From trees to trash? Odors, complaints follow composting move to Calverton

It stinks.

That’s the consensus of Calverton residents living near a new composting operation on a portion of the former Warner Nursery off Youngs Avenue.

The property owner has obtained a use permit from Riverhead Town to operate a tree farm there.

“There’s no farming going on here. There’s just dumping,” Bob Hering, whose Youngs Avenue property is bordered on two sides by the former nursery property, said outside his home Wednesday afternoon.

Two or three tractor-trailers operated by Patriot Recycling, a waste management company in Oceanside, make at least two trips to the Baiting Hollow farm daily, Hering said, arriving as early as 6 a.m. The trucks spew diesel fumes, kick up dust that coats his horse paddocks, and dump wastes that smell so bad it’s impossible to enjoy their yard, Hering and his wife Carolyn said. The Herings raise horses, goats, pigs, and chickens on their 6.5-acre farm.

Several residents turned out at this week’s Riverhead Town Board meeting to complain about noxious odors, truck traffic, and idling vehicles along the roadside.

According to a State Department of Environmental Conservation inspection report from Aug. 21, obtained through a Freedom of Information Law request by Jamesport resident Barbara Blass and shared with RiverheadLOCAL, odor control difficulties at the Oceanside site are what prompted the facility’s owner to relocate its “yard trimmings and soil operations” to Calverton.

Joe DeFigueroa, owner of both Patriot Recycling and a separate company that owns the Youngs Avenue property, began shipping yard trimmings from Oceanside to Calverton shortly after closing on the farmland. Riverhead Town issued a stop-work order on Aug. 8, citing the “dumping of material with garbage and other solid waste material.”

A town code enforcement officer observed plastic in the stockpiled yard trimmings, allegedly due to landscapers mixing trash with grass clippings, according to DeFigueroa’s attorney, Steven Losquadro. DEC inspectors later noted the material on site “did not appear to have a significant amount of any contaminants.”

Regulatory thresholds and what they mean

Under New York State DEC regulations, composting facilities that accept more than 3,000 cubic yards of yard trimmings per year must register with the state. Facilities taking in more than 10,000 cubic yards require a permit.

During the August site visit, DEC inspectors informed DeFigueroa of these thresholds. He told the inspectors he intended to stay within the exemption limit. However, if operations like those at Oceanside are fully relocated to Calverton, they would far exceed the exemption and likely surpass the registration ceiling as well.

According to Patriot’s 2023 DEC annual report, the company accepted 9,373 tons of grass, leaves, and brush at its Oceanside facility. Based on EPA volume-to-weight conversions (250 to 500 lbs per cubic yard), that equals roughly 37,000 to 75,000 cubic yards.

Permitted use or problematic operation?

The Calverton property lies within the Agricultural Protection Zone, where land use is basically restricted to farming. The town purchased development rights to the property in 1998, preserving it for agricultural purposes. Composting as part of a farm operation is permitted under state law.

On Dec. 9, DeFigueroa’s attorney submitted to the town an undated letter from Cody Diggins, president of Ironwood LI Farms, stating he had been engaged to manage the tree farm. Diggins, whose LinkedIn profile lists him as president of Green Vision Materials and Ironwood Industries, did not mention Ironwood LI Farms. That entity was incorporated in April 2021.

Green Vision Materials was affiliated with a Middle Island nursery that came under fire from Brookhaven Town for operating an illegal mulching facility. Residents there complained about dust, noise and odors at the site they called “MulchMare.” The case was settled in 2016 after two years in court, with restrictions on the volume of debris the nursery could accept.

Middle Island Civic Association President Gail Lynch-Bailey said the odor and dust from the site were overwhelming. “The boys took in so much debris. There were 40 to 50 foot piles and it went on fire twice,” she said, referring to Cody Diggins and his brother Corey.

Reached by phone on Wednesday, Cody Diggins declined to comment.

Losquadro said his client was not aware of Diggins’ history in Middle Island. Later that day, he called RiverheadLOCAL back to report that DeFigueroa had replaced Diggins with a new tree farmer: Richard Sipala of Longwood Farms and Nursery in Middle Island.

Sipala confirmed in a phone interview Wednesday afternoon that he will be managing the tree farm and plans to begin mowing in August in preparation for fall planting. He also intends to evaluate existing trees and shrubs on the site for possible sale.

Residents Demand Action

Neighbors say the odors returned this spring after the town lifted last summer’s stop-work order and issued the use permit. Hering and others have been circulating a petition objecting to Patriot’s use of the site, gathering over 100 signatures.

Steve Aupperle of Mastro Road told the Town Board the compost piles raise concerns about air and water quality, fire hazards, and exposure to chemicals. “It has a terrible chemical scent that wafts over our neighborhood… making us feel ill,” he said. “I want to know what’s being dumped.”

Katie Brienza, who lives six houses down, said she can’t open her windows because of the smell. Dust from truck traffic coats her vehicle and dirt is regularly tracked onto the road.

“Please, please, please look into this. It’s really bad, really bad,” she told the board.

Mark Woolley of Riverhead, a candidate for the Town Board this year, urged the board to “shut them down until you figure out how we’re going to go ahead and proceed here.”

Town Attorney Erik Howard said the town is monitoring the property. He explained that while the permit was issued for a tree farm, enforcement requires proof that the terms of the use permit have been violated.

Howard said the DEC conducted another site visit two weeks ago and he is waiting on the report. He said he would recommend court action if and when it’s clear the use limits are being exceeded.

“You’ve sent complaints, you’ve sent letters. We are not ignoring them,” Howard said. “We need to gather evidence and actually build a case.”

Hering said some people have blamed the odor on Crown Recycling, a facility down the road that had a fire on June 4.

“The odors began before the fire and Crown had never been a problem with odors,” Hering said. “We’ve been living here 30 years and Crown’s been operating there the whole time and we never had odors like this. Crown has always been a good neighbor to us.”