East Hampton Town Envisions Public Park On 25 Acres To Be Bought With CPF Funds

East Hampton Town officials have reached a deal to preserve more than 25 acres of woodlands off Buckskill Road, the second-largest preservation purchase by the town in the last two years by acreage, and its largest since 2014 in terms of cost.

Board members are expected to approve the purchase, following a public hearing later this month, from Pat and Nancy Trunzo for $8.6 million, primarily with money from Community Preservation Fund revenues.

A house, artificial pond and barn on the property would be removed prior to the town taking over the deed. A second barn on the property, however, will be retained for potential future use as storage for maintenance or recreational equipment, according to town officials. The barn was appraised separately from the rest of the property at $131,000, and that purchase will be paid for with funding from the town’s capital projects accounts rather than CPF money.

The property, most of which is wooded but largely cleared of underbrush and native vegetation, could become the first true public park in East Hampton.

“We’ve talked about some recreational opportunities that may be possible on this property, because a fairly significant portion of it is already cleared and has some development, like driveway roads that go through the property,” Supervisor Larry Cantwell said.

He added that a proposal last spring on another CPF parcel, for hiking trails that were improved somewhat to aid use by people with physical disabilities or difficulty walking on uneven terrain, could bear some fruit on the Trunzo property. “This property is flat and would provide some of those kinds of opportunities,” he said. “It has a lot of potential.”’

The majority of the land to be purchased, about 20 acres worth, comprises two parcels off Buckskill Road, just to the east of Green Hollow Tennis Club, and two landlocked parcels off Towhee Trail, which are separated from the other lots by Long Island Rail Road tracks and Long Island Power Authority transmission lines.

The property has been on and off the market for at least a year, most recently listed with an asking price of $10.5 million, according to an advertisement placed by Saunders & Associates real estate agent Diane Saatchi.

The board will hold a public hearing on the proposed purchase on Thursday, December 15. If there are no objections to the deal, the board could approve the purchase at the December 15 meeting.

The 25.6-acre purchase would be the second-largest acquisition in the last two years, behind the town’s purchase last January of 35.2 acres of land from the Whitmore family for just under $3.3 million. It would be the most costly CPF buy since the purchase of the 3.6-acre Gardiner family property on James Lane in 2014 for $9.6 million.