Patriot Recycling begins removal of stockpiles at Youngs Avenue

The removal of all debris dumped by Patriot Recycling at its Youngs Avenue site in Calverton has commenced.

Patriot Recycling must remove approximately 3,000 cubic yards of “unfinished/unscreened organic material” at the former Warner Nursery property within the next two weeks. Otherwise, they face immediate enforcement action, significant civil penalties, liquidated damages of $1,000 per day and potential Supreme Court action by Riverhead Town.

A stop work order issued in June ordered Youngs Avenue LLC to cease operation of its dump site after residents complained of an overwhelming odor spreading through their neighborhood. In the stipulation and temporary operations agreement for this one-time removal at 363 Youngs Ave., Riverhead Town granted a limited authorization for Patriot Recycling to use necessary machinery and personnel to solely remove the existing, unfinished materials from the premises.

However, this authorization does not allow Patriot Recycling to continue any ongoing mulching or other operations on the property. No new material can be taken in either, according to the stipulation.

Owner Joseph DeFigueroa signed the stipulation requiring he transport all the materials at Youngs Avenue to a “facility duly licensed or permitted by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation or another governmental authority with jurisdiction to accept such material for lawful disposal or recycling.”

As of Tuesday, Riverhead Town Attorney Erik Howard said in an email the location where the materials are being transported to will not be confirmed until carting tickets are produced.

“It is my understanding that the material will be going to licensed facilities in Cutchogue and/or Yaphank and some of the material will go back to Mr. DeFigueroa’s facility in Oceanside,” Mr. Howard wrote.

He added that nearly 700 cubic yards of material was removed from the site before noon on Monday, Sept. 22. Problems with the on-site payloader prevented activity to continue that afternoon. Mr. DeFigueroa’s personnel attempted to repair the payloader, but no activity took place at the site on Tuesday, Sept. 23.

All removal activities and outbound trucking will happen Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Trucks will use the haul route exiting the property along Youngs Avenue to the end of Osborne Avenue, then transport materials southbound to County Route 58 and westbound on I-495.

Mr. DeFigueroa and other personnel must keep a daily activity log, record of weight tickets, scale slips and other receipts from each truckload of material leaving the site. A running summary of the total volumes removed must also be tracked.

Jeffrey Seeman, the town’s environmental consultant, is the designated monitor of the removal. In this liaison role, he is responsible for on-site visits, observing the removal activities, providing progress updates and raising any concerns to the town attorney’s office. He is also charged with reviewing the carting tickets for the transfer to other facilities. The stipulation agreement stated Mr. Seeman will be paid $1,650 total for 10 hours of monitoring work.

If the operator fails to remove all materials in the allotted window, the town may step in and complete the task. All costs of this would fall on the operator and recoverable as a debt by Riverhead Town.