Kent Animal Shelter has quite a fan base in support of its proposal to expand its shelter on Calverton shelter on River Road. READ
Tag: Dick Amper
Richard Amper, executive director of the Pine Barrens Society, once again lived up to his true form last Wednesday in his latest bid to stop the rebuild of Kent Animal Shelter. His arguments disintegrated in several instances because some of his statements were dead wrong.
The conflict over the expansion of Kent Animal Shelter in the Core Preservation Area of the Pine Barrens is getting personal. What’s worse, it’s unnecessary. READ
A rendering from 2013 of what the new Kent Animal Shelter will look like. (Credit: courtesy drawing)
Kent Animal Shelter in Calverton has saved many dogs and cats over the years at its River Road facility.
But now, Riverhead Town officials have devised a plan wherein cats may be what saves Kent.
Specifically, feral cats. (more…)
Waterfront homes in Jamesport along the bay. (Credit: Barbarellen Koch, file.)
On April 2, East Enders will celebrate an important milestone: The Community Preservation Fund will have generated over $1 billion and preserved more than 10,000 acres of open space and farmland. Approved by voters in 1999, the CPF uses a small tax on real estate purchases to preserve land and protect drinking water.
It is arguably the most successful land preservation program in the country. (more…)
The view from Route 105 bridge at Indian Island golf course as the Peconic River leads into the Bay. (Credit: Barbaraellen Koch, file)
County legislators voted overwhelmingly last week to let Suffolk voters decide the fate of a plan that would eventually replenish the Drinking Water Protection Program, which has so far been tapped twice for money to balance the county budget. If approved by voters, the plan would also allow the county to continue dipping into that program for several more years. (more…)
A screen grab from Friday’s ‘Today Show’ segment on storm-damaged cars in Calverton.
NBC’s “Today Show” visited the some 15,000 to 18,000 superstorm Sandy-damaged cars being stored on property owned by Riverhead Town in Calverton.
The more than three-minute news segment that aired Friday featured helicopter shots of a sea of cars, trucks and SUVs, as well as seperate interviews with environmentalist Dick Amper of the nonprofit Long Island Pine Barrens Society, and Riverhead Supervisor Sean Walter.
“Sandy was a natural disaster nobody could do anything about. This is natural disaster in the making that’s simply an error of government,” Mr. Amper told interviewers.
Ever since the vehicles began arriving last month, environmentalists have contended that oil, gasoline and battery fluids could escape from the disabled vehicles and ultimately find their way into groundwater.
Mr. Walter countered on camera that the stored cars are like vehicles parked at shopping centers.
“This is no different than what you’d see at Smithhaven mall or Tanger mall,” he said. “This is probably less damaging to the environment.”
As previously reported by the News-Review, the bulk of storm-damaged cars are being stored on tarmacs on town-owned land at the Enterprise Park at Calverton, or EPCAL, though other vehicles are being stored at or on nearby grasslands that are privately owned.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation has ordered vehicles be removed from grass, pointing to environmental threats to protected species and groundwater.
The DEC has not objected to the town’s deals, which could amount to over $3 million over the course of a year.
The Calverton property was once used by the Grumman military contractor to test fighter jets until Grumman ended operations in the 1990s. The U.S. Navy later turned 2,900 acres over to Riverhead Town for economic development.