Amagansett Farmland May Sprout Houses
Amagansett farmland north of the hamlet’s Main Street appears to be on the drawing board for development. Discussions of its purchase and preservation by East Hampton Town, using the community preservation fund, have apparently come to naught.
In a letter from their attorney to the town board, members of the Bistrian family, who own the 30 acres in separate parcels through their Bistrian Land Corporation, Bistrian Farms Corporation, and Fireplace Development Corporation, say they had made “numerous attempts” over 35 years to reach an agreement with the town to preserve the “scenic space and scenic vista” that define the landscape of the north side of the public parking lot in Amagansett, stretching across to Town Lane, but that “it has become apparent that the town is not willing to buy the property at fair market value.”
“The Bistrians have no choice but to proceed with . . . development . . . in accordance with the present residential zoning,” the family, through an attorney, has informed the town. The land is zoned for two-acre residential lots, but is also in an agricultural zone, which imposes restrictions on how it can be developed so that farmland can be preserved.
Scott Wilson, the director of land acquisitions and management, said this week that the town board’s C.P.F. advisory committee has ranked the land “quite highly,” giving it priority for preservation. He confirmed that discussions have been ongoing, with negotiations taking place on and off for four years.
According to town policy, the town cannot pay more for a property than its appraised value, even if its development potential would enhance its future value.
The Bistrians have “negotiated with the town in good faith on every conceivable basis as to allow for preservation of the subject property,” their attorney said in the letter to the town. Among the various options proposed, it said, was a plan to cluster houses on a portion of the land while preserving the rest as open space.
Consequently, the family is now demanding that the town provide an access road to landlocked sections of the acreage. Such a road was legally agreed to in 1970 when the town acquired two acres of land for the parking lot from Peter Bistrian, according to their attorney, Robert B. Lynn Jr. of Lynn, Gartner, Dunne and Covello in Mineola.
The agreement called for the town to open and pave an access road to Windmill Lane, Mr. Lynn said. The road, which would lead from the north side of the parking lot west to Windmill Lane, already exists, legally, on paper, on the town tax map.
“In essence, the town has benefited from the transaction but has not performed the obligations which were to benefit the Bistrians,” Mr. Lynn wrote.
The construction of the parking lot, the attorney’s letter explains, eliminated an access from the Bistrian property to Main Street, prompting an agreement for Mr. Bistrian to provide the town, at no cost, with an additional three acres north of the lot, to create the access road to be paid for by the town. The access is depicted on the map as leading from the north side of the parking lot through farm fields, then curving west to intersect with Windmill Lane near Schellinger Road.
At present, Mr. Lynn said, there is no access to four of the nine lots that make up the Bistrian farmland, which includes two parcels that could take access from Cozzens Lane.
The letter, dated Aug. 12, gives the town 60 days to pave the road. Otherwise, it says, the Bistrians will have it paved themselves without further notice.