Open Space Vote Thursday

The East Hampton Village Board is expected to adopt its first ever open space planning and management program when it meets next Thursday.

The plan's recommendations, village officials say, point the way to more environmentally sensitive redevelopment here, more aggressive protection of the village's wetlands, dunelands, and public corridors, and preservation of its remaining undeveloped areas - about 10 percent of the residential lands within its 4.8 square miles.

"We are proud to put this in place," Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. said yesterday, anticipating that his board would pass the plan without a hitch.

Way Is Cleared

Larry Cantwell, the Village Administrator, called the plan's adoption "a very important first step." It will become, he said, the village's "road map for preservation."

The plan details 13 remaining undeveloped village parcels larger than four acres, totaling 160 acres - the only land remaining with subdivision potential. Some smaller parcels also remain undeveloped, according to the plan, but all told only about 100 new village lots can still be created.

First unveiled in draft form last May, the plan was the subject of an informational meeting last spring and a public hearing this month. The board, finding that its implementation would not have a "significant impact on the environment," adopted a negative declaration Friday, in accordance with the State Environmental Quality Review Act and the Village Code. That vote clears the way for the plan's adoption.

Parking Demands

Some objections, however, were raised by the Village Preservation Society and the Circle Association, two residents' groups, about recommendations that the village acquire land near its beaches to expand parking, if needed, in the future. The plan specifically suggests that the village acquire two properties along the Double Dunes next to the parking field at Two Mile Hollow Beach.

Gene E. Cross, the village's planning consultant, responded that demands could increase significantly at village beaches 20 years hence, resulting in "spill-over onto adjoining residential streets." If the village owns the property, he said, parking could go "where the demands are generated."

Mr. Cantwell said the village still has "growth potential" near the beach even without the purchase.

Preservation Monies

The residents' groups also questioned the plan's recommendation to beef up one of the "special permit" sections in the Village Code. The plan suggests "reworking" the special permit procedure to compensate for changes in the State Environmental Quality Review Act the state adopted two years ago that exclude minor projects from its review.

The Village Board has said it will spend up to $1.5 million to acquire land for conservation and has also retained the services of the Peconic Land Trust, a conservation organization, to help identify property owners willing to grant easements.

The village hopes to tap state monies for preservation, too, if the State Legislature again passes, and the Governor signs, a land bank bill, slated for reintroduction next month.

Suggestions Followed

The legislation would put in place a 12-year $35 million program that State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. estimated could bring East Hampton Town as much as $2.5 million a year though transfer taxes on sales of property. Village properties would be "eligible" for preservation under the bill, Mr. Thiele said yesterday, with the Village and Town Boards negotiating the allocation of the funds, he said.

To qualify for the state funds, the village must have adopted an open space plan.

The Governor vetoed a similar bill last year, but Mr. Thiele said it had been redrafted to cover all five East End towns and an exemption for agricultural lands, provisions the Governor suggested. Mr. Thiele said he was "optimistic" that the bill would pass both the Senate and Assembly, and see the Governor's signature by late spring.

Seeking Easements

The village's plan encourages landowners "to dedicate easements similar to those of their neighbors," where that possiblity exists, and tax reductions are recommended "beyond" what is established by the Village Code.

"The assessors will have to be brought into the loop to see what kind of deals can be cut," said John Halsey, the Land Trust's executive director. Easements, he said, "have to be appealing enough," adding that the plan will help create awareness of "the public costs of despoiling a pond," for example.

When a property owner agrees to move a pre-existing septic system back from a wetland, Mr. Halsey explained, it is "good for the community as a whole."

New District

Mr. Halsey added that each situation is different, and part of his job is to "tailor individually" charitable gifts made by property owners to the Land Trust, or easements to the municipality.

The village would dedicate a new zoning district for all public lands to be called "Greens and Parks," the plan suggests, and enhance enforcement provisions governing it.

The final version of the open space plan has few changes from the original draft, though its language has been tightened, and a few corrections made.

One of its more ambitious recommendations remains - for the village to acquire the former Mark R. Buick dealership on Accabonac Highway and Pantigo Road.

To Vote Thursday

"The recommended course of action is acquisition and demolition," the plan says, as it is located "between two village greens and would provide an important link between them."

The property, however, owned by Generosa Ammon of East Hampton and Manhattan, is said to carry a price tag of more than $2 million.

Ms. Ammon has proposed renovating the building to a single-use retail/office building, and is expected to appear before the Village Design Review Board with her plan Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Village Hall.

The Village Board, meanwhile, will take its vote on the proposed open space plan at a special meeting at 11 a.m. next Thursday, before its work session, at the Emergency Services Building on Cedar Street.