Suit to Protect Stony Hill Aquifer
Alexander Peters, who wants to sell two lots in a groundwater protection district in Amagansett to the Town of East Hampton, filed suit in State Supreme Court last Thursday against several members of a family who claim to have the right of first refusal.
Mr. Peters, president of the advocacy group Amagansett Springs Aquifer Protection, has agreed to sell the 3.5 acres of undeveloped land atop the Stony Hill aquifer, part of the former Bell Estate, to the town for $3.6 million. The aquifer is a primary source of drinking water for Amagansett, Springs, and Montauk.
Mr. Peters, who is known as Sas, bought the property from Richard Smolian in 1992 and 1997. The deed to each lot, however, gives Mr. Smolian, along with Randy Smolian, his former wife, Darielle Smolian, his daughter, and Jonathan Smolian, his son, a right to repurchase the land so long as the family retains ownership of an adjacent lot. Richard Smolian has waived his right of first refusal and supports preservation of the land, but his family members do not.
The lots in question, 42 and 46 La Foret Lane, are designated as part of a Long Island special groundwater protection area and the town’s water recharge district. The town’s policy, according to its comprehensive plan, is to preserve such lands using money from the community preservation fund. The town board held hearings in June and authorized the acquisition of the lots, plus a third owned by Mr. Peters at 82 Stony Hill Road. The $3.6 million that Mr. Peters would receive is reported to be below market value.
Mr. Peters said yesterday that the right of first refusal was included in the deeds “for the very simple purpose of making sure that the land was always conserved. I promised Dick I would never develop the land and never have, and now am trying to nail that down forever.”
Through an intermediary, Ian Warburg, Mr. Peters said he had offered a settlement of $100,000 to Jonathan Smolian. Mr. Smolian refused, and the suit claims that he told Mr. Peters “he had enlisted ‘partners’ who he intended to work with in order to develop the property and achieve a substantial profit.” Randy Smolian and Darielle Smolian, the suit alleges, will not waive their right of first refusal unless Jonathan Smolian also does.
“Dick said he was absolutely horrified by what his family was doing, and it was splitting his family in half,” Mr. Peters said. “It’s quite astonishing that one greedy little son would endanger the water a supply of some 50,000 people,” citing the town’s full estimated summer population. Neither a telephone call nor email to Jonathan Smolian seeking comment was returned.
Mr. Peters’s lawsuit asserts that Randy, Jonathan, and Darielle Smolian are not parties to the 1992 and ’97 deeds, and that a New York common law “stranger to the deed rule” nullifies their claim to first refusal. The suit also statesthat the town’s purchase is subject to a requirement that the public be allowed to use and enjoy the land. Even if the Smolians were legally able to exercise their right of first refusal, the suit states, they would be compelled to match those conditions, which would preclude development.
Anthony Pasca, an attorney representing Mr. Peters, said on Tuesday that he is confident his client will prevail. “These are questions of law,” he said, “first, whether there is any valid right of first refusal left, and second, what happens if there is. On both questions, the law is on our side.”
Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell said on Monday that the town would await the court’s decision. “We’ve done what we should do,” he said. “We negotiated a price, and he” — Mr. Peters — “has the responsibility to produce clear title to us.”