The owner of the Youngs Avenue site where organic materials have been stockpiled by a Nassau County waste management company has agreed to remove the materials over a two -week period beginning Monday.
Joseph DeFigueroa, owner of both Patriot Recycling and Youngs Avenue LLC, the company that purchased 45 acres of preserved farmland off Youngs Avenue in Calverton, has signed a stipulation with the Town of Riverhead requiring the removal of the approximately 3,000 cubic yards of materials from the site, Riverhead Town Supervisor Tim Hubbard announced Friday afternoon.
The stipulation between Patriot and the town requires the company to pay upfront the $1,650 cost of environmental consultant Jeffrey Seeman, hired by the town at $165 per hour to monitor the removal activity.
Patriot is prohibited by the terms of the agreement from bringing any other materials onto the site.
The owner said removal of the material will begin on Monday, Sept. 22, (weather permitting) and will take several days to complete, according to the press release. The agreement requires removal of stockpiled materials to be completed within 14 days from the commencement of removal.
The stipulation states that it does not settle any of the outstanding tickets now pending in Riverhead Justice Court, which were issued for alleged town code violations. Patriot in the stipulation acknowledges the alleged violations. The town will pursue disposition of the violations, including applicable penalties, in Justice Court, according to the stipulation.
The stipulation also does not prevent the town from issuing additional tickets for future alleged violations or pursuing other remedies including an injunction, as it deems necessary.
Seeman said in a phone interview this afternoon that the site owner will be required to bring the materials from the Youngs Avenue site to a facility approved for receiving the materials and that it will be required to produce evidence, such as signed receipts, that they were received at the specified destination.
The stipulation references an attached exhibit C which it says identifies facilities where the materials will be brought. The exhibit was not attached to the stipulation document released by Town Attorney Erik Howard this afternoon, following the press release being issued by the supervisor. Howard could not immediately be reached for additional information and has not replied to an email seeking that information.
Seeman said the distance between the Youngs Avenue site and the receiving destination will factor into how long the removal process will take. The number of trucks available to the site owner will also be a factor. The tractor-trailer trucks used for materials hauling would hold about 30 yards of the type of unfinished materials stockpiled at the site. If there are 3,000 yards on site, that will require 100 truck trips, Seeman said.
The stipulation requires the trucks to use Youngs Avenue eastbound to Osborn, then travel on Osborn to County Road 58 and then westbound on County Road 58 to the Long Island Expressway westbound entrance ramp. Removal will take place Monday-Friday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., the agreement says.
The materials stockpiled at the Youngs Avenue were inventoried by the DEC and detailed in a DEC report dated Aug. 8, according to the stipulation. It states that the DEC’s Aug. 8 report is attached to the stipulation as exhibit A, but it was not attached to the document provided by the town attorney.
The stipulation does not address the ultimate fate of the Youngs Avenue farmland. Patriot Recycling owner DeFigueroa’s limited liability company purchased the farmland in 2023. The 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.
DeFigueroa hired Rich Sipala of Longwood Farms in Middle Island to farm the land, according to his attorney, Steven Losquadro. Sipala confirmed in an interview in June that he would operate the farm and said he expected to begin work there in August. Sipala said his first step would be mowing the fields, which are overgrown with tall grasses, though trees and shrubs planted by Warner Nursery are still in place. See prior story. No such work got underway.
The property remains under a stop-work order issued by the town on June 24.
Riverhead Town at first said no additional materials could be brought to the site until agricultural activities resumed there, since, under the town code, the right to produce mulch on agriculturally zoned lands depends on agricultural activity taking place there. At the time, the town expected the company to begin that activity. In July, the town attorney said Riverhead was awaiting a detailed plan for agricultural production on the property. Meanwhile, the town had ordered the owner to immediately cease bringing materials to the site “in the absence of agricultural production.”
But on Aug. 29, following a July 30 site inspection by town code enforcement officers, state DEC and county health department inspectors, the town ordered the property owner to remove “all mulch, wood debris, and any related stockpiled material from the property” by Sept. 29.
The tickets alleging town code violations were on the Justice Court calendar Sept. 9. The matters were adjourned until Oct. 7.
Enforcement action by the town began after nearby residents complained about odors emanating from the site.
More coverage: From trees to trash? Odors, complaints follow composting move to Calverton
The survival of local journalism depends on your support.
We are a small family-owned operation. You rely on us to stay informed, and we depend on you to make our work possible. Just a few dollars can help us continue to bring this important service to our community.
Support RiverheadLOCAL today.
