This winter, the East Hampton Village Department of Public Works plans to shift hedgerows and remove a chain-link fence that separates a parcel at 8 Muchmore Lane from the neighboring Herrick Park. When the work is complete, village officials said, it will have the effect of making the park appear larger, as the lot has been hidden from view and inaccessible.
“The jewel of East Hampton is getting a little brighter,” Michael Bouker, the deputy superintendent of public works, said at Friday’s village board meeting.
The .175-acre lot was purchased in 2022 using $2,557,500 in East Hampton Town community preservation money. A house and pool were later removed, leaving a square of grass surrounded by a hedge, fencing, and trees. A new fence will be installed along Muchmore, matching the fence that has been installed along much of the park’s perimeter.
“It will be a nice change for the residents on Muchmore,” Mayor Jerry Larsen said at the meeting.
“Adding that property to Herrick Park was part of the original strategy of purchasing it, so I’m excited to get to do that,” Marcos Baladron, the village administrator, said later in a phone call. In the past, when Department of Public Works crew members had to access the parcel for maintenance, they had to enter from Muchmore. Now that it will be opened up into the park, maintaining the lot will be easier, and less obtrusive for the neighbors.
Public works will have help from a contractor on the project; Mr. Bouker told the village board that the department is in the process of bidding out the work.
Another hedgerow that borders Muchmore will be removed. “One, because of maintenance, and two because it’s in bad shape,” said Mr. Bouker, speaking in the park after the meeting. A row of “green giant” bushes and arborvitae that currently borders the park will be shifted to replace the Muchmore hedgerow slated for removal.
Some of that hedge will be repurposed to re-screen the U.P.S. store’s lot, which is directly to the north.
“Any extra plants that we have, there are bare spots in that hedgerow over by Stop and Shop, and we’ll fill those in,” Mr. Bouker said.
Dave Collins, the superintendent of public works, said some trees will be removed. He pointed to two large maples on the parcel, saying, “This tree here has been compromised by a vine. This other one is already dead.”
“We don’t plant maples anymore, at least not as a street tree,” said Mr. Bouker, who has been with public works for over 30 years. “Maples are prone to snapping in high wind events.”
He got the job from his uncle, who worked under Bruce Collins, Dave’s father. So, between the two men, there are decades of institutional knowledge. Another member of the department used to work for Whitmores and is a certified arborist. Mr. Bouker said they lean on him a lot for his tree knowledge.
More knowledge comes from the Ladies Village Improvement Society’s list of approved street trees. “There are certain trees you don’t plant on a street because they’re too low, or too brittle,” said Mr. Collins.
Olivia Brooks, head of the L.V.I.S. tree committee, said in an email, “I agree with the village in taking down some older and unsightly trees near Muchmore Lane. Since the village owns the trees and we help in overseeing them, our communication is important for us and the community.”
Ms. Brooks said a row of European hornbeams was planted along the Reutershan Lot a decade ago and that more are coming.
“Those trees have been fantastic,” said Mr. Bouker.
Why not the native American hornbeams? “To be perfectly honest, none of us on the project even mentioned the words ‘native plants,’ “ wrote Ms. Brooks. “Of course, now, it’s part of our vocabulary.”
“This tree is a hazard tree,” said Mr. Collins, pointing at a third tree, along the paved pathway of the park. “It’s about ready to fall down.” Indeed, the tree had a large gash low in its trunk. “This is also a maple. This is an accident waiting to happen.”
“We go out of our way to try and keep the trees,” said Mr. Bouker. “Liability is a big concern, but we also spend a lot of money on trees. We’re not going to spend that willy-nilly.”
“It takes a lifetime to grow a tree,” said Mr. Collins, who said he was always open to accepting donations of mature trees that might be felled at construction sites.
“This is an ash, and it’s already showing signs of the emerald ash borer,” said Mr. Collins, arriving at a large tree with beautiful oblong yellow leaves. A treatment against the insect is available but must be repeated annually. On Borden Lane, he said, eight ash trees have been lost in the last year. “All the ash are dying — it’s just a matter of time. We’re going to fight this, to keep an eye on this. When it gets to the point where it’s a hazard, we have to take it down.”
Why not just trim the limbs overhanging the walkway? “That’s sort of like saying, ‘I know there’s a problem, but I’m not going to deal with it,’ “ said Mr. Bouker. They’ve tried sanitary pruning on some of the Dutch elm-diseased trees, he said, but it doesn’t often work.
Long term, they’d like to bury the electrical wires along Muchmore. “We want to get rid of three electrical poles,” said Mr. Collins. “Ultimately, everything will be underground, and this will be all open vista.”
In other news of the park, the reconstruction of the Roy Mabry basketball courts along Newtown Lane is still scheduled to be finished by the end of the year. And, last Thursday, Justice Joseph Santorelli of Suffolk County Supreme Court decided not to re-hear an Article 78 lawsuit that was brought against the village last spring by Michael and Barbara Bebon concerning pickleball courts.
