Kent Animal Shelter outgrew its cramped, deteriorating facilities at the edge of the Pine Barrens many years ago, but its plans for expansion are no closer to approval today than they were in 2012, when Kent first proposed them.
In the face of fierce opposition from a local environmental advocacy group, which insists that Kent’s plans to expand in the highly regulated Pine Barrens are against the law, Kent has been searching for alternate locations where the shelter could be moved if it isn’t allowed to improve its conditions on its current plot of land.
But the shelter’s future at a new location seems uncertain at best. Right now, there is only one option on the table – a community center in Shoreham – and it’s dependent upon the possibility that it will be replaced by a new community center at the former Tallgrass golf club in the near future, opening up the site for Kent.
“There are still a lot of things that have to be worked out,” said Pam Green, executive director at Kent.
Four years ago, Kent announced its plans to build a new, state-of-the-art facility on its current property that would double the amount of animals it can house and drastically improve their living conditions.
The new facility would also significantly reduce the shelter’s current impact on the environmentally sensitive Pine Barrens by upgrading its 50-year-old cesspool to an advanced wastewater treatment system, which would filter out nitrogen and other harmful nutrients before they seep into the groundwater.
But the shelter’s plans can’t move forward unless the State Central Pine Barrens Commission grants Kent an exemption from the strict prohibition on any new development within the Pine Barrens’ core preservation area. Though Kent was built on its current property decades before the prohibition on new development was enacted, the shelter still needs to seek an exemption to that law because of the extent of the construction proposed.
An exemption can only be granted if Kent can prove the property has no beneficial use and is causing the shelter extreme hardship, or that the proposed expansion would solve a public health or safety issue that requires the shelter to operate in the Pine Barrens – qualifications that environmentalist Richard Amper has argued Kent does not meet.
Amper, who is executive director of the Long Island Pine Barrens Society, has threatened that his organization will bring legal action against the commission if it grants the exemption, insisting that to do so would violate the state law the commission is charged with enforcing.
Such pushback has caused Kent to first search for alternate locations before pursuing a vote on the exemption.
“Brookhaven Town officials are working very hard to find us another location,” Green said today. “But so far a lot of them don’t look like they’re going to work out for either the shelter or the town. There are a lot of things that factor into whether or not we can use the property.”
The most promising option so far is a community center in Shoreham that might be moving soon. The Robert S. Reid Community Center, located across from the Shoreham Wading River Library, is currently in use by Brookhaven Town, but a new community center may soon be built to replace it at the former Tallgrass golf club in Shoreham.
“Hopefully that will work out,” Green said. “If it doesn’t, I don’t know what we’re going to do.”
If no alternate locations can be secured, Green says Kent is going to ask the Pine Barrens Commission to move forward with the vote on their application for a waiver, which has been stalled while Kent searches for a new home.
The supervisors of Brookhaven, Riverhead and Southampton towns — where the Pine Barrens are located — as well as the county executive and a representative of the governor comprise the commission. Riverhead Supervisor Sean Walter, who says he wants to keep the shelter in the Town of Riverhead, has been a staunch supporter of granting the exemption but, as he said last week, “I’m the lone wolf.”
“We’re keeping all our options open,” Green said.
The survival of local journalism depends on your support.
We are a small family-owned operation. You rely on us to stay informed, and we depend on you to make our work possible. Just a few dollars can help us continue to bring this important service to our community.
Support RiverheadLOCAL today.