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Whose Road Is It, Anyway?

By
Christopher Walsh

The East Hampton Town Board will continue hearing a proposal tonight to abandon the ownership of an unopened road between Cranberry Hole Road and Abram’s Landing Road in Amagansett while accepting a permanent scenic, conservation, and trail easement over the road, which is part of the Paumanok Path, a hiking trail that runs from Rocky Point to Montauk Point State Park. The board will meet at 6:30 at Town Hall. 

When the board first heard the plan, on Aug. 2, David Buda, a resident of Springs, voiced strong objection to it. The board, he charged, was “actually considering giving away a valuable asset,” for no compensation, to “a very well-heeled landowner” of an adjacent parcel. 

That owner is apparently the billionaire investor Michael Novogratz, a former hedge fund manager and partner at Goldman Sachs, who purchased, through a limited liability corporation, the five-acre parcel for $3 million earlier this year. His motivation, Mr. Buda asserted, is to maximize lot area, thereby altering required building setbacks and lot coverage allowance in his favor. “To do so at no cost,” Mr. Buda told the town board, “is incredible.” 

In an Aug. 3 email to the board, he wrote that the property, at 58 Cross Highway East, was purchased with the intent to relocate the residence of the late architect Francis Fleetwood from 85 Oceanview Lane, also in Amagansett. “That property was purchased in July 2016 from the Estate of Mr. Fleetwood by another entity under common control: Novofam, L.L.C.,” he wrote

Should the board approve a resolution to exchange ownership for the easement, it would “severely limit the public’s right to use this public highway,” Mr. Buda said, with restrictions on vehicles that could traverse the road and the hours in which the public could access it. 

It wasn’t ironclad proof, he agreed, but Mr. Buda said that a 1914 “Town Highway Book” indicated that the road was opened that year. He cited testimony from Rick Whalen to the planning board in May. In his Aug. 3 email, he said that Mr. Whalen, vice president for trail planning of the East Hampton Trails Preservation Society and a former assistant town attorney, “unequivocally stated” that the section of Cross Highway in question “is a town highway,” further citing both the road’s physical characteristics and photographic evidence. “There is no good reason to consider abandoning a town highway that’s been in existence since 1914,” Mr. Buda said, “even if only used now primarily for trail walkers.”

Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc disagreed, stating that the 1914 document “hardly demonstrates” its present status. Councilwoman Sylvia Overby referred to certification from a title company, provided by the property owner, confirming ownership of the land underlying the road. That is not title certification, Mr. Buda countered. “What it says is, he couldn’t find any record of there being a town highway. . . . There was no deed because in 1914 there was no requirement that there be a deed of dedication to the town. . . . I’ve looked at the deed to the owner. The deed does not in any way include or guarantee ownership of the road.” In fact, the deed description excludes the road, he said. 

Steve Latham, an attorney representing the property owner, said that the road had never been opened, that there was no evidence of ownership conveyance to the town, and that the trails preservation society was happy with the proposal. “I think that we’ve submitted more than ample proof that the procedures we’re using are proper,” he told the board at the Aug. 2 meeting. 

But Councilman Jeff Bragman was adamant that the hearing be kept open. “I’d just like to understand the facts before I make a decision on this,” he said. “Call me curious, I just want to know what this is.”

 

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