BEACON RECORD The Village
CHARIOT COLLISIO N CENTER We work with
Mount Sinai • Miller Place • Sound Beach • rocky Point • ShorehaM • Wading river • leiSure country September 10, 2015
volume 31, no. 7
all insura and we w nc e c omp ill handle anies all your c laim need s
$1.00
91 Gnarle EAST SE d Hollow Rd. TAUKET 6
31–751–1 515
Gallery North’s 50th Outdoor Show also: Chrysler’s Chrysler comes to the Vanderbilt, TVHS celebrates 50 golden years, Port Jeff Dragon Boat Race Festival
Page B1
Gimme shelter animal shelter near Peconic is met with opposition on reconstruction By giSelle Barkley
Gary Shek’s the best
Local manager gives residents something to smile about
Page a9
Kent Animal Shelter has always been close to the Peconic Lake. Maybe too close. The 47-year-old facility was built on River Road in Calverton less than 50 feet from Peconic Lake, which leads to Peconic River. As the lake flows into the river, so does the Shelter’s wastewater. In 2012, the shelter began its process to get a waiver to expand its five-building facility and install a new septic system to avoid contaminating the Peconic’s surface water. According to Pamela Green, executive director of the shelter, the shelter also wants to tear down two of its building and construct one, approximately 10,000 square foot building closer to River Road. The hope is that relocating these buildings will put 300 feet between the shelter and the water, which will limit the amount of wastewater dumped into the Peconic Lake and river. But Richard Amper, executive director of the Long Island Pine Barrens Society, said the shelter doesn’t qualify for the waiver for its prospective projects. Although
Amper said the society doesn’t oppose the shelter’s projects, he said the facility’s desire to move closer to River Road infringes on Long Island Pine Barrens’ core preservation area. According to Amper, construction is not permitted by law in that area to help “protect the Island’s purest source of water.” “The only way anyone can get a waiver is to demonstrate that they have no beneficial use of the property absent the waiver, or that public health and safety depends upon the construction occurring in the Pine Barrens core,” Amper said. “Kent does not meet that requirement, and if the waiver were granted, it would create a dangerous precedent for others who want to develop in the Pine Barrens core.” Amper claimed that the shelter’s new proposed septic system would discharge 2,700 gallons of wastewater daily into the land’s underground aquifer. However, Green said the wastewater isn’t in close proximity to the aquifer for drinking water, as the wastewater goes into the Peconic. Currently, the shelter wants to demolish its kennel, which rests
Photos by giselle Barkley
clockwise from top, Peconic lake is located several feet from two of kent animal Shelters’ buildings; a cat rests in the enclosed porch area; and a black dog sits in one of the buildings closest to the Peconic river.
on the river bank, as well as the small cottage located across from the kennel. The shelter also wants to relocate its clinic and include it into the nearly 10,000 square foot building, alongside a new kennel and cat facilities. One of the cat facilities, also on the bank of the Peconic, houses senior cats that will live out their lives at the shelter. Thus far, the shelter has received permits from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Suffolk County Health Department. “The last hurdle is KeNT continued on page a7