Just months after the owners of Baron’s Cove Inn on West Water Street approached the Sag Harbor Village Planning Board for approval for an 80-seat restaurant, the village’s board of trustees has decided to take a closer look at what kind of restaurants are allowed in the Resort-Motel district.

According to Sag Harbor Village Mayor Brian Gilbride, legislation has been proposed to “clarify” the existing code.

“We want to keep it clean and see what shakes out as we address the issue,” he said following a Tuesday meeting of the board of trustees where the law was introduced.

Currently, village law gives motels the right to have an accessory restaurant, but it does not define how large or small that restaurant should be, or any restrictions within that allowance.

Under the new legislation, resort motels would still be allowed to have a restaurant, but it would have to be within a primary building used for a motel service and could not occupy more than 20 percent of the gross floor area of the entire complex.

A freestanding accessory restaurant is prohibited, as are bars or taverns.

As a part of their plans, the owners of the 66-unit Baron’s Cove Inn had hoped to have a bar within their restaurant, but on Wednesday morning the attorney for KBR Associates, the firm that owns Baron’s Cove Inn, said she believed the legislation was targeting freestanding bars or taverns, not those associated with restaurants.

“What restaurant can you even think of that does not have a bar in it,” said attorney Tiffany Scarlato. “My understanding is that is part in parcel of any restaurant.”

The number of seats in any restaurant is also limited to 50 percent of the maximum number of guests who can stay at the motel. The restaurant is also allowed to operate only when the motel is open, and providing take-out food for non-motel guests is prohibited.

Parking for the restaurant is considered separately under the existing law, although Baron’s Cove Inn, noted Scarlato, has a tremendous amount of parking on-site to the point where they may actually remove a few spaces in an effort to green the current parking area.

“Obviously, as a former trustee who helped write this code, the idea was to allow motels to have restaurants as an accessory use,” said Scarlato Wednesday morning. “But understandably the village became concerned that the size and scope of a restaurant could exceed the motel use.”

“Both myself and my clients agreed that it was important to put some restrictions in place to ensure the code was clear,” she added. “ In our mind it was to add clarity to the code, and is not meant to jam us up.”

The legislation will be up for public hearing at the board’s August 9 meeting at 6 p.m.

Recycling Bins Debated

The Sag Harbor Village Board of Trustees made it clear on Tuesday night that they wished to distance themselves from a proposal by Save Sag Harbor to install three recycling bins on Main Street.

Last month, the local not-for-profit announced it had hoped to purchase three recycling bins and donate them to the Village of Sag Harbor. To ensure the village’s department of public works, and therefore village taxpayers, would not foot the bill for this pilot recycling program, Save Sag Harbor struck a deal with Suburban Sanitation owner Ralph Ficorelli, who agreed to provide pick up service free of charge.

The wrought iron rectangular bins would each contain three different cans to collect paper, cans and plastic bottles, and general trash.

Save Sag Harbor board members had hoped that by purchasing the bins and setting up the free pick-up through Suburban Sanitation that they could then simply donate the bins to the village. However, on Tuesday night Mayor Gilbride said he did not want the village to be responsible for the bins, and would prefer to see Save Sag Harbor partner with local businesses to ensure they are taken care of, and that trash does not accumulate around them.

Save Sag Harbor would need to apply for a permit to use village property to host the bins, and Trustee Robby Stein agreed to work with the organization to figure out the proper location.

“They are your bins,” said Mayor Gilbride. “You maintain it and let’s see how successful it is.”

Mayor Gilbride, who is a manager for the private hauling company Emil Norsic & Sons and once headed up Southampton Town’s Sanitation Department, said from experience he was sadly skeptical the bins would be used correctly.

“Sometimes it is successful, but sometimes it becomes an eyesore and a nuisance,” he said.

Save Sag Harbor President Mia Grosjean was taken aback at the idea that the village would not accept the donation. But she said she would go back to her board and see if they were amenable to either managing the bins themselves or partnering with a local business in the endeavor.

Street Musicians Questioned at Fall Music Fest

Over the last five years, there has been a resurgence of live music in the Village of Sag Harbor. It’s a resurgence embraced by both businesses and local government as restaurants found themselves packed on weeknights in the winter with patrons eager to take in some live jazz or acoustic jams.

Seizing this momentum, a group of Sag Harbor residents have conceived the Sag Harbor American Music Festival, a celebration of all forms of American music. The festival is proposed to be held Friday, September 30 and Saturday, October 1 with about five to 10 local businesses hosting music between noon and 6 p.m. on Saturday. Concerts are also planned for Friday night at Bay Street Theatre and Saturday evening at the Old Whalers’ Church.

The festival, which will be brought before the Sag Harbor Village Board of Trustees for review on August 9, also hoped to feature a couple of street musicians playing acoustic music, according to festival founder and board member John Landes.

Landes added they would also like to have the local drum troupe, Escola de Samba Boom, kick off the festival by performing in a parade that would take people from Marine Park to Bay Street Theatre.

On Tuesday evening, Mayor Gilbride said his only concern with the festival was the idea of street musicians, fearing people would believe it would be okay to bring their drinks out from restaurants to listen to the street musicians.

The board agreed to take up the matter formally at their August session.

In other news, the Village of Sag Harbor will use $16,000 in community development block grants it has received to make the doorway to the Municipal Building as well as its two bathrooms handicap accessible.

On Tuesday night, Mayor Gilbride announced the initiative and the board passed a resolution seeking bids for the reconstruction of the bathrooms, which will be widened.

Lastly, Lisa Rana was appointed to a second one-year term as the acting village justice for the Village of Sag Harbor Justice Court. Rana will fill in for elected village justice Andrea Schiavoni when she is unavailable to take the bench. Brian Halweil was also appointed to a third three-year term on the village’s Harbor Committee, and Michael Mensch was appointed to a second, three-year term with the historic preservation and architectural review board.

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