Calverton property owners facing DEC violations for operating without permit

The Riverhead Planning Board is giving Breezy Hills Group IV until its December meeting to remove all solid waste material from its Middle Road property in Calverton, where it has proposed building an asphalt and concrete crushing and screening facility.

Town building and planning administrator Jefferson Murphree said Tuesday that Breezy Hills was already removing the material. Breezy Hills also will update its traffic study, which was originally done in the winter.

Luigi and Luisa Stasi, who own the property, are facing state Department of Environmental Conservation violations for operating a solid waste management facility there without a permit,for unauthorized disposal of solid waste and for violation of a consent order on the property that required them to cease unauthorized operations and to remove all waste from the site within 120 days from March 21, 2018.

Breezy Hills currently is seeking site plan approval for the asphalt and concrete crushing and screening facility on a 6.68-acre parcel at 1792 Middle Road in Calverton. 

However, town officials say they want the material that’s there illegally to be cleaned up first.

The Planning Board held a public hearing last Thursday on the draft environmental impact statement for the proposed site plan. That hearing was a continuation of one held open from Nov. 4. 

Jim Goroleski, who lives near Breezy Hills, said last Thursday, “I don’t have anything against the people involved except that what they’ve exhibited so far has seemed pretty much criminal.”

He added that “just because a neighborhood isn’t the best neighborhood doesn’t mean you have to condemn it and make it worse.”

Toqui Terchun, president of the Greater Calverton Civic Association, said too much industry has been proposed for Calverton. She suggested that the town look at this issue in its ongoing review of the comprehensive plan.

Former councilwoman Barbara Blass said she was happy to see that Breezy Hills was going to upgrade its traffic study to include the impacts of other projects. 

She suggested that Island Water Park be one of them, based on their representative’s statement at a recent IDA hearing that they expect up to 900,000 patrons per year. 

Phil Malicki, a consultant for Breezy Hills , said that if the board requires a traffic study with seasonal accounts in the summer, it would obviously take until the summer to complete. 

Mr. Murphree said traffic engineers can do computer simulations to make projections now, without waiting for seasonal changes. 

Mr. Malicki said they cannot work on the final environmental impact statement until the draft is closed and they have received written comments. 

“The problem for me is that this has been open for so long and you’ve had so many opportunities,” said Planning Board chair Joann Waski. “What can you give us within the next 15 days? All this time is passing and, for me, it’s too much. We need to wrap this up.”

Mr. Malicki said they could move forward on cleaning the site. 

“That’s been addressed by the DEC twice, two violations and nothing done,” said Planning Board member George Nunnaro. He said Mr. Malicki’s own estimates indicated the cleanup could be done in three or four days. 

Mr. Malicki said he would need three to four weeks.

The board agreed to give Breezy Hills until Dec. 16 to remove all solid waste material from their property.