In an effort to establish a physical presence in the Central Pine Barrens region, the Pine Barrons Commission has decided to relocate its office from the Great River area of Islip to Westhampton Beach.
The commission made the announcement this week in a statement sent to the media, stating that the new office, located at 624 Old Riverhead Road, will place commission staff at the same contiguous site for the first time.
The new commission office, which is within the Suffolk County Water Authority’s Eastern Regional Office, said Commissioner John W. Pavacic, "Improves efficiencies by reducing response times to locations within the Central Pine Barrens region and allows us to obtain greater awareness of conditions and activities occurring in our jurisdictional area."
The Central Pine Barrens region sits on 100,000 acres and has been subject to massive fires in recent years with 7,000 acres burning in 1995 and in 2012, some .
