Long Fight Heats Up—Who Gerrymandered
the Maps?
Pine Barrens Litigants get to “Discovery” in Five-year-old
Lawsuit
It’s been a long haul since small property owners in the Long Island Pine Barrens core area banded together in 1996 and went to federal court to challenge the injustices of the Pine Barrens Protection Act. Led by Henry Dittmer, the president of a new organization of landowners called Civil Property Rights Associates, Inc., they asked the court to declare that the implementation of the protection plan by the Pine Barrens Commission was an unconstitutional “taking” of their property and to order compensation for this and other infringements on their rights.
Among their complaints was the allegation that the mapping of the core area of the Central Pine Barrens, where virtually no development was allowed, was gerrymandered to suit the politically connected. When attorney James E. Morgan of Delmar took over the case last year, this claim alone had survived through the complicated litigation.
In March, Federal Judge Thomas C. Platt ordered from the Eastern District Court in Central Islip that the plaintiff’s examination of witnesses, or “discovery,” could begin. During July, some of the most prominent men on eastern Long Island began to answer questions. The discovery testimony is divulging important revelations about how the map of the Pine Barrens was gerrymandered.
Richard Amper, the most prominent environmentalist in the long battle over the Pine Barrens during the 1980’s and 90’s, stated that his group, the Long Island Pine Barrens Society, authored the map of the Central Pine Barrens, according to Mr. Morgan. Mr. Amper stated that from February 1993, when they drew the map, no changes were made until the legislation was enacted in June, the plaintiffs’ attorney said. This conflicts with sworn testimony of one of the other parties, according to the attorney.
Wilbur Breslin, a well-known developer with investments in the area, testified that an agreement was reached to exclude his property, but that the participants in the agreement failed to fully honor it and part of his property was included, according to Mr. Morgan.
In addition, Robert J. Gaffney, Suffolk County Executive and the Pine Barrens Commission Chair; Michael LoGrande, head of the Suffolk County Water Authority; Edwin M. Schwenck, who used to head the Long Island Builders Institute, and others have testified so far at the plaintiffs’ demand.
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