Michael Derrig, a landscape architect and owner of Landscape Details, presented the East Hampton Village Board with a conceptual design for the Newtown Lane-facing portion of Herrick Park at last Friday’s board meeting.
“Right now, there is no sense of entrance,” he told the board. “This will give it some prominence and really kind of create what I think the park needs.”
Central to the design is an allée of trees leading to a lawn formed into an oval by the contours of the walkway. “The oval could be used as an event space, where you could place a large Christmas tree. That kind of thing,” said Mr. Derrig. The plans currently show two substantial trees at the east and west sides of the oval.
The species of tree that will be used in the allée has yet to be determined as the plans are only in an early stage. Olivia Brooks, the head of the Ladies Village Improvement Society tree committee, had not yet seen the plans when contacted by The Star earlier this week. The L.V.I.S. works with the village to plant and maintain all the trees on village property and has offered advice on other tree plantings in the park.
The L.V.I.S. was also part of the committee that had worked to guide the LaGuardia Design Group as it did its own reimagining of the park back in 2019. The new Landscape Details proposal shares key elements with that LaGuardia Design plan from 2019, which was shelved following the village election of 2020. These include the formalized, rounded entrance at Newtown Lane, central allées of trees leading to or from an oval, the placement of the playground to the right of the entrance, and placement of basketball courts to the left, along the fence shared with the Stop and Shop property next door.
Mr. Derrig said the path leading to the oval would be substantial, at 12 to 15 feet wide. “I’m proposing bricks all around the oval and up the allée and at the entrance. The bricks could be purchased by people and the money donated to build the park.”
The newly reconstructed Roy Lee Mabry Memorial Basketball Courts will be screened. Halfway down the allée, a small circle will direct park users to either the courts at left or the children’s play area to the right. At the immediate entrance at Newtown Lane, serpentine concrete “seat walls” will create a space for people to gather and rest.
“It looks great, and I can’t thank you enough,” said Mayor Jerry Larsen.
“This is a rough draft, right?” asked Sarah Amaden, a village trustee.
“It’s an initial start and I’m open to questions and comments,” said Mr. Derrig. “The basketball courts are pretty big, pretty looming right there. I wish they were somewhere else, but they’re not.” He said that from the entrance, shortcut paths would lead to the courts and to the play area. The intersection midway down the allée would also help disperse people.
“It really is pretty simple, but I think it works really well.”
“The next step is we will set up a committee and figure out where to go from there,” said Mayor Larsen.
“Are we done by summer?” asked Chris Minardi, the deputy mayor, eliciting laughter.
“All it takes is money,” answered Mayor Larsen. Via text, he indicated the project would likely be undertaken this fall. All of the recent improvements to the park, including newly reconstructed playing fields, tennis and basketball courts, have been made with more than $1 million of donations to the village from the East Hampton Village Foundation, with no tax dollars used.
