Officials in an upscale Long Island town want to plunk down nearly $26 million to buy a luxury 11-bedroom oceanfront mansion — so they could tear it down, according to a report.

It’s not madness — the Southampton Town Board wants to give locals public beach access along the 172 feet of waterfront property at the Meadow Lane home, Newsday reported this weekend.

The purchase, which will be the subject of a public hearing on Tuesday, would also help preserve the natural habitat of the town’s waterfront dunes, the outlet said.

“We have been trying to, throughout the town, prioritize coastal properties for coastal resiliency practices, habitat restoration and habitat preservation,” said Jacqueline Fenlon, director of the town’s Community Preservation Fund, which would make the purchase for the land.

The 2.2-acre property at 150 Meadow Lane is one of the priciest in town, and is at the edge of a Southampton village heliport that the Hamptons elite use to commute to the Big Apple.

The mansion is owned by Frances Katz, according to town records, and was listed for $27 million.

The property was listed for sale in 2021 at just under $25 million, but pulled from the market months later, with the town now proposing to buy it for $25.8 million, the outlet reported.

“I think when you can get an oceanfront piece of property, you’re offsetting a long-term public cost,” Bob DeLuca, president of the nonprofit environmental advocacy organization Group for the East End, told Newsday. “You’re offsetting the human risk of people residing in areas like this.”

He said the purchase would also protect rare wildlife like snowy and short-eared owls.

“It definitely has a habitat value,” DeLuca said. “It definitely has a public safety value and it has a public access value.”