Importat Information Re: Suffolk County/Solar City - Solar Array Proposal

From: Slaughter, Joshua

To Whom It May Concern:

 

As many of you have probably seen, the proposal to construct solar arrays on wooded, public land in Yaphank and Bellport has been getting a lot of attention the past few weeks. While the Bellone administration has yet to submit a contract for approval to the legislature, this is expected in early 2016, Legislator Browning has introduced two resolutions that are before the Ways and Means Committee next Thursday, December 10 at 12:30pm in Hauppauge. Your support for these resolutions is appreciated. Anyone from the public can speaks for 3 minutes during the public portion.  

 

I have attached the two resolutions, IR 1926-15 and IR 2014-15, which directly impact this plan and land in question.

 

IR 1926-15 was tabled at the last committee. The resolution would effectively prevent the administration from moving forward with drafting a contract until the Legislature took action to approved the plan.

 

IR 2014-15 is a new resolution that seeks to create a Master Plan for the Yaphank County Center, and places a moratorium on any projects for the area until that plan is in place.

 

The County owns hundreds of acres of land in Yaphank which were acquired decades ago to accommodate the future expansion of County offices and operations. In recent years, as it has become apparent that the County will not need to use the entirety of its Yaphank holdings to house government offices, so numerous uses for the property have been proposed. The prior County administration proposed the enormous mixed use “Legacy Village” at Yaphank, which was ultimately rejected. Some of the Yaphank property was dedicated to parkland in 2011, and another 2011 resolution (Resolution No. 298-2011) declared 247 acres of property as surplus and directed the Division of Real Property, Acquisition and Management to offer the land for sale or lease to maximize the monetary return to the County. In 2013 the County sold 230 acres of the Yaphank property to Oakland Transportation Holdings for the purpose of establishing a rail transfer station. The latest proposal at Yaphank would allow a private entity (Solar City) to clear dozens of acres of woodland to allow for the installation of solar arrays for a minimum term of twenty (20) years.

 

The County has no cohesive or cogent plan to guide the use and management of its Yaphank holdings, and has instead pursued a piecemeal and scattershot approach. IR 2014 would convene a committee, comprised of experts in planning, advocates for the environment and members of the local community, to determine the best way to utilize the Yaphank land.

 

Your presence and support next Thursday is greatly needed and appreciated.

 

Joshua P. Slaughter
Suffolk County Legislature 
Legislative Aide, Media Contact, Third Legislative District
1120 Montauk Hwy., Suite G
Mastic, NY 11950
Phone: (631) 852-1300 Fax:(631) 852-1303

New Old Inlet in LI Nature Conservancy newsletter

Sent: Thursday, December 03, 2015 9:32 AM
Subject: New Old Inlet in LI Nature Conservancy newsletter

 

 

 

 

 

BVA Fall Litter Clean-up

From: Brookhaven Village Association [mailto:bvamail=brookhavenvillageassociation.org@mail64.atl11.rsgsv.net] On Behalf Of Brookhaven Village Association
Sent: Friday, October 09, 2015 1:00 PM

BVA Fall Litter Cleanup 10/17/15  10AM Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.   Brookhaven Village Association, Inc. Fall Litter Clean up   Sponsored by The Brookhaven Village Association Saturday, October 17th, 2015 at 10AM Meet in the Brookhaven Fire Dept Parking Lot Trash Bags & Work Gloves Provided For more information call: BVA Quality of Life Chairperson, Jeffrey Jensen at 286-2128   Copyright © 2015 Brookhaven Village Association, Inc., All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in at our website or included it with your membership form. Our mailing address is: Brookhaven Village Association, Inc. PO Box 167 Brookhaven, NY 11719 Add us to your address book  unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences

Fire Island National Seashore - Wilderness Breach Management Plan

From: National Park Service - Denver Service Center <steven_culver@nps.gov>

Date: August 31, 2015 7:02:38 PM EDT

Subject: Fire Island National Seashore - Wilderness Breach Management Plan

Reply-To: steven_culver@nps.gov

 

Dear Friend, The National Park Service (NPS) is in the process of making a decision to determine whether or not to close the breach that opened in the Otis Pike Fire Island High Dune Wilderness Area (the wilderness) in Fire Island National Seashore (the Seashore) during Hurricane Sandy. To assist in the decision-making process, the National Park Service is preparing an environmental impact statement (plan/EIS). The plan/EIS will analyze a range of alternatives for managing the wilderness breach. The desired outcome of this plan/EIS is to ensure the continued integrity of the natural and cultural features of the Seashore and its surrounding ecosystems while protecting human life and managing the risk of economic and physical damage to the surrounding areas. Your participation is vital to our planning process. There are a number of ways to be involved throughout the process, including participation in public scoping and the review of and comment on the draft plan/EIS. The first step in the process is scoping. Scoping is an information gathering process through which we invite you to express your views on the information, issues, and alternatives that need to be addressed in the plan/EIS. The scoping newsletter is available for review and comment online at the National park Service park planning website at: http://parkplanning.nps.gov/ FireIslandBreachManagementPlan.   We have also included questions at the end of the newsletter #1 document for you to consider in your comments. Responses to these questions, as well as any other comments you may wish to provide, will help us in framing the issues and alternatives that will be evaluated in the plan/EIS. Comments will be accepted for at least 30 days.    We look forward to hearing from you.

 

Forward this email This email was sent to vanlith@optonline.net by steven_culver@nps.gov |   Update Profile/Email Address | Rapid removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | About our service provider. National Park Service - Denver Service Center | 12795 W Alameda Parkway | Denver | CO | 80228

 

U. of Rhode Island Research Re: Old Inlet, Newsday article Aug 19, 2015

http://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/researchers-mapping-underwater-landscape-off-fire-island-1.10751535

Researchers mapping underwater landscape off Fire Island

Updated August 18, 2015 10:13 PM
By EMILY C. DOOLEY  emily.dooley@newsday.com

A team of researchers from the University of Rhode Island is spending the summer piloting a small pontoon boat equipped with sonar to create a map of the underwater landscape near Sunken Forest on Fire Island.

The study is one of 17 ongoing projects the National Park Service and other agencies funded after superstorm Sandy on or near the Fire Island National Seashore to evaluate barrier islands and back bay areas.

The research -- focusing on undersea mapping, deer migration, water salinity, plankton levels, dune structures, salt marsh elevations and more -- will be used to help the park service decide whether to close a breach near Old Inlet that formed when Sandy hit in October 2012.

"Our main focus was to scientifically document what the response of the Great South Bay has been to . . . the Fire Island wilderness breach," said Charles Roman, a park service senior scientist overseeing the projects, some of which began soon after the storm.

The funding is $5.17 million, and some related research is taking place elsewhere, such as Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, and Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

"It's really to enhance our understanding of how barrier island ecosystems and back bay ecosystems respond to things like this breach," Roman said.

When Sandy hit Long Island, it tore breaches through Fire Island in three places. The cuts at Smith Point County Park and Cupsogue County Park were closed within two months by dredging in sand from offshore. But the third one, near Old Inlet, was in a wilderness area of the seashore where mechanical work is prohibited.

Seashore officials opted to monitor the breach and that presented researchers with a unique opportunity.

"There are very few studies that . . . document how these systems respond," Roman said. "That's due in part because when the breaches open they are often closed rather quickly."

Researchers from the park service, U.S. Geological Survey, Stony Brook University and elsewhere are doing the work, which should be completed by October 2016.

"All of this science is going to be compiled and used while we work on a management plan for the breach," Fire Island National Seashore biologist Jordan Raphael said.

Raphael, who helps coordinate visiting research teams, has been documenting vegetation and shoreline changes near the breach at Old Inlet, which was stable enough to allow shipping traffic from 1776 through 1836, according to "The Story of Old Inlet," written in 1952 by Paul Bigelow and William L. Hanaway.

The eastern edge of the breach is fairly stable while the western portion is eroding.

"It's almost doing the same exact thing the old inlet did a couple hundred years ago," Raphael said. "It looks as though it's following the same path.

"The University of Rhode Island team did underwater mapping near Otis Pike by the breach last year and is now focused on Sunken Forest by Sailors Haven marina.

Motoring at speeds of 2 to 3 miles per hour, the boat moves in straight lines as a side-scan sonar device in the water scans the seafloor out more than 80 feet in each direction.

"We're using sound to create a picture that basically looks like the seafloor," said Monique LaFrance Bartley, a marine research assistant at URI's Graduate School of Oceanography in Narragansett, Rhode Island.

As the boat moves, high- and low-resolution images are transmitted to a computer. Sea grass looks like tiny clumps of cauliflower while anchor marks or sailboat hull marks look like long scratches.

On another round of trips, a clawlike machine will extend from the boat to grab clumps of seafloor. Those samples will be compared to the sonar results in a sort of truth test to verify the interpretations of the scan.

In the end, an underwater map much like the kind used to mark points of interest on land will be created, marking out sea grass beds, shellfish sites and other locations. Knowing that, the park service can manage access or interpretive information for visitors.

"[The park service] . . . really haven't undertaken any serious underwater habitat mapping studies," Bartley said. "It's really more to help them better manage what they have."

Another research project is examining deer migration and vegetation regrowth in overwash spots in Otis Pike. In many spots, Sandy uprooted and scattered dune vegetation. Researchers are looking at how that vegetation returns and how deer feeding on it influence recovery, said H. Brian Underwood, an adjunct associate professor at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse.

 "The beach dune grass is coming back pretty quickly," he said. "We know a lot of things about deer on Fire Island but we know very little about the establishment of primary vegetation in overwash areas."

Brookhaven Hamlet Thefts

From: Brookhaven Village Association, Inc. [mailto:bvamail=brookhavenvillageassociation.org@mail227.atl121.mcsv.net] On Behalf Of Brookhaven Village Association, Inc.
Sent: Thursday, July 23, 2015 10:36 AM

Recent events in Brookhaven Hamlet View this email in your browser Over the last several weeks, there has been a rash of car robberies.  Unlocked cars have been ransacked and anything of value was stolen.  Some vehicles had their windows broken to gain entry.  The reported incidents were on Beaver Dam and Old Stump Roads, Newey and Library Lanes, and cars on Marie Court were broken into as recently as Monday.  These thefts occurred during the late night and early morning hours.   This information is being disseminated in an effort to keep our membership informed of events occurring in the community.  Please take proper precautions with your home and property.   BVA Board   Copyright © 2015 Brookhaven Village Association, Inc., All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in at our website or included it with your membership form. Our mailing address is: Brookhaven Village Association, Inc. PO Box 167 Brookhaven, NY 11719 Add us to your address book unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences

Forgotten Heros No More

Forgotten Heroes No More  

With Support of Legislator Browning, Brookhaven Hamlet Honors its Soldiers from America’s First Four Wars

(Pictured left to right standing in front of the newly installed memorial are: Tom Williams, John Deitz, Legislator Kate Browning and Councilwoman Connie Kepert)

 

            Brookhaven, NY – On Memorial Day this past Monday, May 25, the Brookhaven Hamlet community held its annual ceremony at the Fireplace Road Neck Rd. memorial to honor the brave men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our Country. The memorial specifically acknowledges the local soldiers that resided in the area and served our Country. For the first time, with the assistance of a grant from Legislator Kate Browning (WF-Shirley), the site included a plaque commemorating the local heroes from the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Civil War and the Spanish American War.

 

                     Brookhaven Hamlet and its surrounding communities have a rich history dating back before America’s Independence, and its residents throughout history played an important role in securing and preserving America’s freedom. That is why the local Fireplace History Club reached out to Legislator Browning in 2014 to help include local heroes from wars that were not yet recognized at the memorial site. Fire Place History Club Chair Martin Van Lith and Tom Williams from the Post Morrow Foundation inquired about County funding, and Legislator Browning was able to secure a $5,000 grant to pay for the creation and placement of the bronze plaque. John Deitz conducted all the research for the plaque that includes 45 individuals that answered the call to duty during America’s first four wars.

 

                     “Suffolk County, and in particular Brookhaven Hamlet, played a vital role in our nation’s independence,” stated Legislator Kate Browning. “Since the American Revolution Brookhaven residents have continued to serve and protect America and its values. It is critical that we recognize all of those individuals, and I am happy to have assisted in ensuring that all the men and women that answered our Country’s call are recognized for their contributions.”                                                                                                                                               

 

                        “This recognition of the Brookhaven hamlet Patriots who fought in our nation's first four wars was long overdue,” stated Fire Place History Club Chair Marty Van Lith. “The members of the Fire Place History Club had this plaque made to correct that oversight and bring more awareness of those residents' sacrifice and service.”

 

 

 

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