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PAGE 4 T he S ag H arbor E xpress T he T op T en ill I f l S ag H arbor Funds to Buy The Cinema As year ends, group secures m o n e y to acquire real estate THE STORY Just three days before the one-year anniversary of the December 16,2016 fire on Main Street in Sag Harbor - a blaze that partially destroyed the village's iconic cinema - the Sag Harbor Partnership learned from New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., that it has received a $1.4 million state grant to purchase the former cinema property from longtime owner Gerald Mallow. According to a press release issued after the announcement of the state grant, an additional $500,000 donation — made by an anonymous individual - put the Partnership above the $8 million it needed to dose on the contract it signed with Mr. Mallow last April. The Partnership, led by a board that indudes Nick Gazzolo, April Gomik, Hilary Loomis, Susan Mead and Jayne Young, among others, kicked off fundraising for the purchase of the dnema property in April with a $1 million donation by artist Eric Fischi, Ms. Gomik's husband. It will now begin the process of raising $5 million in funding to construct the theater. Plans call for the division of the existing 480-seat auditorium into two separate screening rooms, one with 250 seats, the other with 150 seats. The ground-floor portion will be transformed into a café. Above that there would be a 30-seat screening room that would double as a classroom and be available for private events. Shortly after confirming the grant award, Assemblyman Thiele said he believed it would be the beginning of a public- private partnership to aid the arts center, hinting state funding to help with construction may be available. \We are ecstatic that our efforts over the last year have helped us meet our funding goal to save the dnema. This was truly the work of an incredible community of people with a common goal,\ said Ms. Gomik. THE UPSHOT Don't underestimate the ability of the Sag Harbor Partner ship to achieve its goals. Now that the purchase is funded, the Partnership and the board of the Sag Harbor Cinema Arts Center will need approvals and permits, in addition to funding before they can begin to redevelop the Sag Harbor Gnema, and return its iconic façade to Main Street S ag H arbor Conca D’Oro Shuts Its Doors Family sells p o p u lar p izzeria after 40 years in business THE STORY Conca D'Oro, the Sag Harbor restaurant where Little Leagu ers by the thousands celebrated their victories and salved the wounds of their defeats with a slice or two of its famous pizza, announced in July that it was changing hands. Frankie Venesina, a familiar face behind the front counter, who owned the local institution with his parents, Tony and Lena, said the business had been sold to Laurent Tourondel and Michael Cinque, the owners of LT Burger across the street \It's kind of bittersweet but it's time for us,\ he said. \Mike and Laurent are nice guys and they share the vision of my par ents and me and want to keep it an affordable, family-friendly restaurant\ The Venesina family opened the restaurant in 1975, shortly after arriving from Sidy. It became a regular destination for diners seeking a quid slice of pizza from the front counter or a reason ably priced Italian meal in a small dining room to the rear. Although a December 31 closing date was originally set residents were startled to learn last fall that the restaurant would actually dose its doors on October 31. As trid-or-treaters made their way down village streets, long-time customers, former employees and other well-wishers dropped by to pay their respects, as Frankie Venesina and his team of pizza makers churned out hundreds of pizzas and tried desperately to keep up with orders that came in for five to 10 pies at a dip. Children from the Sag Harbor Elementary School, who parade in costume down Main Street every Halloween, were this year accompanied by a float with a sign made out of pizza boxes that read \Thank You Conca D'Oro.\ Stopping in front of the restaurant they serenaded the family, singing \When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore.\ THE UPSHOT The comments of last-day customers sum it up: \Its a big loss for the community,\ said Marion Cassata, \not just for the food but for the family.\ \This is another piece of Sag Harbor that will never be recaptured - food made with love,\ said Cathy Santacroce. 'This is the best of what this community is about\ added Peter Solow, a Pierson high school art teacher and soccer coach. S outhampton E ast H ampton Hospital Merger Wind Farm Is Complete Hits a Bump A f t e r more than a decade o f talks, Largely welcomed, but local Southam p ton join s Stony Brook fisherm en are concerned THE STORY Health care on the South Fork got a boost this year when Southampton Hospital officially became Stony Brook South ampton Hospital. The merger had been in the works for more than a decade. The hospitals joined forces in August and already patients have begun to have access to more services and providers. Stony Brook Southampton's new cardiac catheterization laboratory at the Audrey and Martin Gruss Heart & Stroke Cen ter opened, the emergency room at Stony Brook Southampton became a provisional Level 3 trauma center with 24-hour coverage by emergency medicine doctors and a trauma surgeon available within 30 minutes, and the hospital received sophisticated imaging capabilities in its hybrid operating room. Additionally, a new general cardiology practice opened, patients will benefit from Stony Brook's academic medicine capabilities and the hospitals broke ground on the Philips Family Cancer Center on County Road 39A Health care professionals and local elected officials alike have acknowledged medicine on the East End had been lacking for a long time. \The combination of Southampton Hospital and Stony Brook University Hospital will ensure that residents have access to specialists and vital services close to home,\ State Senator Kenneth LaValle said during a flag-raising ceremony in August. \I am pleased that the community will be able to benefit by the blending of these great medical providers.\ Similarly, when the merger was officially completed, Robert Chaloner, chief administrative officer for Stony Brook Southamp ton Hospital, said, \By joining Stony Brook Medicine, the new Stony Brook Southampton Hospital has strengthened its ability to fulfill its 100-plus year mission of providing access to the highest quality healthcare for the communities it serves. We look forward to our elevated role as part of the Stony Brook family to bring the very best in academic medicine and patient care to the East End\ THE UPSHOT If the two hospitals can deliver on the significant promises that were made during the merger process, South Fork resi dents will undoubtedly emerge the winners. Ü H I THE STORY Deepwater Wind's plans for a 15-turbine, 90-megawatt, $740 million wind farm off the coast of Montauk are taking ■ shape, but have come up against questioning so far from local fishermen and residents of the hamlet where the cable landing is proposed. Deepwater Wind president Chris van Beek claims he has studies that show fishing is \spectacular\ within the Block Island Wind Farm, a five-turbine project that is serving as a model for the proposed South Fork Wind Farm. And the company is offer ing East Hampton Town $1.8 million in financial incentives plus payments in exchange for access to public real estate to bury its transmission cable below ground. But local fishermen like Dan Lester and Hank Lackner said they want Deepwater Wind to also guarantee the local com mercial fishing community a safety net - no pun intended - in case the South Fork Wind Farm winds up decimating the fishing industry here. \We want to go to work. We just don't want it messed with,\ Mr. Lester said at a recent East Hampton Town Trustees meet ing. \But in the future is there going to be something to help us if we are put out of business?' Residents of Wainscott, the hamlet where the transmission cable's landing is proposed, are also concerned, with Si Kinsella recently urging the trustees to withhold granting permits until they are satisfied with the information from Deepwater. Qint Plummer, Deepwater's vice president of development said the company would continue to listen to input from the public and pointed to the decision to relocate the cable landing from Napeagueto Wainscott as evidence they have already begun incorporating community feedback. THE UPSHOT During the most recent East Hampton Town Trustees meet ing trustee Rick Drew told Deepwater Wind to show them hard proof that wind forms don't harm fish populations. If it material izes to the. trustees' satisfaction, that will likely be a turning point in the project's future in East Hampton. A vote by the trustees is expected in early 2018, but we expect Deepwater will battle headwinds up until the last minute on this issue. S outh F ork Towns Push Septic Laws Hope to improve w a ter quality through wastewater management THE STORY Both East Hampton Town and Southampton Town this year passed laws that enable them to take steps toward improving water quality through the updating of old septic systems within their borders. Sag Harbor Village, which straddles the two towns and is therefore caught in the middle between two differing sets of rules, has yet to take action on the septic issue. Starting January 1, in East Hampton Town, all new construction and substantial expansion projects anywhere in town will have to use one of the new county-approved, low-nitrogen-produdng septic systems. In September, Southampton Town began mandating new systems for new construction and substantial expansion in \high priority\ areas, which are those areas where groundwater takes up to two years to reach the bay or other surface waters. The towns have also adopted slightly different rebate programs, providing funding from a pool of money that voters approved for water quality projects in November 2016 as an extension of the Community Preservation Fund. Sag Harbor's Harbor Committee has urged Mayor Sandra Schroeder and the Board of Trustees to take action. In Novem ber, while acknowledging she is concerned about water quality, Ms. Schroeder told The Sag Harbor Express the village board was not ready to take on septic laws. \I don't want to have a law that matches one town law but not the other,\ she said. Where Sag Harbor Village has not acted, though, some locals are stepping up to the plate, as evidenced by many develop ment projects recently put forth before the village's various regulatory boards. Each time the Board of Historic Preservation and Architectural Review or Zoning Board of Appeals has met over the past several months, many building projects have induded new, more environmentally friendly septic systems. People are paying attention. THE UPSHOT In a very development-heavy municipality, 2018 could turn out to be a critical time for Sag Harbor Village to find a way to incorporate East Hampton and Southampton towns' septic regulations into legislation of its own. Water quality isn't going to magically improve by itself. c 4 Q i > Ç U e a A , 'b PAGE AT 63 MAIN 2 @ t i a Sunday, December 31st Fresh. Local. Aquaponic. Open 7 Days a Week for Lunch & Dinner i r £ fX s tlSÊ S Æ j 1 * zSOr nm tm Four-Course Prix Fixe Menu First Seating Second Seating at 9pm, includes Champagne Toast & Live Music w wè 1 tu ii 631 - 725-0553 63 Main Street, Sag Harbor 11963 www.Page63Main.com info@pagerestaurantgroup.com «***
