the public and officials visualize proposed developments and zoning changes in Sag Harbor’s waterfront district.  In 2019, our video rendering of a 3-house complex at 2 Water Street--a project that received multiple zoning variances on a sensitive waterfront site--helped persuade the developer to reduce the massing of the project.

In 2021, we provided a similar video to aid public understanding of the Waterfront Overlay District, a proposed zoning code revision that restricted development affecting the public’s access to and views of the harbor. The Waterfront Overlay zoning revision was passed, with extensive input from Save Sag Harbor.

Saving Our Historic Buildings
SSH has played a vital role in preserving many of the historic buildings that embody our village’s history and shape its character, including the following:

6 Union Street, The Morpurgo House
Save Sag Harbor led the charge in saving the historic Morpurgo House at 6 Union Street. Long neglected, the house was slated for demolition until SSH and allies stepped in. When eventually the house was renovated, it was found to have been older than originally expected, with parts dating from the Pre-Revolutionary War era. It is now a showplace restoration.

Sag Harbor Cinema
Save Sag Harbor financed the original study in 2009 examining the feasibility of purchasing the Sag Harbor Cinema from its then owner and to create a Cinema Arts Center intended to serve the community and the East End of Long Island in myriad ways. With major support from the Sag Harbor Partnership and the Town of Southampton’s Community Preservation Fund, the Cinema was reborn and is now a thriving local institution.

Other Historic Buildings
Other buildings SSH helped defend include 258 Main Street, The L’Hommedieu House, a landmark Greek Revival, and 125 Main Street, the Latham House, one of the oldest structures in the commercial district, dating to the 1700s. Insensitive and historically inappropriate changes were proposed for both buildings. SSH’s involvement not only preserved the buildings’ character, it led to procedural changes by the Village’s Board of Historic Preservation and Architectural Review, and its hiring of a preservation consultant.

Overturning Pro-Development Code Changes
In 2022, the Village Board of Trustees passed a misguided change to our Zoning Code known as Local Law 12, which would have allowed massive, out-of-scale development on and around Main Street, increasing traffic and parking problems and threatening the economic vitality of local shops. With support from hundreds of our members and other Sag Harborites, SSH challenged the law in court and succeeded in having it overturned.

Supporting Affordable Housing
SSH consistently advocates for measures to preserve our stock of affordable housing and to create more. We helped mobilize votes for the creation of the Suffolk County’s Community Housing Fund in 2022, which has generated millions of dollars for housing efforts on the East End, and we have supported Village initiatives to create Accessory Dwelling Units and preserve our existing stock of multi-unit homes.