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Town to Buy 4.6 Acres to Expand Herrick Park

East Hampton Village Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. said finding open space in the village is extremely limited.
East Hampton Village Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. said finding open space in the village is extremely limited.
Durell Godfrey
By
Christopher Walsh

East Hampton Village is poised to expand Herrick Park, following an East Hampton Town Board public hearing last Thursday on the proposed purchase with community preservation fund money of three parcels, totaling 2.78 acres, at 14 and 16 Pleasant Lane and 25 Muchmore Lane. The latter parcel, which is .41 acres, is contiguous to the park and connects it to the Pleasant Lane properties. All three are zoned for residential use.

In a January letter to town officials, the village board asked the town to make the purchase. As with the town’s 2014 purchase of the Lion Gardiner home lot on James Lane, which also came at the urging of village officials, the village would have sole responsibility for the property.

The proposed acquisition would cost $4.6 million. Scott Wilson, the town’s director of land acquisition and management, said in an email yesterday that a resolution to acquire the land would be scheduled once the town’s Planning Department completes an environmental assessment form. A vote could come at the town board’s meeting next Thursday, he said.

In a letter to Supervisor Larry Cantwell and the town board before the public hearing, Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. called the purchase “a unique opportunity” to acquire “sprawling open space, which has become extremely limited within village boundaries. . . . We strongly feel these parcels will be an excellent complement to our open space program.”

The acquisition was also important, the letter read, as the parcels are in the Hook Pond watershed. The village and town are working to mitigate water-quality degradation in bodies including Hook, Town, and Georgica Ponds.

The mayor said on Tuesday that rather than specific plans for the property, it would represent “a further manifestation with regard to the wonderful crown of the village,” a reference to the park. “It was the right thing to do, and the timing was correct, for folks that are here now and for future generations to enjoy the benefit of additional green space. We look at it as the passive extension of Herrick Park. We’re very happy to acquire the property, hopefully, and allow for its peaceful enjoyment by everyone.”

 

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