East Hampton resident urges trustees to consider abandoning paper road after town tree work

Jim Essie, a resident of 34 Marywood Drive in the Scott neighborhood, told the East Hampton Town Trustees on June 8 that felled pitch pines left by recent town tree removal on a nearby "paper road" have become an eyesore and appear to have contributed to subsequent beetle damage on his property.

"About five years ago, I began to experience the loss of a number of pitch pines on my property," Essie said, describing how town arborists had earlier marked trees for removal. He said the town later cut approximately "15 to 20 trees" in the paper road behind his backyard and left trunks to rot. "Subsequent to that, my white pines began to be attacked by the beetles, and I had to remove 10 of them from my property," he said.

Trustees acknowledged the complaint but said they could not make an immediate decision. Board members explained that the corridor Essie described—Two Rod Highway—includes sections that are trustee-owned but that parts of it have been improved and taken into public use. Trustees described the formal abandonment process as one that typically conveys land to adjacent property owners to the midline and can involve transactional fees and coordination with neighbors.

A trustee advising on pests noted the likely pest involved was the southern pine bark beetle and explained why pitch-pine debris could accelerate spread to nearby, weakened white pines. Trustees also emphasized other constraints, including existing conservation easements and the possibility that the corridor still serves future public access or trail connections.

As an interim option, trustees suggested Essie consider hiring a licensed contractor to remove trunks and stumps, provided the contractor carries proper insurance and indemnifies the trustees for the work. "If you brought in a contractor, they could go through your property, look at it, and give you an idea of how feasible" cleanup would be, one trustee said.

Trustees said they will coordinate with the town’s land-management staff (whose response was delayed because the department head was on jury duty) and with neighboring property owners; they noted another adjacent homeowner is already involved in related discussions. Trustees said abandonment, if pursued, would require a deliberate, multi-step process that could take years and should not be done unilaterally.

Next steps discussed included Essie preparing a proposal, gathering neighbor input, and allowing trustees and town staff to review land records and coordinate on an equitable solution. "We'll keep you appraised," a trustee said at the meeting.

The trustees did not take formal action on the matter during the June 8 meeting.