C.P.F. Approach Is the Public’s Loss
The practice when making community preservation fund deals is that the towns do not pay more than their commissioned appraisal indicates the property is worth. This might be sound procedure, but it also appears to hamstring officials in making purchases.
A current example involves 30 farmland acres in Amagansett owned by the Bistrian family, which have long been eyed for preservation. The several contiguous lots are frequently planted in corn and present a pleasingly bucolic backdrop to the hamlet’s Main Street business district. The town now says it cannot pay more than the appraisal it received while the family believes the land is worth much more. Making matters worse, the Bistrians are threatening that unless a deal is made soon, they will have a road opened to link a new residential development on the property to Windmill Lane, to the west. It is the family’s right not to be more preservation minded when it comes to Amagansett vistas, and there the matter sits unless the town finds another way to reach an agreement.
The community preservation fund is not hurting for money; it is likely to be extended to 2050 by voters in a November referendum, giving the town enormous borrowing power, if need be — even if officials and preservationists are eager to peel off up to 20 percent of future income for only vaguely specified water quality projects on top of the up to 10 percent already allowed for management and upkeep of acquired properties.
Another example of an appraisal’s apparently falling short was for the former East Deck Motel in Montauk, which, sandwiched between two town properties along the ocean at Ditch Plain, would have been a prime candidate for a more flexible acquisition process. Instead, the site is being readied for sale as house lots. Some observers are worried that whoever buys them will eventually try to privatize the narrow beach there. Whether or not that occurs, it was a massively missed opportunity to expand the public oceanfront, and clearly demonstrates that preservation fund procedures may be inadequate when it comes to high-value properties. It is, in our opinion, tragic that houses will now loom over what is arguably the most iconic and popular East Hampton Town beach.
That these two highly visible, publicly important properties will be developed is a shame, and clearly indicates that preservation fund practices must be revisited. One option is for the town to commission more than one appraisal, as has been done elsewhere. Another might be to allow appraisals to take into account potential future uses of a particular site, or to allow the town board wiggle room on price up to a formal cap above the appraised value. In any event, the town’s current approach in these examples looks like a low-ball failure, and, surely, in others to come.