Good Ground Park Plan Revisited; Open Space, Dog Run and Pond in the Works

A project in Hampton Bays that has languished since 2008 – the creation of Good Ground Park, just north of Main Street – has been revived by the hamlet’s beautification association.

The Hampton Bays Beautification Association is pushing for the town to carve out a three-acre green space, with accompanying fenced-in dog park, from a 40-acre parcel purchased by with Community Preservation Fund money more than 10 years ago. Members of the Hampton Bays’ Beautification Association Monday night charged Jefferson Murphree, Southampton Town planning and development administrator, with explaining their vision to Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst.

Throne-Holst will then discuss the plans with the , Murphree said. Murphree anticipates using only town resources to complete the park, an option that will keep costs down. The town consulted with landscape architect Tim Rumpf on an earlier version of the park but rejected his designs, which included a waterfall, Murphree said at the meeting.

Murphree could not estimate the cost of creating the park. He said it would be “phenomenal” if the green space could be completed by next summer.

The completion of the last week re-started the discussion of Good Ground Park, Murphree said. The 700-foot long trail, which begins at the pergola on Main Street and extends to a dirt road leading off of Squiretown Road, honors the late town supervisor.

The beautification association, led by director Maud Kramer at the meeting Monday evening, imagines Good Ground Park as a cross between Southampton Village’s Agawam Park and East Quogue’s Hamlet Green. Kramer said that she did not want a high-maintenance park like the hamlet green.

Future plans for the park involve digging out a pond, though Murphree noted the Town Parks and Recreation Department does not favor the idea due to insurance liabilities. Murphree said the pond, an idea he is in favor of, would emulate East Hampton Village's.
Another long term goal related to the park is adding a North Main Street. This would run behind businesses fronting Hampton Bays' Main Street and would lead into Good Ground Park.

Pedestrians and cars would access North Main Street by a small road near Good Ground Cemetery, or a new pass-through created off Main Street, according to a map of the project.

The first step in creating North Main Street is talking to business owners about obtaining easements to the northern portions of their property, Murphree said.

The beautification association hopes to create a trail around the perimeter of the 40-acre property, also known as the Roscoe Parcel. Murphree said that could be easily accomplished by using the town’s trails advisory board using GPS devices to mark a walking path.

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