East Hampton Residents Approve Land Purchase

In need of more cemetery space, the Town of East Hampton on Tuesday night asked residents to vote on whether to approve the purchase of land adjacent to the town cemetery on Young Street.

By a unanimous vote, those in attendance approved buying the 1.25 acre parcel at a cost of $11,000 ($8,750 plus $2,250 for closing costs).

The land, owned by Lee Taylor, will be used to extend the Young Street cemetery.

"This piece of property is high and dry, unlike some pieces of property that the Town of East Hampton has bought in the past," moderator Red McKinney said. "This piece of property that we are going to buy tonight contains 1.25 acres. That gives our sexton 54,000-plus feet to extend that cemetery."

The town operates several cemeteries and, according to McKinney, they are full.

"This was a great thing for the Town of East Hampton and we’d like to thank Mr. Taylor for taking care of that and selling that to us because he could have sold it on the open market," McKinney said.