East Hampton Town will acquire a parcel in Montauk’s downtown on which a multi-department public safety center housing the town’s police, Marine Patrol, Code Enforcement, and East Hampton Volunteer Ocean Rescue operations is planned, it was announced this week.
The center is proposed for 68 South Elmwood Avenue, which is to be acquired from the D’Agostino family, the property’s longtime owner, for $1.5 million.
The proposal reflects the need for a modern, shared facility designed for contemporary operations, staffing, equipment, and coordination needs, according to a statement issued this week. The intent is to improve communication, enhance coordination, and provide appropriate work and staging space for personnel serving the easternmost hamlet. For example, some Montauk lifeguard assets are at present staged outside the hamlet, which affects response times.
Councilman David Lys disclosed the plan to the Montauk Citizens Advisory Committee when it met on Monday, and further discussion followed at the town board’s meeting on Tuesday, when Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez called it “something that we’ve been working
“This is a tremendous opportunity to continue to move forward and modernize our services that we provide to the community,” Chief Michael Sarlo of the Police Department told the town board. The department’s Montauk substation was donated to the town in the early 1980s, a structure “that we’ve continued to try to piecemeal together and make function for our uses over the years. It’s reached a point where there’s not a whole lot left we can do other than tear it down and rebuild it to modernize it as to how it would be needed,” he said, calling the proposed center “a clean slate and a fresh start.”
Montauk, the chief said, “obviously sees an extreme increase in volume of work for all the public safety agencies during the summer season, and it’s the highest volume of calls for service that we receive.” A new base at which to co-locate public safety departments and with increased storage space “is just a phenomenal increase in efficiency for the community and for us.”
Future actions related to design, environmental review, approvals, and construction would be subject to additional town board review and public processes. The next steps include a public hearing to acquire the property.
