In his Fall 2026 letter, Mayor William M. Manger Jr. calls this past summer probably the busiest Southampton Village has ever had. He points to the US Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club and the sesquicentennial parade, and says Coopers Beach and many businesses had their busiest summer on record. The rest of the letter lists what happens next. Read closely, it shows that most of the village's new public space is being paid for by someone other than the village.
The new garden behind Jobs Lane came from a private gift. The playground at Moses Park was paid for by a developer's park fee. The planned dog park sits on land the Town bought. PSEG will repave several village roads. Each project has its own funder, and together they are changing the center of the village one lot at a time.
The garden that comes with its own upkeep
The 2.7-acre grounds of the Southampton Arts Center at 25 Jobs Lane are now called the Paulson Family Gardens. The grounds were first laid out in 1898 for Samuel Parrish, who later gave his name to the Parrish Art Museum. Landscape architect Chris LaGuardia of LaGuardia Design Group led the redesign. The changes include a new fountain on the west side, new flower plantings and some trees moved to new spots. The gardens were formally dedicated with a ribbon cutting on July 3.
The funding is the unusual part. The Paulson Family Foundation's $3.4 million gift covered the redesign and also set aside an endowment for five years of grounds maintenance. When the Village Board moved the plans forward, 27east reported that private donors would pay for both the project and its required maintenance, so the village would not. In short, the village got a renovated garden on its own land without taking on new upkeep costs for the first five years.
A new hedge wall now encloses most of a property that used to be open. Tish Rehill of Gardeneering Inc., who worked on the planting details, explained the reasoning to 27east.
"It makes it more like you're in a garden or in a park rather than in an open space. It closes it down and I think that's really important. As they grow, they're going to block out more of the cars and buildings and things like that."
Since the hedges were planted this year, the garden will feel more enclosed each season as they fill in. The Arts Center says the grounds are open to the public. It lists gallery hours of noon to 5 p.m., Friday through Sunday, from September through June, but posts no separate hours for the garden.
A list of projects, each with its own funder
The garden is one of several. Here is how the mayor's fall projects and related work are funded, based on the newsletter and recent local reporting.
| Project | Where | Paid for by | Status in early October |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paulson Family Gardens | Southampton Arts Center, 25 Jobs Lane | $3.4 million Paulson Family Foundation gift, including five years of maintenance | Open since summer, dedicated July 3 |
| New playground and walking trails | Moses Park | Park fee from the Village Latch development on Hill Street | "Essentially completed" |
| New dog park | Former Southampton Press site, Windmill Lane, next to Rogers Memorial Library | Land bought by the Town with Community Preservation Fund money, co-owned by the village | Village plans to demolish the 6,000-square-foot office building "soon" |
| Repaving of North Sea Road, Willow Street and North Main Street | North of the village center | PSEG, once its power project is finished | PSEG is restarting the project |
| Removal of single-lane striping on westbound CR 39 | Leaving the village heading west | Southampton Town, at the county's insistence | Completed, per a September 30 report |
Moses Park is a good example of how this works. The mayor writes that residents now use the new playground and the added walking trails. All of it was paid for by the park fee from the Village Latch development on Hill Street. So a private development helped fund a public park on the other side of the village.
Why the dog park is moving to Windmill Lane
The dog park looks like a small item, but it is part of the village's largest environmental project. The village is planning a wastewater treatment system for the Central Business District, which the mayor calls the best way to cut nitrogen in the groundwater and clean up Lake Agawam. The system would sit on village property behind the ambulance barn, with underground leaching pools just to the north. That is the land under the current dog park.
The Town used Community Preservation Fund money to buy the Southampton Press site on Windmill Lane, and the village is co-owner. That purchase lets the village swap uses. The old Press office building comes down, a new dog park goes up next to Rogers Memorial Library, and the old dog park becomes leaching ground for treated water. The mayor says the system is contained and will produce no odors. The newsletter does not give a demolition date or an opening date, so the new dog park is still a plan for now.
Agawam Park is also tied to the lake work. Electrical lines will be laid under the park this fall for a proposed algae harvester and solar array.
Main Street repairs paid for by the village
Some of the fall work is the village's own. The World War I Monument will start its long-awaited repairs and restoration after a Request for Proposal process to find a contractor. The pedestrian easement just north of Hildreth's Department Store will get brick paving in place of the uneven asphalt. The new walkway will line up with the crosswalk to Chase Bank on the east side of Main Street, which follows the Comprehensive Plan's goal of better connecting the parking lots to the shops. No construction dates have been announced for either project.
After the severe storm on the night of July 4 took down many trees, the village will plant 200 new trees this fall and next spring. That brings the total planted under Manger to 800. The eastern half of Hill Street was repaved this summer, and the western half is scheduled for 2027. The MTA is continuing to repaint the Long Island Rail Road trestles over North Main Street and North Sea Road.
Traffic changes on Hill Street and CR 39
Two traffic changes affect the afternoon drive right now. Through October 30, a village pilot bans left turns onto Hill Street from Halsey Neck Lane and from Captains Neck Lane on weekdays from 3 to 7 p.m. Left turns from Lee Avenue onto Hill Street are now banned permanently.
On County Road 39, westbound drivers leaving the village have two lanes again now that the single-lane striping is gone, according to a 27east report dated September 30. Suffolk County had objected to the lane restriction and required Southampton Town to pay for removing it. Town officials say County Executive Ed Romaine has promised substantial funding for other traffic-calming work in his 2027 budget. The county's Department of Public Works expects to finish its latest engineering study of the corridor in December. It is at least the sixth such study since the 1960s.
Fall events at the garden and beyond
The Arts Center's fall calendar is the first one held alongside the new garden. EAST END COLLECTED9, the ninth edition of the center's recurring exhibition, opened with a reception on October 3. Here are the dates ahead.
- October 11, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.: LIVE: Fall Market at 25 Jobs Lane. It is free and includes local vendors, dance classes, music and activities for children.
- October 23 to 25: "The Great Gatsby, A Live Radio Play." Shows are Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 7 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m.
- October 30, 7 to 10 p.m.: Halloween Silent Disco.
- November 2 to December 28: Village leaf pickup. Leaves must go in biodegradable paper bags, which are sold at Village Hall and hardware stores. The village will no longer pick up plastic bags.
- November 28: A ceremony marking 25 years of the police building and Village Court on Windmill Lane, held before the Parade of Lights and the Christmas tree lighting.
The garden also connects to an exhibition in Water Mill. Samuel Parrish commissioned the Jobs Lane grounds in 1898. The museum named for him, at 279 Montauk Highway, is showing "Abstract Expressionism: The East End, 1940 to Today" through February 14, 2027.
If you want to ask about any of these projects directly, the mayor invites residents to stop by on Tuesday mornings between 10 and 11 a.m., or to book a meeting through his assistant, Karen Bontempo.
Changes like the garden on Jobs Lane, the land swap on Windmill Lane and the repaving of Hill Street affect how the blocks around them are used and valued. If you own property near any of them and want a measured read on what they mean for it, Devin Hugh Leahy is glad to talk it through. Inquire Now.
