Wealden District Council leader James Partridge said housing asylum seekers at the site was the wrong decision.
But he added: “We do need to make the best of it”.
Partridge called on the community to come together “in the way we did when the Afghan families and Ukrainian refugees arrived”.
He said the local authority was looking to see if it could legally challenge the move.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “Crowborough is just the start.
“I will bring forward site after site until every asylum hotel is closed and returned to local communities.”
The government has said moving to large sites like Crowborough is an important part of its “reforms to tackle illegal migration and the pull factors that make the UK an attractive destination”.
More than 400 hotels were opened under the last government at a cost of £9m a day, according to the Home Office.
Now just under 200 remain in use, with overall asylum costs down 15%, it added.
