It used to be a discotheque called the Star Room, which before that was called the Swamp. It could have become a car wash. But East Hampton Town used the community preservation fund to buy the 1.1 acres known at present as the Wainscott Green, and now there’s an effort to rename it in memory of Rick Del Mastro, the longtime chairman of the Wainscott Citizens Advisory Committee, who died in April.
"Rick was instrumental in leading the change," Carolyn Logan Gluck, who is now chairwoman of the advisory committee, said last week. "He had an incredibly generous heart, and he really knew how to get things done."
A preliminary design for a more complete space shows a passive park with a looping trail, benches, a small, simple shelter, and a dogwood tree planted for Mr. Del Mastro. The tree was donated by Landscape Details and will be planted in the fall. Sara Davison, executive director of the Friends of Georgica Pond Foundation, helped the C.A.C. get in touch with Zack Crawford of the landscaping company.
The committee last week sent the East Hampton Town Board a letter formally requesting the renaming of the Wainscott Green for Mr. Del Mastro, whose death on April 15 was attributed to complications of Covid-19. On Tuesday, Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said the board is supportive not just of the physical layout of the park, but also of renaming it in honor of Mr. Del Mastro.
"I think we’re looking forward to the culmination of what's been multiple years, first trying to acquire the property, then having the derelict buildings removed," Mr. Van Scoyoc said. "Rick was a driving force in making improvements within Wainscott. . . . He was a really remarkable person, and I was honored to have known him."
The park's design was based on a sketch by Edwina von Gal, founder of the Perfect Earth Project, who recommended particular grasses and trees that don't require a lot of water, along with the idea of letting the parking area remain grassy so as to reduce impermeable surface area at the park. The sketch also includes a sidewalk connecting the park to the nearby business district, where HomeGoods, the La Capannina pizzeria, Breadzilla, Levain Bakery, and several other stores are located.
"It's a wonderful place to congregate," Ms. Logan Gluck said. "It's a nice place to have a chat, enjoy a picnic, or watch the children run around."
There are plans to raise money for the benches. One of them would be dedicated to the L.G.B.T.Q. community, Ms. Logan Gluck said, because it is relevant to the history of the property as a former discotheque.
The citizens advisory committee and the Friends of the Georgica Pond Foundation celebrated the town's C.P.F. purchase as a victory for the community and the environment in particular because the property is in the watershed of Georgica Pond. The pond is already a threatened ecosystem, sometimes the site of toxic blue-green algae blooms and other problems. Its 4,000-acre watershed extends north and west up to East Hampton Airport, Ms. Davison explained.
"The threat of a car wash would have been more paving, more intensive water use, more contaminants," she said. "We thought it would be good to join in the community effort to prevent a car wash from happening and have the town buy it for a community park. At the same time the hamlet study was going on, and the hamlet study identified it as kind of a gateway parcel."
The foundation raised $300,000 toward the town's $2.1 million C.P.F. purchase of the property in 2018.
Mr. Del Mastro joined the citizens advisory committee in 1978 and served for many years as its chairman, stepping down in 2016. Mr. Van Scoyoc said the late chairman emeritus was instrumental in getting Bathgate Road paved and in advocating for the attractive "welcome" signs at each end of the hamlet on Montauk Highway.
Mr. Del Mastro was a well-known advertising executive and philanthropist. He helped run Life's WORC, a Garden City organization that serves the developmentally challenged with more than 40 group homes and nonresidential programs, and donated money for the building of the Life's WORC Family Center for Autism. Mr. Del Mastro once provided free billboard space in Manhattan's Times Square to help a friend in need of a kidney transplant find potential donors.
"He was so warm and kind, and brought everyone together," Ms. Davison said. "We all felt, because Rick was very involved in this from day one, that we should dedicate the park to him."
