Amagansett Vote

If only the Amagansett School Board had been able to explain to School District residents exactly how it means to use the Meeting House Lane property it is hoping to acquire, Tuesday's vote on the purchase might have occasioned little notice.

As things stand, however, no one - not the board, not its long-range planning committee, not even the professionals hired to design the school's planned expansion - seems to know quite what the .42-acre parcel will be used for. A school bus loop? Classrooms? Athletic fields? Parking? Some or all of the above?

The resolution taxpayers will vote on Tuesday calls for an "unrestricted purchase," meaning the School Board can do as it chooses with the land. Despite opposition from Meeting House Lane residents and members of the Amagansett Citizens Advisory Committee, there is a possibility that the board could decide to put in a driveway there, allowing school buses to come and go on the narrow residential street.

This is troublesome. While it makes good sense for the School District to acquire vacant land when possible, as a hedge against future needs - particularly at the favorable price being offered in this instance - more of an effort should have been made to allay neighbors' concerns.

One of those neighbors, who proposed to buy the parcel and give the school an easement for buses, got little more than a perfunctory hearing before being shown the door. Sensible alternatives may emerge from a new expansion plan that would obviate the need to encroach on Meeting House Lane.

Time constraints notwithstanding, the School Board should have had a plan for expansion ready before putting the acquisition up for a vote. At this point it is unclear whether this parcel will be essential to that plan. Under the circumstances, it is hard to urge a "yes" vote.