Calverton tree farm operator pleads guilty to code violations over compost piles

A Calverton property owner charged with improperly storing compost at a 45-acre farm agreed to pay a $5,630 fine after pleading guilty to Riverhead Town code violations, town officials said.

Riverhead Town ordered Joseph DeFigueroa, who owns Youngs Avenue LLC as well as the Oceanside-based Patriot Recycling facility, to remove thousands of yards of compost from the Youngs Avenue site earlier this fall.

The site had been the source of complaints from neighbors over foul odors, increased truck traffic and pests in the area.

DeFigueroa pleaded guilty to several town code violations on Dec. 16 in Riverhead's Justice Court, according to town Attorney Erik Howard. They included importing materials without a permit, storing excess material beyond agricultural use, two littering violations and a use permit violation. Each violation carried a $1,000 fine.

On top of that, an additional $630 in mandatory surcharges was added and that money will be routed to town funds for blight mitigation and water quality, Howard said. The company has until Dec. 26 to pay the fine, court officials said on Friday.

Riverhead code enforcement officers issued 11 tickets and posted a stop-work order at the property in late July.

DeFigueroa bought the site, a former tree nursery, in 2024 for $1.7 million. His attorney, Steven Losquadro of Rocky Point, previously told Newsday that he was storing organic material at the site to prepare for planting a new tree farm.

Losquadro did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.

Under Riverhead Town code, farms can import up to 3,000 cubic yards of organic material annually. Town officials said the property was not actively operating as a tree farm, a requirement for hauling in the compost.

Though the state Department of Environmental Conservation had estimated the amount of stockpiled compost at about 3,000 cubic yards, Howard said there were about 6,600 yards of material stored at the site.

Howard said the material was removed by Oct. 24. The town’s environmental consultant, Jeffrey Seeman, conducted a walk-through of the property to ensure they “didn’t leave behind anything that would raise concerns as to anything leaching into the soils from the piles,” Howard said.

Under an agreement between the town and Youngs Avenue LLC, DeFigueroa is also responsible for paying $1,650 for Seeman’s services.

Residents lodged complaints over dust and odor but were deeply concerned about the material’s composition and called for testing.

Howard said the Suffolk County Department of Health Services collected samples of the materials. A health department spokeswoman did not respond to a Newsday inquiry about the results on Friday.

Several charges, including an alleged violation of a stop-work order, were dismissed due to cooperation from the defendant, Howard said.

“We addressed the resident concerns by having the material removed and eliminating that nuisance,” he said on Friday. “And through Justice Court, we accomplished imposing an appropriate penalty."

Toqui Terchun, president of the Greater Calverton Civic Association, said she had hoped to see steeper penalties.

“I wanted to see a lot more money charged to them," she said in an interview Friday evening. She noted that the company "disregarded us and made us fight for our lives to prove it. And that angers me.”