Key historical moments in Brookhaven Landfill History
Public Participation in Long Island waste planning has always involved public protest!
In August of 1968 according to the LI Advance, a community group submitted a petition of 4,700 signatures to Brookhaven Town Board requesting a public referendum on the existing landfill proposal. The proposal at this time included a three-landfill site plan that included expanding the existing Holtsville and Manorville dumps and creating a new site at Middle Island. The petitioners, reportedly from the Holtsville community, claimed that “people were not given sufficient time to air for themselves, or to examine the implication of the problems involved in the landfill project proposed by the town.”
The Long Island Advance , Thursday August 1 1968 “Town Has Five Days to Check: Say 4,700 Sign For Landfill Vote” : Page 1, Page 2
“From a dump of sorts to a place of sports.”
How did the Brookhaven Landfill come to be placed in the community? With the express promise that the landfill site would eventually turn into a recreation area for the community. This 1971 Sports Illustrated tells the story of how “even the most skeptical residents of Brookhaven have now gone for the idea [of the landfill]” because of the plan presented by the state Environmental Facilities Corporation of the eventual transformation of the dump to a park.
Sports Illustrated, August 23, 1971 “From A Dump of Sorts to a Place for Sports”
“Landfills, super parklands planned in garbage report.”
The New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation (EFC) was commissioned by Brookhaven Town to find a solution to the town’s waste situation. The EFC report submitted to Brookhaven Town government in 1970 recommended a multi-site town landfill plan. The report also proposed that the landfill would eventually be turned into a recreation site. The example of the Holtsville landfill site, then in the process of being transformed into a park, was an important justification for the communities chosen to host the town landfill.
The Long Island Advance, August 13, 1970 “Landfills, Super Parklands Planned in Garbage Report “ by Lance Phillips ( Page 1, Page 2)
“From a dump of sorts to a place of sports.”
How did the Brookhaven Landfill come to be placed in the community? With the express promise that the landfill site would eventually turn into a recreation area for the community. This 1971 Sports Illustrated tells the story of how “even the most skeptical residents of Brookhaven have now gone for the idea [of the landfill]” because of the plan presented by the state Environmental Facilities Corporation of the eventual transformation of the dump to a park.
Sports Illustrated, August 23, 1971 “From A Dump of Sorts to a Place for Sports”