Southampton Town To Seek Restraining Order Against Sand Land

Within the next week, Southampton Town officials will go back to court to try to enforce a recent ruling that the owners of a sand mine in Noyac can no longer process solid waste.

Town Attorney James Burke said Tuesday that his office is preparing to seek a temporary restraining order against Wainscott Sand & Gravel, which owns the sand mine commonly known as Sand Land. The mine has continued to process material into topsoil and mulch, and to sell it to the public, which is prohibited by the recent State Supreme Court Appellate Division decision.

“The Town Board empowered the town attorney to take action, enforce the decision by the Appellate Division to take whatever necessary action, because we have been getting reports that the prohibited activities, the activities prohibited by that court decision, were ongoing and, in fact, increased,” Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman said last week. “It just gives him the ability to do what he needs to do to make sure that the court’s ruling is complied with.”

The Appellate Division ruled last month that the 50-acre sand-mining operation can no longer be used to process “trees, brush, stumps, leaves and other clearing debris into topsoil or mulch,” according to the decision. The business is also prohibited from storing, selling or delivering mulch, topsoil and wood chips.

The situation is a strange one, Mr. Burke said, because the town does not want the material on the site—although, under the decision, Sand Land is prohibited from selling it. “It is kind of a dichotomy—we want the material off the property,” he said, adding, “If it is being moved off the property, that is a good thing for everybody.”

Mr. Burke noted that the town is in the middle of gathering evidence and affidavits needed for the temporary restraining order. “There are steps we have to follow before we take any injunctive relief,” he said.

When reached Tuesday afternoon, John Tintle, the owner of Wainscott Sand & Gravel, said he was unaware that the town was planning to take action. “That is new information for me—I didn’t know that the town is seeking the restraining order,” he said, adding that his operation will continue to process the material that is on site.