People have often been moved to paint or photograph the 30-acre property at 66 Main Street in Wainscott. At a public hearing last Thursday on East Hampton Town’s plan to purchase it for $56 million, some people were moved to near tears and others to poetry.
The board heard effusive praise for being bold enough to pursue purchase of the land, which stretches to the Atlantic Ocean and includes Wainscott Pond, acres of grassland, two historic structures, and hundreds of years of town history.
“It’s one of the most painted places in East Hampton,” said Hilary Osborn Malecki, whose family has a 350-year history on the land. She described “clouds of dragonflies” over the pond, and “meadow birds of every variety,” in the adjacent grassland. To put in perspective how much has changed since her forebears worked the land, she said that in 1890, 40 tons of ice were removed from the pond, layered in sawdust and seaweed and kept until the summer. The ice, a foot thick, was then sold to the summer folk.
“It checks all the boxes,” said Sara Davison, who, representing the Friends of Georgica Pond Foundation, offered her “strong support” for its purchase using the community preservation fund.
Despite the eye-popping price tag, not a single detractor spoke at the hearing. Fourteen members of the public commended the proposal, bolstering the town board’s effort to complete the purchase.
Carolyn Logan Gluck, the chairwoman of the Wainscott Citizens Advisory Committee, which meets across the street from the parcel at the Wainscott Chapel, said, “Never does anyone exit a meeting without pausing and having their breath caught by the view before them. It’s integral to the chapel, to the whole area. Thank you so much.”
There are two structures on the property, the 1904 Louise Edwards Osborn house and a two-story barn built in 1915.
“It’s hard to argue that the house and barn with the age of construction and family and farming history that we just heard about from Hilary would not be considered historic. But our standard process for landmarking status starts with a historic assessment of the structure’s use and history,” said Scott Wilson, the town’s director of land acquisition and management.
The town plans to landmark the property and structures and is working with a historic consultant. “There will be a subsequent hearing to consider local designation before we acquire the property,” he told the audience. In an email, he said that the hearing will take place on Nov. 21.
He read from a press release put out by Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez regarding the potential purchase. “The proposed acquisition of 66 Wainscott Main not only honors the historical significance of the Osborn family, but also reclaims a vital part of East Hampton’s agricultural past. By acquiring this land, Osborns, a story of resilience, adaptation, and connection to the land, will continue to resonate in the community.”
Importantly however, Mr. Wilson described the need for the town to have access to Wainscott Pond to address water quality issues. Even though the land around the pond is undeveloped, it is considered one of the most compromised water bodies in Suffolk County. Simon Kinsella, speaking in favor of the purchase, said that when Christopher Gobler of Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences was studying the pond, “The only water body that was more impaired in New York State was in Central Park.” Ms. Davison, in her earlier comments, had described the “nitrogen legacy in the soil.” Dr. Gobler didn’t respond to a request for a description or cause of the pond’s troubles.
Francis Bock, the clerk of the East Hampton Town Trustees, said their most recent water quality report from 2023 stated “Wainscott Pond was the most consistently impacted system, with every sample exceeding the [algal] bloom threshold. The pond’s readings were typically close to 500 micrograms per liter. For comparison, he said, Swan’s Pond in the Lion Head neighborhood of Springs is generally between 80 and 90 micrograms, and Fort Pond in Montauk, recently in the news for its own impaired quality, is usually between 30 and 90 micrograms. “This purchase could be the game changer,” he said. “Not only will we be able to increase monitoring, but strategies could be considered to steer the pond towards a healthy ecosystem.”
“I’ll admit in more recent years, given the construction pressures visible now all around, a nagging sense of dread had crept into my head when I visited,” said Jaine Mehring, a member of the town’s zoning board, who was speaking for herself at the hearing. “No matter how bucolic and how iconic the view, the reality has been: As long as it stayed in private control, the risk of development and degradation grew. Now, with a vote of this committed board, the stroke of the pen, and lots and lots of cash, the site is preserved in perpetuity.” She then recited lines from a William Wordsworth poem, “Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood,” before taking a moment to refocus efforts on broader conservation through code amendments.
“We must not overlook the broader context. While we are preserving the good, we need to be pre-empting the not so good, or these millions could be for naught. Preservation transactions might end with cash but more broadly begins with code: a strong land ethic, as conservation and sustainability objectives must be rooted deeply in East Hampton Town land-use regulations.”
The historic structures on the property should be restored, maintained, “And someone should live there,” Rick Whalen, a local land use attorney, said, perhaps partly in jest. “Affordable housing on a $56 million property.”
Even the audio and video engineer for LTV, Matthew Charron, was moved to share his support for the proposal. “I just wanted to say how excited I am as well,” he said, after everyone else had spoken, explaining that he photographed the site weekly.
“That’s a first for me,” Supervisor Burke-Gonzalez said before the meeting closed with sustained applause.
The next time the town board meets, on Nov. 7, a resolution to acquire the land will be on the agenda. Mr. Wilson said he expects the town to close on the purchase in December.
