Amagansett Dust Bowl
Explanations vary about the cause of a storm of dust that flowed on and off in the past week into downtown Amagansett. The known source was a large farm field just beyond the north side of the municipal parking lot. According to the most common account, late rains messed up this year’s harvest on the field. Then the farmer who rents it was delayed in getting a cover crop down and geese gobbled up the seedlings. That may be so, but it does not account for dust having blown off the field in previous years or for similar dust-ups off Long Lane in East Hampton. Notably, much larger fields at Town Lane in Amagansett have not been affected in a similar situation.
Given alarm about past practices on farmland, a great deal of concern is warranted. Substances, both naturally occurring and manmade, have been found on other agricultural properties on the South Fork. Dust itself, even absent potential toxins, is a health risk, particularly for the elderly and young children who might live nearby or attend the school just down the road.
To what extent a town or county legislative response is possible is unclear. For the most part, matters involving farming fall under the purview of state regulators. Compounding the confusion is a lawsuit filed by members of the Bistrian family, who own the land, seeking to force East Hampton Town to build a road over which a residential development they plan there would be reached.
Another wrinkle is that the town owns a portion of the dust source, an inverted “L” reaching up like a woodstove chimney smack in the middle of the field, from the municipal parking lot to Windmill Lane. Over the years, town officials tried to buy the land for preservation, but the Bistrians rejected the offers as too low for land that is already divided on paper into about 10 separate buildable lots. The last time the parties were in active negotiation, the family felt the town was low-balling the potential purchase by at least $10 million.
One solution that many Amagansett residents might not like is for the Bistrians’ residential development plan for the properties to go forward, with the town living up to its obligation to open a road, as promised, to Windmill Lane. If the remaining family owners are unhappy with the town’s offer, as we have noted before, property in the center of the Amagansett business district is not really the wrong location for a handful of new houses. At least lawns would not be likely to dry up and blow dust into houses and shops.
If the Amagansett dust bowl is in any way the result of the long impasse between the property owners and the town, no effort should be spared to force all the parties to a speedy resolution.