Riverhead Town has ordered the owner of preserved farmland on Youngs Avenue in Calverton to remove 3,000 cubic yards of “unauthorized material” from the property by the end of this month.
Deputy Town Attorney Victoria Pilo sent a letter on Aug. 29 to the property owner, Joe DeFigueroa, directing him to remove “all mulch, wood debris, and any related stockpiled material from the property” by Sept. 29. DeFigueroa is the principal of Youngs Ave LLC, which owns the site, and also owns Patriot Recycling, which has transported grass clippings and other yard waste from its Oceanside solid waste facility to Calverton for composting.
“Please be advised that the Town of Riverhead has determined that the property located on Youngs Ave in Calverton (the “Property”) is in violation of the Town Code due to the stockpiling of mulch and related organic material,” the letter says. “These activities violate, among other provisions, Chapter 301 (Site Plan) and Chapter 229 (Solid Waste) of the Town Code.”
Neighbors of the Youngs Ave LLC property have complained about the smell of the material on the site, as well as the dust and dirt left by the dump trucks delivering it. Toqui Terchun, president of the Greater Calverton Civic Association, said the removal of the material “cannot happen fast enough.”
Pilo warned in the letter that failure to comply with the “directive will result in immediate enforcement action, including but not limited to” appearance tickets in Riverhead Justice Court and legal action in State Supreme Court.
Town Attorney Erik Howard, in an email, said Youngs Ave LLC has “not yet responded to our demand that the material be removed.”
DeFigueroa did not immediately return a message left with Patriot Recycling’s office. Steven Losquadro, an attorney for DeFigueroa, declined to comment when reached by phone this afternoon about the town’s letter and whether Youngs Ave LLC would remove the material. Losquadro stated that he did not have time to talk today he was in a meeting.
The town’s letter followed a July 30 inspection of the property by the town, the Suffolk County Department of Health Services and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. The town issued 11 appearance tickets to Youngs Ave LLC for Town Code violations, including for violating a stop order; planning and zoning ordinances; the local law governing imported material; and property maintenance and littering statutes.
The tickets were on Riverhead Justice Court’s calendar Tuesday, but no representative from Youngs Ave LLC appeared for arraignment. Justice Lori Hulse adjourned the matter until Oct. 7.
The DEC does not plan further action against the property owner at this time, a spokesperson said in a statement. In their report, DEC staff “observed strong on-site odors confined to the composting areas and stockpiles.” A copy of the report was provided to RiverheadLOCAL by the DEC.
Inspectors estimated the total volume of yard trimmings on site, excluding bulking materials, to be about 3,000 cubic yards.
DEC inspectors noted that “no additional material can be accepted this calendar year until the facility has either a registration or permit.” Under DEC regulations, composting facilities that accept up to 3,000 cubic yards annually are not required to be registered or obtain a permit.
Howard said the Suffolk County Department of Health Services declined to take samples of the material because, “they didn’t see anything that they thought would merit sampling.” He added that the department had no concerns about chemicals leaching from the soil into groundwater “based on the depth to groundwater.” His comment came in response to a question posed by Terchun at last week’s Town Board meeting.
The 45-acre property, which was purchased by Youngs Ave LLC in 2023, was formerly part of the Warner Nursery tree farm and was preserved for agricultural use through the town’s purchase of its development rights. It lies within the Agricultural Protection Zone, where composting is not a permitted principal use, but may be allowed if it is “customarily incidental” to agricultural production. Under the town code, agricultural property owners can import up to 3,000 cubic yards of material per year for composting without town approval or permits, and may apply to the Town Board to accept up to 10,000 cubic yards annually.
The property is permitted by the town for use as a tree farm, but no farming has taken place. DeFigueroa has hired Rich Sipala of Longwood Farms in Middle Island to farm the land, Losquadro previously said.
In August 2024, the town issued a stop-work order citing the dumping of garbage and other solid waste at the property. The stop work order was canceled after DeFigueroa received a use permit for the property in April. However, continued dumping without active farming led to further complaints from neighbors about odors and truck traffic, and the town issued another stop-work order on June 24, prohibiting additional material deliveries.
Soon after the June stop work order was posted, a Patriot Recycling truck carrying materials was seen entering the site.
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