Brookhaven, NY — Crash Data, Roads, History & Law

History

The Town of Brookhaven's own history page states that "April 14, 2020 marked the 365th anniversary of the founding of the Town of Brookhaven," placing the town's traditional founding date at April 14, 1655.^[1] Formal town government traces to a royal charter: "The Dongan Patent for the Town of Brookhaven, issued by Governor Dongan, is the historic and legal document that provided the foundation for Brookhaven Town government," per the Town.^[2] Dated December 27, 1686, the patent created a board of seven trustees elected annually, with the first-chosen serving as President, along with a Clerk and other officers, and it empowered the trustees to act as "one body corporate and politique" with power to sue and be sued.^[2] The price paid for the patent included, in the patent's own language as quoted by the Town, "20 barrells of whale oyle to be delivered in New York at 20 shillings per barrell," among other goods and coin.^[2] The Town states that "this Trustee form of government predates the establishment of the State of New York, and the United States of America," and that the Dongan Patent "is used to resolve many legal questions involving preservation of natural resources and our underground water supply" to this day.^[2]

In the summer of 1917 the U.S. Army began building Camp Upton near present-day Upton to train New York-area draftees for World War I; the first 2,000 men arrived September 10, 1917 and the camp was declared complete on December 20, 1917, eventually training roughly 40,000 soldiers, including the 77th Division.^[3] Sergeant Irving Berlin served at Camp Upton and wrote the all-soldier musical revue "Yip, Yip, Yaphank" based on his experience there.^[3] The camp was reactivated in 1940 as an induction center and later converted to a convalescent and rehabilitation hospital beginning in September 1944.^[3] The federal government then repurposed the site for peaceful atomic research: "In January 1947, Brookhaven National Laboratory was born."^[3]

How the roads got here

NY 25, known locally through central Brookhaven as Middle Country Road, is the town's historic east-west spine; NYSDOT's official touring-route description carries the route through "Floral Park, Mineola, South Huntington, Smithtown, Branch, Coram, Riverhead" on its way to the North Fork.^[19] NY 112 runs north-south through the town's center; NYSDOT describes it running through "Patchogue, Medford, Coram, Port Jefferson Station (NY 25A)".^[19] NY 347 forms the town's northern reach toward the Northern State Parkway, described by NYSDOT as running "west of Hauppauge, Hauppauge, Nesconset, Terryville, east of Port Jefferson Station (NY 25A)".^[19]

Several of the town's other principal arteries are Suffolk County roads, not state highways. Suffolk County's own road list designates Nicolls Road as County Road 97, running from Montauk Highway to NY 25A;^[20] North Ocean Avenue (continuing north as Patchogue-Mount Sinai Road) as County Road 83;^[20] and, despite carrying four different local names along its length — "Terry Road / Smithtown Boulevard / Portion Road / Horseblock Road" — a single county route, CR 16, running between NY 25 and Montauk Highway.^[20] William Floyd Parkway, the Robert Moses-era parkway serving the town's eastern hamlets, is likewise county-owned as CR 46.^[20]

Local streets are the responsibility of the Town itself: the Town of Brookhaven Highway Department, headquartered at 1140 Old Town Road in Coram, is "responsible for maintaining more than 3,500 lane miles of Town-owned roadways, making it one of the largest municipal highway departments in New York State."^[10]

Law and legal history

Brookhaven has been the named party in two of the Court of Appeals' most significant Long Island environmental-law decisions. In Matter of Citizens for an Orderly Energy Policy v. Cuomo, 78 N.Y.2d 398 (1991), the Court of Appeals rejected separation-of-powers and environmental-review challenges to Governor Mario Cuomo's 1989 settlement agreement authorizing the Long Island Power Authority to acquire and close the Shoreham nuclear power plant.^[4] The following year, in Matter of Long Island Pine Barrens Society v. Planning Board of the Town of Brookhaven, 80 N.Y.2d 500 (1992), the Court considered whether the State Environmental Quality Review Act required a single cumulative environmental impact statement covering more than 200 separate development projects then proposed across the Central Pine Barrens. Writing for the Court, Judge Titone concluded that "the statutory and regulatory criteria for mandatory cumulative impact statements cannot, and should not, be stretched to cover this unique problem," reversing the Appellate Division and allowing the individual project reviews to proceed separately.^[5] The Legislature responded within a year: "The New York State Legislature approved and Governor Mario Cuomo signed the Long Island Pine Barrens Protection Act into law in 1993," creating a roughly 106,000-acre Central Pine Barrens region across "portions of eastern Brookhaven Town, southern Riverhead Town and western Southampton Town."^[6]

Like most New York municipalities, Brookhaven cannot be sued over a defective road or sidewalk unless it had prior written notice of the specific defect; the Town's own Code, Chapter 84, is titled "Notice of Defective or Dangerous Conditions."^[7] Appellate courts have repeatedly applied it: in Owen v. Town of Brookhaven, 281 A.D.2d 527 (2d Dept. 2001), the Appellate Division affirmed summary judgment for the Town because it "was not provided with prior written notice of the allegedly defective condition which caused the plaintiff to fall," citing Town Law § 65-a and Town of Brookhaven Code § 84-1.^[8] The rule has a well-established exception, however: in Mayer v. Town of Brookhaven, 266 A.D.2d 360 (2d Dept. 1999) — a case brought by a motorcyclist "thrown off her motorcycle when it struck a pothole in a roadway maintained by" the Town — the Appellate Division reinstated the suit, holding that "no prior written notice is required where the locality created the defect or hazard through an affirmative act of negligence," and that evidence the Town had performed repair work at the exact accident site weeks before the crash raised a triable issue of fact.^[9] The Town's Code separately establishes a Traffic Violations Bureau (Chapter 6) and an Appearance Tickets chapter (Chapter 5).^[7]

Government, courts and policing

The Town of Brookhaven has no police department of its own; the Suffolk County Police Department patrols the entire town through four precincts. The Sixth Precinct, headquartered at 400 Middle Country Road in Selden, "protects and serves several hamlets and incorporated villages within the Town of Brookhaven (North)";^[11] the Fifth Precinct, at 125 Waverly Avenue in Patchogue, "renders patrol and other police service to the southern portion of Brookhaven Town, the eastern portion of Islip Town, and the incorporated villages of Patchogue and Bellport";^[12] and the town's far western and far eastern edges fall within the Fourth Precinct (Smithtown) and Seventh Precinct (Shirley), respectively.^[13]

Town Hall sits at 1 Independence Hill in Farmingville, home to the Town Clerk's office and other administrative departments — not, as is sometimes reported, a "Brookhaven Town Police Department," which does not exist.^[15] The Town's own Parking Violations Bureau, based at Town Hall, "administers the payment and appeal process for parking citations issued at Town-owned facilities and properties";^[14] Suffolk County's separate Traffic and Parking Violations Agency "adjudicates parking summonses, red light camera citations and moving violations in the five western towns of Suffolk County."^[22] More serious criminal matters, civil actions and appeals from town and village justice courts are heard at the Suffolk County court complex, 400 Carleton Avenue, Central Islip — seat of the 10th Judicial District's Suffolk County administration.^[23]