A vote on alienating parkland at the Sherrill Triangle to make way for a potential traffic circle that was planned for last Thursday’s East Hampton Town Board meeting was canceled.
“While drafting the resolution, the town attorney realized that the Town has not yet received a determination back from the Suffolk County Planning Commission indicating that it is a matter for local determination,” Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez said at the meeting. “Once that correspondence is received, we will schedule the vote.”
According to Patrick Derenze, a spokesperson for the supervisor, that correspondence had still not been received by the time The Star went to press.
Two members of the public showed up to question the proposed roundabout.
“I do believe that’s hallowed ground, that little triangle,” said Bruce Nalepinski of Springs. “Back in the late 1970s or early 1980s, a girl was killed there. It’s something to consider. I don’t know if there’s a plaque there, but someone died in those woods.”
Mr. Nalepinski was referring to the murder of Tracy Herrlin in 1985. She was strangled in the woods behind what was then the Jag nightclub, at 44 Three Mile Harbor Road, which abuts the Sherrill Triangle.
Evan Harris of East Hampton told the board she had three main issues with the circle. First, alienating open space would break the covenant of trust of residents who count on the town to preserve open spaces, and could serve as a warning to others who were considering donating land, “because the preservation of land donated to the town may not ultimately stick.” Second, she saw the traffic circle at the intersection of Route 114 and Toilsome Lane as a cautionary tale. “That traffic circle is sterile and over-paved,” she said, and was a missed opportunity to encourage pedestrian and bicycle traffic. Finally, she said, she hoped for a less-invasive solution. “When I come back from the village — when I come to that fork in the road — I know that I am almost home. Please, let’s keep East Hampton feeling like home.”
The board did hold two rather quiet public hearings on candidate projects for the Community Preservation Fund.
The first, .6 acre at 21 South Federal Street in Montauk, will be bought from the estate of Mary Eggers for $325,000, should the board agree. Scott Wilson, the director of land acquisition and management for the town, told the board that the lot was in the Lake Montauk watershed. Any development to the parcel would require extensive alterations to the natural drainage patterns of the area, he said, so preventing development with an open-space C.P.F. purchase would be a boon to water quality on Lake Montauk.
David Buda, a frequent commenter at town board meetings, said while he had no problem with the purchase, he hoped in the future that a map and a planning board memorandum on the benefits of the land acquisition could be posted in advance of the hearings, to give the public a better opportunity to evaluate the proposals.
Mr. Wilson said it was indeed his department’s policy “to share those memos when they’re available,” but that the parcel was part of a Lake Montauk outreach initiative that identified 166 properties that could aid the lake if they were preserved. “They were thoroughly vetted,” he told the board.
The second lot, .43 acres at 91 Northwest Landing Road in Northwest Woods, has a small house on it that would have to be removed. It is owned by Spencer Shea and the price is $1,230,000. Mr. Wilson noted that both the town and Suffolk County had worked to preserve lands in this area, where many parcels are less than five feet above sea level.
“With this piece, there was a great concern that it would go on the market and sell immediately, so we struck while it was available,” he said.
Jaine Mehring, a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals, called in to tell the board that while she was “thrilled to see it preserved,” she wondered if, with an estimated deficit of 2,000 affordable housing units townwide, there might be some way to preserve the 1,000-square-foot home.
“Now, especially with the community housing fund, maybe there are some creative ways when there are existing structures, they could remain,” she said.
The town board is set to vote on both C.P.F. acquisitions at its meeting on Tuesday.
Finally, the board voted to accept a bid of $264,000 from Boilermatic Welding Industries of Medford to install the heating and air-conditioning system at the Montauk Playhouse.
