Amagansett Farmland's Future in Doubt

Long-running negotiations between East Hampton Town and the Bistrian family over the town's possible purchase and preservation of a large tract of farmland in Amagansett have reached yet another impasse.

In an email to The Star on Friday, Bonnie Bistrian wrote that the family's appraisers, Goodman Marks Associates, have pegged the fair market value of the 30-acre property, which lies between Windmill Lane and Main Street , north and west of the hamlet's municipal parking lot, at $35 million. The appraisers put the value of the development rights — which "we are happy to sell," Ms. Bistrian said — at $32.5 million.

The appraisals were provided to the town, which in return made an offer of $22 million for the land, about $3 million more than it had offered in 2014 but "$10.5 million below the appraised value . . . It's very disappointing for us," Ms. Bistrian said.

Ten individual parcels are on the table, each of which, under town code, could have a house on it. The family has no immediate plans to develop, she said, but added that "all we need to do is open the roads."

Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell, who was in Sag Harbor most of Friday conferring with other local officials about that morning's ruinous fire, indicated that the town had been interested in the development rights but was "unable to come to terms on the fair market value."

"My personal perspective is that this farmland should be preserved," he said. "I am bitterly disappointed that we have been unable to come to terms."