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Members of teh Bridgehampton Citizens Advisory comitte spoke out against turning this farmstand into an antique firetruck museum. KITTY MERRILL
An effort to convert a vacant Bridgehampton farmstand into a storage facility for antique firetrucks has some members of the hamlet’s citizen advisory committee inflamed, decrying the loss of an agricultural use and casting suspicion on the proposed stated use of the structure.
The Sag Harbor Antique Fire Truck Museum is looking to use an existing 2,400-square-foot metal building on the 35,711-square-foot triangle bordered by Scuttlehole, Millstone, and Guyer roads in Bridgehampton into a facility to store and maintain three antique firetrucks, museum vice president Ed Deyermond told the Southampton Town Planning Board at a June 25 public hearing on a special exception permit application.
He emphasized his organization was not looking to create a museum. The trucks will be stored and shown at other locations, when occasions, like parades, arise. The group doesn’t want to change the look of the building or continue its retail use. The group doesn’t plan to use the site for meetings or gatherings, and will be, promised Mr. Deyermond, “a pretty low key presence there.”
Speaking to The Press, he estimated traffic generated by the use would be “tremendously reduced” in comparison to the traffic that was seen at the popular farmstand.
Interviewed Thursday, July 16, he said the trucks are currently stored at three different locations. There’s a 1938 Maxim firetruck Sag Harbor Village purchased just before the Hurricane of ’38, a 1943 Chevy pumper, and a 1952 MAC pumper that’s “sitting in a backyard in North Haven, essentially going to seed. We want to reclaim it.” The other two trucks are operational. “We’re trying to bring them all together,” Mr. Deyermond continued.
The group owns three other properties, but the sites aren’t suitable for constructing a storage barn — members hope to sell them to the town and use the profit to pay for the farmstand property. Mr. Deyermond said the museum has a mortgage commitment for the balance of the desired property’s asking price.
Last month’s hearing was left open for 30 days for written comment. No one offered comment during the hearing.
In a memo to the Planning Board, signed by Bridgehampton CAC Chairwoman Pamela Harwood and 11 additional CAC members and Bridgehampton residents, Ms. Harwood writes, “We believe that Sag Harbor’s old fire trucks should more appropriately find a home in Sag Harbor or the hamlet it services, Noyac (via the Noyac Fire Protection District). Ideally, we would wish the site to continue to have some kind of agriculture-related use. Our concern is that this is one more step to Bridgehampton losing its agricultural heritage and hamlet identity.”
Ms. Harwood’s group also wondered why, if the purpose of the proposal is “a shed just to house three trucks,” the application is titled as a museum. “There is every likelihood that once this application is approved, they will inevitably be back again to apply to build the museum at this site, which the name of the applicant indicates is their very reason for being,” Ms. Harwood wrote. “Their goal for years has been to build a museum.”
Mr. Deyermond countered that the museum designation was chosen for legal reasons, because museums can be permitted in a variety of zoning districts. He was emphatic that the group does not plan have a site open to the public. The classification merely provides flexibility, he said. He added that if the organization ever did try to create a museum use, the CAC “would get a second bite of the apple,” and be able to use his comments to prove no museum was envisioned. Mr. Deyermond also expressed disappointment that none of the opponents had contacted him with their concerns.
Looking further askance, the CAC’s memo questions information on the application that details plans to sell three parcels on the Sag Harbor Turnpike, near Ligonee Creek, to Southampton Town through the Community Preservation Fund.
“The applicant is not obligated to say how they are going to finance this purchase, so including this information is peculiar,” Ms. Harwood wrote. “But by doing so, it has the appearance of a quid pro quo, or horse trading, that one won’t happen without the other, as that can be the only reason to include that information in this application. That is not a good look.” CAC members suggested the town buy the farmstand land.
Mr. Deyermond said the organization is hoping to save and protect what it considers to be the gateway to Sag Harbor, Ligonee Creek, while finally finding a turn key site for the trucks. “We’re just trying to find a home,” he said.
Ms. Harwood additionally complained that the hearing, available as a tele-conference, was not accessible, and comments sent to the board were not mentioned.
