Fire District Seeks Voter Approval To Buy Former Pacific East Property

The will ask voters in October to approve a $2.8 million bond referendum to purchase the former Pacific East restaurant property, just to the west of its firehouse on Montauk Highway.

The district has plans to tear down the old restaurant and nightclub and build a new facility to house ambulances — and eventually paid emergency medical technicians, if necessary — on the two-acre parcel at 415 Main Street.

Jack Emptage, the fire commissioner who spearheaded the plan, said the district is in contract with the owners subject to the referendum passing.

The district, he said, is merely looking into the future. "Quite frankly with the amount of ambulance calls that keeps increasing each year ... we have difficulty responding to all of them during the day," Emptage said. "It looks inevitable that down the road that there will be a need for some paid intervention for the ambulance."

"At some point in time we would see building a building on the Pacific East site for the ambulances," Emptage said, adding that the district would likely add an additional ambulance into the rotation bringing the total up to three.

Asked if the district planned to lease the building out in the meantime, Emptage said, "The probability of us leasing it is probably zero."

The Amagansett Food Institute, according to reports, had been looking at the Pacific East property because it abuts an organic farm and had room for some of the not-for-profit's plans for a food center that would promote local food and provide culinary and agricultural education. A cafe, commercial kitchen, classrooms and more were all in the plans.

Kent Miller, the chairman of the Amagansett Citizens Advisory Committee, said his group wanted to hear more about the food institute's plans and had just invited the organization to speak at its upcoming meeting on Monday. Miller said the institute is still on the agenda.

While the district makes plans for the site's future use, Emptage said the building would be used for training and eventually used in a controlled burn.

Immediate plans would include cleaning up the property, long overgrown. Also, "we'd expand to take over the existing parking lot and clean that up as well," Emptage said.

"Whenever there is a call or we're at a prolonged call, we have insufficient parking space for the membership," he said.

Emptage said the Pacific East property is an ideal location for expansion. "It's hard to not look at it since it's right next door," he said. The district also owns property behind it, as well, that is used for Medevac landings.

The district referendum will be held at the firehouse on Oct. 4 between 6 and 9 p.m. An informational meeting for the public is being scheduled for about a week earlier.

Emptage said community feedback has been positive. "I think it get rids of one of the major concerns that existed in the community," he said of fear that another nightclub would be opened at all hours of the night, adding to traffic and to noise pollution. "I think it's good for everybody concerned." 

"If you really want to look into the future," he said, "Amagansett is so centrally located in terms of the fire districts on the East End in terms of Montauk and East Hampton. If there's a paid place, over time, where you have a centrally-stationed location, it would be in Amagansett."