Crucial Information Missing About Quarry Management Dirt
Required inspection information is elusive.
By David Ofshinsky
While it’s hard to miss the mountains of fill at Quarry Management’s Rt. 6 site in Deerpark, documentation on the source and nature of it is elusive.
At the June 25 Deerpark Planning Board meeting, John Fuller, Quarry Management’s engineer for the project, stated that documentation regarding the fill was available.
On July 14, an email inquiring about the availability of the fill documentation for inspection was sent to Fuller, the Deerpark Building Department, and Albert Fusco, whose firm is contracted by Deerpark to oversee the Building Department.
The Deerpark Building Department promptly replied that it could be obtained with a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request to the Town Clerk’s Office. A FOIL request was filed the next day.
On July 24, the Building Department responded to the FOIL request with “There is (sic) no documents related to your request to inspect.”
On the evening of July 25, Fuller’s emailed reply stated “We will be submitting paperwork on this matter in our next response. Please contact Steve Caruso at Quarry Mgmt.”
A July 28 email to Caruso, Quarry Management’s President, has not been responded to.
The requirements for the use of fill in New York are detailed in the New York Codes, Rules and Regulations (NYCRR).
6 NYCRR Part 360.13(f) delineates 5 types of fill by their content. They range from Fill Type 1- soil, sand, gravel, or rock that is generated outside of New York City, that has no evidence of historical contamination, to Fill Type 5, which contains a significant amount of contamination.
Aside from Fill Type 1, testing is required of all the other fill types. Samples are required to be analyzed by a laboratory certified by the New York State Department of Health’s Environmental Laboratory Approval Program.
A large amount of what appears to be Fill Type 3, which is defined as “soil, sand, gravel, and de minimis amounts of brick, concrete, or asphalt” was observed at the Quarry Management site. Therefore, records on the testing of it should exist.
In a transcript of a conference call provided by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), the obligations for monitoring the fill at the site were set forth.
During the 10/26/22 call, Lee E. Reiff, of DEC, advised Albert Fusco, representing the Deerpark Building Department, and John Fuller, representing Quarry Management, that all monitoring and compliance with 6 NYCRR Part 360.13(f) was the responsibility of Deerpark, as it had issued the permits for the project.
Given the Town’s responsibility for this, why the Building Department has no records on it is unclear.
A FOIL request has been submitted to NYS DEC requesting any information it has on the fill used at the site. A separate inquiry was made to NYS DEC regarding the Town’s compliance with its responsibilities for this project.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
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