In 2000 the DEC issued a permit to Roanoke Sand and Gravel to mine 110 ft. below the water table on 151 acres of a 298 acre site with what the civics considered only minimal conditions. The Affiliated Brookhaven Civic Organization, the Longwood Alliance, and the Middle Island Civic Association, requested the Town step in to protect the health and safety of local residents. We stressed that the area surrounding the future lake was surrounded by 147 acres heavy industrial use. I stated in a letter dated August 29th, 2000, ³Conditions set by the DEC are inadequate, and insufficient to protect both the quality of our drinking water and the health and safety of local residents.²
In their approved reclamation plan the DEC required only a "paltry" 150 ft. buffer around the lake to protect the aquifer from heavy industrial uses. Therefore, as President of the three civic organizations, I requested that the town use its zoning powers to rezone the 147 acres surrounding the future lake to less intensive uses, such as residential. Unfortunately, the town did not act.
Mr. Barker, the owner of Roanoke Sand and Gravel has submitted an application to build and operate an asphalt plant within the area zoned L-2 or heavy industry. Asphalt plants are permitted within the L-2 zoning category. This application has not moved forward because the Longwood Alliance, and its Middle Country Road Renaissance Project lobbied for, and was granted, a moratorium on future development within the Middle Country Road Corridor. It is that moratorium which has temporarily stopped this plant in its tracks. However, we need to put in place more permanent safeguards to insure that such noxious uses are not permitted in an area which is crucial to the quality of our drinking water and located near communities where people live, such as Birchwood.
Roanoke¹s 298 acre site lies within the Central Suffolk Special Groundwater Protection Area, has been designated by Suffolk County Water Authority as the Core Watershed Corridor, and is located in hydrogeologic zone III, the zone of highest groundwater quality. It is also in the immediate vicinity of 3 Suffolk County Water Authority well sites located on Bailey Road.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency EPA states, "Asphalt processing and asphalt roofing manufacturing facilities are major sources of hazardous air pollutants such as formaldehyde, hexane, phenol, polycyclic organic matter, and toluene. Exposure to these air toxins may cause cancer, central nervous system problems, liver damage respiratory problems, and skin irritation."
The cumulative effects of the toxins which are generated by smokestack emissions and "fugitive emissions" which will be released as Roanoke loads its 22 trucks a day, and the potential harmful effects to our drinking water and sole source aquifer of 60,000 gallons, of petroleum and 12,000 gallons of natural gas stored on site are clearly unacceptable. As I stated in August of 2000, heavy industrial uses in this area are inappropriate. The Town must act.
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