Yaphank shooting range dispute
may go to state
BY PATRICK WHITTLE
May 19, 2008
Local activists fighting a two-year battle against a
Yaphank shooting range have persuaded
Brookhaven Town officials to try to use state laws
to close the facility, which both groups contend is a
noise disturbance and a threat to water quality.
Brookhaven Supervisor Brian X. Foley has agreed to ask
the state Pine Barrens Commission for a ruling on
whether Suffolk Trap, Skeet and Sporting Clays
constitutes development in an environmentally sensitive
area, and therefore must be closed.
Foley, who sits on the commission, is scheduled to make
the request on Wednesday at a meeting at Brookhaven Town
Hall.
The town's push to shut down the range comes two years
after local homeowners and environmentalists first
protested owner Mark Wroobel's bid to reopen the range,
which closed in 2001 after another vendor failed to pay
county fees. Homeowners such as Johan McConnell,
president of the South Yaphank Civic Association, say
noise from the range has lowered their property values.
But Wroobel said the
appeal to the Pine Barrens Commission has no merit as
the location has served as a commercial gun range since
the 1960s. He said the range merely lacked a vendor for
a few years and does not constitute new development
because it never really closed.
The range is located at Southaven County Park.
"We'll stick to our guns. The people bought homes in
that area knowing the range was there," he said.
Suffolk County officials agree with Wroobel on the
development issue, said county parks commissioner John
Pavacic, who added that the range paid the county more
than $43,000 in fees and revenue in 2007.
The battle over the range has been marked by public
protests from both sides and a pair of lawsuits.
Brookhaven sued the range, saying it violates the town's
noise ordinance. Local advocates filed suit against
Suffolk, alleging the county allowed "prohibited
development" in the "core preservation area" of the pine
barrens. Both suits are still in court.
Richard Amper, executive director of the Pine Barrens
Society, said the range is dangerous because lead could
leach into drinking water because the range is located
over the aquifer.
"This particular portion of the pine barrens is very
sensitive," Amper said.
But Mike Loizos of Hicksville, a skeet-shooting
enthusiast who spent a recent weekday afternoon firing
at clay targets, said the activists' arguments smack of
NIMBY-ism.
"Close it down and do what, build more houses?" he said.
"What about the people who live near the railroad
station? Should they move the railroad station?"
The Pine Barrens Commission, charged with protecting an
area advocates regard as
Long Island's last undisturbed wilderness, could
vote on the range's fate as soon as Wednesday's meeting,
officials said.
However, Brookhaven Councilwoman Connie Kepert, who
represents the area, expects a drawn-out fight.
"I wanted this to be settled long ago," she said.
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