Town Will Wait to Seek Proposals for Amagansett Farm

A plan to reissue a call for proposals for use of the town-owned land at 551 and 561 Montauk Highway in Amagansett has been put on hold at the behest of community members who asked for more time to have public discussions about the property’s future. 

East Hampton Town purchase the property, which has 19 acres of farmland and a barn, in 2014 at a cost of $10.1 million, in order to save it from development as luxury housing. 

The town had received six proposals in 2014 from people interested in use of the site, now called Amagansett Farm, including from a horse breeder, a farming collaborative, a grower of hydroponic greens, and an aronia berry (also known as chokeberry) farmer. A committee vetted the proposals, but no decision was made after a complaint to the Suffolk County District Attorney about the purchase of the land and potential lease prompted an inquiry.

The D.A.’s office does not comment on potential or ongoing investigations, but some had questioned whether it was appropriate to use the community preservation fund to buy farmland with a barn on it — this barn in particular, which was built to contain an apartment. 

The town board had recently decided to call for new proposals, though this time they intended to solicit separate proposals — one for use of the agricultural land and one for both the land and the barn. Resolutions authorizing that process were pulled from the agenda of a board meeting last Thursday after members of the public said community groups would like to weigh in.