WESTHAMPTON: Firm to stop work in pine barrens

MITCHELL FREEDMAN

April 17, 2008 (News day)

A Westhampton firm charged with mixing cement as a commercial operation in the environmentally sensitive core of the pine barrens preservation area has agreed to pay a $25,000 fine and pledged to stop its mixing and batching operations there.

Westhampton Mining Aggregates, which owns the property at 6 Old Country Rd. in Westhampton, accepted a plea bargain in Southampton Town Justice Court on April 9 agreeing to pay the fine, stop its cement production and bring work at the site into compliance with town codes.

The fine will be put into a town account that can be used only for the protection, restoration or enhancement of the ecosystem in the central pine barrens, said Southampton Town attorney Daniel Adams.

The central pine barrens covers tens of thousands of acres in Brookhaven, Southampton and Riverhead. Because rain there ends up in Long Island's drinking water aquifer, commercial use or residential development is strictly regulated.