Dec 7, 2012 11:19 AM
Southampton Town fire marshals have issued multiple violations to the owner of a property off Speonk-Riverhead Road in Speonk and the manager of a national car auction company for storing thousands of vehicles damaged in Superstorm Sandy at the site, one not zoned for such a use, town attorneys confirmed Wednesday.
Town Attorney Tiffany Scarlato, who said she was made aware of the issue over the weekend, said that “well over 2,000 vehicles” have arrived at the site, which is zoned solely for mining and quarrying.
Ms. Scarlato said the Southampton Town Board will discuss the issue at a special board meeting scheduled for Thursday, December 6, at 1 p.m., during which members could decide to issue a temporary restraining order against both parties and seek injunctive relief in Suffolk County Supreme... more
Town Attorney Tiffany Scarlato, who said she was made aware of the issue over the weekend, said that “well over 2,000 vehicles” have arrived at the site, which is zoned solely for mining and quarrying.
Ms. Scarlato said the Southampton Town Board will discuss the issue at a special board meeting scheduled for Thursday, December 6, at 1 p.m., during which members could decide to issue a temporary restraining order against both parties and seek injunctive relief in Suffolk County Supreme... more
Sometimes extreme circumstances, require extreme measures.
Where's the SBO crowd? I'm here to defend him, and I won't hesitate to. I say allow for a temporary measure to get the job done.
- What happens if one of the cars catches on fire (or is vandalized resulting in fire)
- What happens when vehicles leak unknown chemicals/toxins/oils/gas into sand (aka groundwater)
- Why should these people make ridiculous amounts of $ (roughly - $3,200/acre/month) while getting ZERO approvals from the Town and creating a hazardous situation for all?
These are just a few questions
Anything this situation may contribute via toxins, or a potential fire (thanks for giving people ideas) would be negligible compared to places that have been operating for 20+ years.
This isn't nominal business in it's conduct. It's related to a "superstorm". Warranted, it violates normal practice, but the situation which created it was hardly normal. In fact, we haven't seen a storm ...more of it's caliber recently.
And If you have 10 acres, yea $3,200/acre/month is a lot for literally doing nothing but possibly harming the environment
"The land in Speonk is in the town's aquifer protection overlay district, and within an area of the pine barrens set aside for compatible growth use.
The sand mine parcel is a pre-existing, nonconforming use. The other three parcels are zoned CR-200, a residential use requiring minimum 5-acre lots. None of them can be legally used for auto storage, Scarlato said."This is not an issue for the town of Southampton to deal with," she added. "We're ...more taking cars now from Long Beach and Wantagh and Queens . . . municipalities have to get together and address this. It's got to be a regional issue."
Additionally, yes they are paying taxes but they had a pre-existing/non-conforming sand mine which they surely made a bundle from, and the other lots which are zoned CR-200 have taxes ...more so low a paperboy could probably pay them with money left over.
Engines, and trannys are most likely scrap and waterlogged.
Would you invest $20 to search such a database before investing in a used car?
I would...
I just went to sell my truck, that was parked in my warehouse during the storm, and FEMA has this for me in a carfax report:
TITLE Reported registered/titled prior to storm event in FEMA designated storm area. We recommend a professional vehicle ...more inspection to confirm no storm damage.
Which is great, considering they did the same for Irene, which was a complete joke. So now, I will have a much harder time selling my truck, that was in a 5,000 sq ft warehouse during the storm, to prevent it from any sort of damages... Thanks FEMA.
Using the present site should be acceptable providing it is temporary.
I don't get what your point is RE: a state law. Are you saying the cars should be allowed to be sold/driven again? You're not clear.
And no, it's not all talk. All talk would be issuing a press release saying that it's not legal. They instead have issued tickets, and gotten a restraining order which will require the vehicles be moved from the site as per a judge.
A judge issuing a restraining order CAN get the ...more vehicles removed. It can be a cease and desist order - akin to what happend in Riverhead when the DEC came and kicked vehicles off the EPCAL grasslands. You don't need to prove it in a court of law now - the violation must be corrected first and then CoPart or whoever can fight it (which they won't - they'll find some other illegal place to dump them).
You should see what CoPart is up to in Brookhaven Town... clearing, sand mining, dumping etc. all to store more cars. Hey, it's the cost of doing business!
"Brian Sullivan, editor of the trade newsletter Auto Insurance Report, believes most wrecked cars will ultimately be sold for parts or shredded and melted down. Salvage cars are kind of like when someone butchers a pig and they talk about using everything but the squeak," Sullivan says. "These cars get broken down and everything gets reused that can be reused." Headlights, fenders, hoods and even the lens over your backup light — ...more it all has value. "Even a damaged car ... is a pretty big asset," he says. "If an insurance company's going to get even $2,500 back from it, that's a lot of money."
A decade ago, storm-damaged vehicles might turn up on the used car lot. That can still happen, but title-tracking services like Carfax are making it easier for consumers to find out exactly what they're buying. These days, most cars first go to auction. These sales are dominated by two nationwide auction companies that sell only to pre-qualified bidders."
They can and will shut it down - the Town shouldn't be concerened about a trial. Who is going to take them to court and why? For Copart, they need a place to store the vehicles, so why bother fighitng something in court? They will take them somewhere else. You think the owner of the property will take the Town to court and win? The # of violations these people have are absurd - and that's BEFORE they started accepting these junk cars.
As for the Town wanting to dredge the ocean - well, you are comparing apples/oranges. And two wrongs don't make a right. I've never supported the proposed beach re-nourishment project and I surely don't support storing these vehicles over the aquifer with ZERO oversight, NO SEQRA and no approvals. God forbid a fire breaks out on one of these sites...
I never said all of them are being scrapped - many of them are being auctioned through Adesa and Copart, but just because they are auctioned doesn't mean they will end up on the road.
They're (;P) is a difference between "your" and "you're" Just like there is a difference in there, their and ( you guessed it "they're") It really takes away your credibility when you can't write at 6th grade levels. Have pleasant day. At this rate you are 54 comments away from being the first poster to hit 500 postings and every single one of them being a complaint.