Letters

On December 4, the New York State Appellate Division ruled that the electronic billboards on Sunrise Highway should have been enjoined pending litigation over whether they are permitted. Using the same reasoning, construction on the gas station being built on Westwoods adjacent to the billboards should be stopped until environmental and regulatory oversight responsibilities are clear. The neighbors have been asking for this for months.

The court’s ruling was skeptical about the claim by the commercial operators of the billboards that Westwoods is aboriginal land. Indeed, the Shinnecock themselves did not argue this in the case, and their lawyer stipulated that the land is held in fee simple.

But the court did not need to determine the answer to how the land is held, because it ruled that either way the state has a right to regulate the billboards. This ruling is in line with a 2007 federal case, later vacated on a technicality, that ruled that Westwoods is held by the Shinnecock in fee simple, but also said that even if it was aboriginal land, the town and state had regulatory oversight responsibilities over the casino that the Shinnecock were planning at the time.

These findings only bolster residents’ demand that the town and Suffolk County do their diligence and exercise their oversight on the gas station. The lack of action on the part of the town has led to millions of dollars being spent on a gas station that, especially in light of the court’s ruling, may never be allowed to open. And it has emboldened planning for a hotel and conference center on the bluffs overlooking the Peconic Bay.

This is what happens when the law is ignored.

Diana Adams

Hampton Bays