2 fined for dumping construction debris in Hauppauge

State officials have fined two Suffolk County men $50,000 for dumping construction debris at a Hauppauge property and illegally mining sand from an adjacent state Department of Transportation right of way.

Department of Environmental Conservation regional director Peter Scully called the violations at 25 Newton Place a classic example of "scoop and fill" - when people illegally mine sand for sale to the construction trade, then fill in the hole with demolition debris that should be disposed of in regulated landfills.

The 3-acre property south of the Long Island Expressway belongs to Exit 55 Construction Corp., a real estate holding company headed by Perry Stuart of Smithtown. A tenant, Tom Datre of Ronkonkoma, leases space to park his construction equipment. Long Island Limousine, another of Stuart's companies, also has an office there.

Stuart and Datre were fined by the state.

DEC officials first visited the site in May 2008 and found piles of old tires. When they returned a month later, they found that 20,000 cubic yards of sand had been scooped out from DOT land just north of the property.

Officials said another 10,000 cubic yards of debris - including drywall, roofing and tile - had been dumped there, along with tree and yard waste.

"What made this case particularly noteworthy was the brazenness of the people involved in mining on state-owned property," Scully said.

Stuart said he hired Datre to clear scrub from the property and had no knowledge of any illegal activities.

"Apparently, Tommy subcontracted to somebody else, and DEC said that other contractor did what they call mining," Stuart said. "He dug into the side of the wall and got sand."

Datre also blamed another unnamed contractor, saying, "I got caught in the crossfire."

The DEC reached a consent order with Datre and Stuart last month. They paid $20,000 at that time; the rest is to be paid in installments over the next three months. The men have agreed to clean up the mess, restore the mined DOT land and excavate test pits to determine how much debris was buried."Truthfully, I've got nothing to do with it," Stuart said. "But as far as business sense, I've got to clean it up anyway."