Planning Board requests environmental impact study for proposed Calverton facility

The Riverhead Planning Board last Thursday identified a number of issues it wants Breezy Hill Group VI, LLC to investigate in an environmental impact study of its proposal for an asphalt and concrete crushing and screening facility in Calverton.

The Planning Board displayed two aerial photos at the session, showing the site in 2016 and again in 2019, where significant clearing had been done without permits, according to officials. The facility would be built on 6.68 acres at 1792 Middle Road.

Breezy Hill Group VI is owned by a group that includes Sam Stasi of Syosset, according to the application. No one representing the applicant spoke at the session.

The scoping session conducted last Thursday was solely for the purpose of suggesting areas that speakers feel the applicant should study in a draft environmental impact statement of the project.

The Planning Board last May ruled that “the proposed action may have a significant potential adverse impact on the health, welfare and the environment.”

Its reasons for that conclusion included “potential threats to the groundwater supply in the area, where public water” is not available.

In addition, it listed “the potential increase of heavy industrial traffic in residential and rural neighborhoods; the potential for this traffic to degrade existing roadways and infrastructure; the potential to increase noise; and “as a result of illegal land clearing by the applicant, the use has the potential to crease significant adverse visual impacts to neighboring residential properties.”

Other issues identified by the town included impact to groundwater, dust impacts and removal of agricultural soil.

Speakers at the scoping session suggested the study should also explore impacts on property values,  community character and wildlife.

“I don’t want to have to move,” said resident Deborah Goroleski. 

“There is a history of contaminated debris being dumped in Suffolk County,” Sharon Dunigan of Calverton wrote in a letter to the board. 

Planning Board chair Stan Carey noted that private wells in the area were tested in June and many showed signs of contamination above drinking water standards. However, Mr. Carey was careful not to suggest this was related to the Breezy Hill application, and said the state Department of Environmental Conservation will be undertaking a full investigation. 

The site currently has a single-family residence and residential accessory structures on it, according to the application. The residence will be converted to an office and an existing garage will be used for storage, the application states. A small man-made pool will be filled. 

The application will require site plan approval from the Planning Board, building and demolition permits from the building department, a county health department wastewater disposal permit and New York state solid waste management and material recovery facilities permits.