TOWN MAY SAVE AMAGANSETT FARMERS MARKET

By David Lion Rattiner

It looks like the Town of East Hampton has its eyes on an important piece of property in Amagansett, bringing a wave of relief to morning coffee regulars at the Amagansett Farmers Market. The Farmers Market has been for sale as is, for $9.5 million, for about a year. When it was announced that the Farmer’s Market was being put up for sale last year, the whole town started to worry that one day the Farmers Market would no longer be a Farmer’s Market or a farm, but would be knocked down to make way for sub-divided lots with McMansions sparkling the landscape.

But the Town of East Hampton, always weary of such proposals, fearing that overdevelopment of priceless gems such as the Farmer’s Market will adversely affect the tourist economy, has officially made an offer to buy the Amagansett Farmers Market. Although the 9.48 acre property has been for sale for $9.5 million, nobody has talked any numbers on the offer. However, the Peconic Land Trust, which is the trust that is used to buy property like this, has a history of purchasing property near asking prices or the appraised value.

Where does the Town get all of this money to buy property on this scale and at these prices? Well, it is a pretty simple concept known as the Community Preservation Fund. Money pours into the fund from real estate transactions that occur throughout the Town. When a house sells in East Hampton, a 2 percent tax is paid on the price of the property that is sold and is then put into the fund. So in other words, if a house here sells for a million dollars, ten thousand dollars goes to the town. Then that money is used to buy pieces of property of community or visual value, such as farmland, campgrounds or parks. Needless to say, the tax has been a huge success for the town and the Town of Southampton has followed similar tax code in order to preserve property. It is pretty common knowledge that East Hampton is more aggressive on buying property for preservation purposes than Southampton. This mostly has to do (in this reporter’s opinion) with the fact that many of the higher ranking elected officials for Southampton are in the development business. What’s a wealthy community to do?

Should the farm be bought by the town, and I hope that it does, many are wondering what will happen to the business of the Farmers Market. The word on the street is that the Town will operate the Farmers Market and use it as a space for locals to sell their local goods. Just exactly how it will be run has not been planned, but you can be sure it will be a place for the people of Amagansett to continue to enjoy. Will coffee be there? Of course! And that’s all that really matters if you think about it.

The town will buy the development rights to the farmland as well as the land that stretches behind the property, which means that they can control what gets developed on the land, or in other words, they can keep it as farmland.

The market also has some serious historical value. The house adjacent to the market was built in 1884 by Samuel S. Babcock and the farmland was originally the Nathaniel Hand farm in the 18th century. Today you can get gourmet food, coffees and specialty items as well as enjoy the outdoor benches that overlook the farm while you drink your coffee or eat your lunch. You can also smell the fresh flowers that are for sale right outside near the benches. It’s just an incredible place and pretty soon, we can be confident that it is going to stay that way.