Judge David Reilly on Jan. 6 ruled that the Oak Hills roads are public roads subject to “state Highway Law 189,” and that 2015 Town Board resolutions passed by the board on this issue “are inconsistent with NYS Highway Law.”

“After six and a half years, and three separate related matters, we’re pleased to see that the court found in our favor, as we knew it would,” said David Antwork, the attorney for the the association. “It just took a long time and we’re glad we got a positive ruling that gives us the status of public highways by use, pursuant to New York State highway laws, and requiring the town to maintain those roads as such.”

The town has yet to decide if it will appeal. “The matter is being reviewed by the town attorney’s office and it’s possible that the board will be appealing the decision,” said Riverhead Supervisor Yvette Aguiar. 

The Oak Hills Association contains 85 homes and 12 roads and was founded in 1947. 

In October of 2014, then-Riverhead Highway Superintendent George Woodson sent a letter to Oak Hills Association members that the town would no longer maintain or remove snow from Oak Hills except in an emergency. Oak Hill residents were angered by the letter and argued that the town had maintained Oak Hills’ roads for many years, providing snow plowing, fixing pot holes and removing debris. 

Two months later, in December 2014, the Town Board held a public hearing to determine if Oak Hills roads had become “public roads by use” under state Highway law. In 2015, the Town Board amended its code to say that “public by use” is “any highway that has been utilized by the public for a period of 10 years of more  and over which the local authority has exercised some degree of control in the form of maintenance.”  

The Town Board declared all of the Oak Hill roads to be “Town of Riverhead 189 Highways,” referring to state highway law 189.

But the Oak Hills Association said that even after the town amended its rules in 2015, “it did not consistently plow snow or otherwise maintain OHA roadways.”  It also maintained that the town was responsible for numerous other services, such as maintaining catch basins, drainage and tree trimming, which was not being done.  In 2016, the OHA  filed a lawsuit against the town and the highway department and against the Town Board and its members individually. 

The lawsuit sought to have the Oak Hills roads declared public roads and requiring the town to not only remove snow but also to treat all OHA roads as public roads. The  judge also ruled that the OHA private beach shall remain private and was not made public by this decision.

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The Town Board and Highway Superintendent Mike Zaleski have agreed to a plan that will allow the highway department to collect loose leaves from the roadside for the remainder of 2022 and the entirety of 2023. 

The Town Board will pay for the leaf pickup through the general fund, rather than the highway department’s budget.

The debate over who should pay for leaf pickup goes back several years, as former highway superintendent George Woodson was involved in the same debate with the Town Board when he was in office. 

The two sides had agreed to seek an opinion from the state Attorney General’s office, which in turn contacted the state comptroller’s office. 

The comptroller’s office found a 1976 case involving Brookhaven Town that stated: “A town board may direct the highway department to collect on a regular basis leaves and brush placed on a town highway right of way by property owners, with the highway department’s expenses chargeable not to the highway fund, but to the general fund appropriation for refuse collection.”

The comptroller’s opinion states that the Riverhead Town Board “shall create general fund budget line(s) for expenses related to loose leaf pickup in the amount of $219,018.88 for the year 2022.” That was the number the town and Mr. Zaleski agreed was the annual cost of leaf pickup.

Problem solved? Not exactly. 

The Town Board said the $219,018 payment doesn’t begin until 2023, and Mr. Zaleski sought to use the funds during the remainder of 2022. 

An agreement reached before Tuesday’s Town Board meeting finally solved the dispute by transferring $194,100 from the general fund to the highway fund to cover the cost of leaf pickup for the rest of 2022.

The 2023 budget adopted this week by the Town Board for 2023 already includes funding for leaf pickup.

“They finally agreed to pay me the amount, so we can do leaf pickup in 2022,” Mr. Zaleski said Wednesday. 

“I’m allowing them to shave off the $25,000 that’s in the only leaf line in my budget,”he said. “I’m glad they finally came together and decided to do this. Now we can all just move on.” 

The $25,000 was in the department’s budget for paper leaf collection bags.

“I’m happy the Town Board is continuing this courtesy for the residents,” Mr. Zaleski said. “As far as my feelings? I’ve got leaves to pick up.”

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