2nd suit filed over Yaphank recycling

The Town of Brookhaven has filed a second lawsuit over contentious recycling operations in Yaphank -- this one aimed at a former sand mine where operators have been making gravel out of tunnel rock excavated from the East Side Access rail project.

The town is asking a state Supreme Court judge to shut down operations at 275A E. Main St., saying activities violate town code and are unsafe.

Compost, construction debris, wood chips and soil are also being processed there, according to affidavits from state and local inspectors.

The lawsuit was filed July 27 in state Supreme Court in Riverhead. A hearing is set for Sept. 16.

Some neighbors have complained about truck traffic, odors and noise from the site. The property is zoned for residential use and neither the landowner nor his tenants sought town approval for those operations or filed a site plan, the lawsuit says.

Deputy Town Attorney David Moran said the suit is aimed at protecting residents' health and safety. "Not just with respect to the truck traffic, but in case there's an accident at the site and emergency responders need to enter," he said.

The suit names landowner Randolph Froehlich and several tenants, including Frog Hollow Industries Holding Corp., which won state approval last year to run the site, and New York Dirt, a Mineola-based hauling company that until June 2010 was contracted to dispose of the tunnel rock.

Froehlich and his attorney could not be reached for comment Friday.

Peter Sullivan, a Manhattan attorney who represents New York Dirt and Frog Hollow, said the rock-grinding and truck traffic are consistent with the property's past use. The land was mined for sand until a few years ago.

"It's unfortunate that the town has consistently taken a confrontational approach," Sullivan said.

The property is one of two adjacent parcels at the center of a complicated dispute over the legality of mulch, topsoil and rock processing sites.

State law places few limits on such operations because they recycle material that would otherwise end up in landfills. But sometimes sites approved by the state conflict with local zoning laws and towns end up in court.

Last year, Brookhaven sued the owner and tenants of the parcel at 275 E. Main over mulching activities that it said violated its zoning laws. The case is ongoing.

In the new suit, the town also named a sanitation company that stored containers on the property, as well as two firms headed by Peter Suppa.

Suppa, who owns other Long Island mulching and landscaping businesses, bought 30 acres from Froehlich in March. Suppa said Friday that he had no plans yet for the site and is only storing wood chips there.