Stop work order issued to Youngs Avenue dump site 

Just a week after Calverton residents expressed concerns of an overwhelming odor reeking through their neighborhood, a stop work order was issued to the owner of the former Warner Nursery property on Youngs Avenue to cease operation of its dump site. 

The Youngs Avenue property is owned by Youngs Avenue, LLC, which is run by Joseph DeFigueroa. Mr. DeFigueroa also owns the Oceanside-based waste-recycling facility and transfer station, Patriot Recycling LLC. 

The stop work order posted on Tuesday morning by Riverhead Town code enforcement stated violations of town codes 301 and 229 for the alleged “use of the property as a storage facility for mulch/yard waste with no active farming being done.”

In the official order, the town indicated work may only resume on the property once the owner acquires all the necessary permits from the Riverhead Building Department, all applicable certificates of occupancies are obtained, and all other required approvals are received from other municipalities or agencies that have jurisdiction in the operation. 

Over the last several weeks, before the recent fire occurred at the nearby Crown Recycling Facility, Calverton residents who live near the Youngs Avenue property said there has been a lingering, overwhelming stench in the area due to continuous dumping of unknown materials on the Youngs Avenue property by Patriot Recycling trucks.

Up to eight trucks have lined the road outside Bob and Carolyn Hering’s house each day since May, the couple said, and have idled as early as 6 a.m. Residing right next to the dump site, the couple’s property is just a few feet away from large mulch piles — significant loads mixed with plastic and garbage, Mr. Hering said. 

With each truck passing by or pile dumped, dust filled the air, and unpredictable winds kicked it up even more, Ms. Hering said. The smell of the diesel fuel from the trucks is also potent, she added. The couple said the mix of smells has been “so horrific” at times, they can’t even sit in their backyard or keep their windows open.

Aside from experiencing headaches from breathing in the air, Mr. Hering said even the health of his livestock has been affected. One of his horses suffered a gash in its leg after being spooked by one of the Patriot trucks driving along his property line. 

“In my 30 years of living there, I’ve never had to experience what’s going on right now,” Mr. Hering said. “Calverton ain’t a dumping site no more … This is farmland — it’s open space, it’s about preserving farmland. If [the town] allows this to go on, every piece of farmland out east is vulnerable to what is going on right next to my house.”  

Steven Aupperle of Calverton first brought the matter to the attention of Riverhead Town officials at a town board meeting on Tuesday, June 17, where he and several other residents spoke about their unease about impacts the dumping potentially has to air and water quality, road safety, fire hazards, health risks and chemical exposure. 

“My wife hasn’t been feeling well since the dumping began several weeks ago. She wakes up with nosebleeds, often has sinus issues, and this happens every morning that the trucks are active,” Mr. Aupperle said. “Unfortunately, it has a terrible chemical scent that wafts over our neighborhood when the wind is in our direction, and it makes going outside impossible — making us feel ill, and ultimately, not really making life any easier for any of us.”

Another homeowner who lives near the site, Mike Maresca, said the toxic fumes caused headaches in his household, he said. His young granddaughter who suffers from cystic fibrosis had to be removed from his home and underwent emergency treatments. Katie Brienza, who lives six houses down from the dumping site, said her six-year-old grandson has experienced two nosebleeds in the last two weeks. 

“How much longer can we live with the stench,” Ms. Brienza said. “This is not good, it’s not safe for any reason at all, and the piles of dirt or solid waste that falls off the trucks, it stays in the streets. It’s not fair. It is a beautiful community that we live in, and we would like to keep it that way, not being forced to smell all this.”

Located within Riverhead Town’s agricultural protection zone, the 47-acre property with its development rights already sold was purchased by Mr. DeFigueroa in July 2024 for $1.7 million. Erik Howard, town attorney, said the first stop work order permit was issued to Patriot Recycling on Aug. 8, 2024. 

In February this year, Mr. Howard said at the town board meeting the owner applied to establish a tree farm use, which was processed due to the land being “a use as of right at the property,” and the permit was issued to Youngs Avenue LLC on April 24, 2025. With their application, they submitted a letter from a tree farmer, Ironwood LI Farms, Inc., which stated Mr. DeFigueroa intended to reestablish the tree farm use at this property. 

“The permit has been issued to the property for less than two months at this point, in this situation, you have to let them, for a lack of a better explanation, hang themselves — they have to exceed the scope of the use before we can take action on it,” Mr. Howard said at the town board meeting. “[It’s like] suing someone for having a boarding house in a residential neighborhood before they’ve actually done it, just because we think they’re going to do it. We need them to actually violate the terms of their use permit first.” 

Representatives of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation visited the property a couple of weeks ago, Mr. Howard and residents confirmed, to check the property owner’s compliance with its Part 361 permit, which is required by the NYSDEC if a facility accepts more than 3,000 cubic yards per year of yard trimmings. 

Before the stop work order was issued, Mr. Howard assured the crowd at the meeting the town attorney’s office had been working with code enforcement on this issue and monitoring the property. 

“When it becomes apparent that they are exceeding the scope of the use from everything that’s been said tonight, I don’t have any reason to not believe that they are once we’ve gathered adequate information, evidence … If there comes a time that I would recommend litigation or justice court violations — most likely litigation in this instance — I’ll make that recommendation to the town board,” Mr. Howard said. 

Later in the afternoon, around 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Ms. Hering said she witnessed a Patriot Recycling truck pull up to the property and the driver approaching the stop work order posted on the gate. She said the driver went back to the truck, and got his phone to take a photo of the post. After a few minutes sitting in his truck, he opened the gate and entered the property. 

Riverhead Town Police and code enforcement arrived on the scene shortly after the violation of the stop work order took place. Nicole Buckner, the town investigator who responded to the call, assured residents the town is “100%” working with them to rectify the situation.  

“We don’t want anybody here suffering,” Ms. Buckner said.