ARTICLE
Peppered
with violations
Town stepping up noise
ordinance at Trap and Skeet
Long
Island Advance
August 13, 2009
By LINDA LEUZZI
Suffolk County Department of
Planning has reviewed the
Trap and Skeet Search
Committee Report regarding
the seven locations deemed
worthy of further
evaluation, narrowing the
possible sites down to
three, said Josh Slaughter,
aide to county Legislator
Kate Browning. “Planning
just looked at zoning,”
Slaughter said of the July
30 report issued by Tom
Isles, director of planning.
“But a lot more studies
still have to be done
including accessibility and
noise impact.”
The three include the
Brookhaven Shooting Range in
Ridge, the North Fork
Preserve in Riverhead and
AVR Realty parcel in
Manorville, but there are
caveats even with these. The
Ridge Shooting Range, owned
by the town of Brookhaven,
is in excess of 300 acres
and well buffered from
surrounding development, but
it is located in the core
preservation area of the
Central Pine Barrens and
would require the town’s and
the Pine Barrens
Commission’s approval. With
the North Fork Preserve, the
county legislature has
approved a resolution to
authorize planning steps
considering acquisition. If
that took place, it could be
used for a trap and skeet
facility but there are
issues such as accessibility
and environmental
constraints. The AVR Realty
site, zoned as industrial,
would be an expensive
purchase unless a deal could
be worked out to buy a
portion of the site.
In the meantime, residents
by the Southhaven Park Trap
and Skeet Range, including
those on Gerard Avenue with
a single car lane going east
and one going west dividing
them from the noise,
continue to suffer years
after county promises to
move it elsewhere.
“The biggest impact is the
impact on quality of life,”
said Councilwoman Connie
Kepert (4th District) of the
60-acre site (43 acres are
used for the range). “There
is no peace for these people
and that would certainly
drive me crazy and it’s
driving them crazy. It’s a
real burden and something
that’s not being made up.
And Suffolk County keeps
dragging its feet about
moving this facility.”
Long Island Pine Barrens
Society Executive Director
Richard Amper said he sent a
letter to Brookhaven
Supervisor Mark Lesko six
weeks ago regarding
enforcement.
Besides the noise issue, the
trap and skeet facility is
located in the core
preservation area of the
Pine Barrens and there are
issues, including lead
cleanups that hadn’t taken
place, the construction of a
new deck and ramp and the
installation of 1,200 feet
of fencing and a wooden wall
on the sporting clay course.
The construction unfolded
without permission of the
Pine Barrens Commission, of
which the county is a
member. Last year, Kepert
had written a letter to New
York State Department of
Conservation (DEC)
Commissioner Peter Scully
citing that the town hired a
nationally-renowned
consultant whose readings
demonstrated the noise
emanating from the trap and
skeet into the yards and
homes of residences well
exceeded the town’s limits
of 65 decibels. Councilman
Steve Fiore-Rosenthal (1st
District) and Councilwoman
Jane Bonner (2nd District)
had previously stated they
would call upon the town’s
law department to
investigate and enforce all
applicable laws.
“We sent a memo to the
supervisor because an
amendment in the Pine
Barrens Act permits the town
to do one of two things: To
enforce the act within the
town’s boundary or enforce
its own laws, including its
own noise laws,” Amper
explained. “If you have the
will to do it and the legal
ability to do it based on
prohibitions in the Pine
Barrens, my understanding is
we’ll try the noise
ordinance than to do both.
How they choose it is less
important than that they
should.” Calls to the county
for comment were not
returned as of press time.
Johan
McConnell, president of the
South Yaphank Civic
Association, who attended
the last work session, said
she spoke with the attorney
the town hired. “My
understanding is that the
town reached out to Paul
Millus concerning noise
violations,” said McConnell.
“He was brought in to give
his opinion. The town has
the right to enforce the
noise violations.” Kepert
concurred that Millus was at
the work session but
couldn’t comment on what was
discussed during executive
session. (Millus was a
former special assistant
U.S. attorney for the
Eastern District of New York
and is a partner with Snitow,
Kanfer & Millus LLP which
specializes in commercial
and land-use litigation.)
“We have 23 documented
violations since late
spring,” she said. “We now
have 19 certified public
safety officers that are
trained to use the noise
meter. One of the things
I’ve been keyed into is to
continue to enforce our
noise ordinance in court. We
just got that directive that
we can indeed issue
summonses for the town’s
noise ordinance law so we
are prosecuting them fully.
We think that will shut down
the trap and skeet. Per
counsel, the town’s best
remedy is enforcing the
violations.” ■
