Deerpark Quarry Debris Tumbles and Bleeds Unchallenged, Neighbor Finds
Falling debris, stream contamination, lost foliage and tree removal trouble resident below, frustrated by town officials' inaction
By David Ofshinsky
When Jon Miuta purchased 8.5-acres in Deerpark on Lime Kiln Rd. in February 2000, it was his little slice of paradise. Nicknamed the Ponderosa, it was an upstate getaway from his Garden City, Long Island home. Nestled below US Rt. 6 by a steep, wooded hillside, a babbling brook flowed into a small pond near a cozy cabin. “That was going to be a big doll house for the grandkids,” he smiled. “But now I don’t know.”
Miuta’s concerns about the future of his property began about four years ago. Quarry Management Holdings, LLC., began operations around 2020 on the hillside above, at 131 US Rt. 6. In 2019, Quarry Management representatives explained plans for the site’s future activities to the Deerpark Planning Board as trucking hub and storage for the crushed stone mined at its Lackawaxen, PA, quarry. Today, a massive mountain of crushed demolition debris towers over the valley, and has transformed the lush hillside into a barren moonscape.
More than just the view worries Miuta.
“Look at this,” he said, pointing to the reddish-orange, oily water seeping into a puddle on his property. “What is this? They take rock and big boulders from their quarry to Long Island. Then the trucks are filled with demolition debris in New York City and dumped here. That way they can have a profitable return trip. God only knows what’s in that stuff.”
The seepage has also turned a section of his property into a swamp.
“It used to be a nice lawn”, he lamented. “Now I can’t mow it because the mower sinks into the soggy soil.”
The water then drains off his property into the brook, a tributary of the Neversink River, and then into the Delaware.
Miuta has been frustrated in his attempts to get anybody to do anything about the problems. In March 2023, he contacted the Deerpark Building Department after trees on his property were cut down. Deerpark officials came and looked, and he was told the trees would be replaced, but that hasn’t happened.
In May 2023, heavy rains compromised the walls of a detention pond, possibly because the drainage system was poorly designed and/or installed. Water and debris flowed onto his property. Representatives of Fusco Engineering, the contracted building inspector for Deerpark, visited the site, along with representatives of Fuller Engineering, Quarry Management’s design and supervising engineer. They gave the contractor instructions on repairing the problem and asked that the debris be cleaned up.
But the repaired area of the pond wall now oozes the aforementioned reddish-orange oily water onto his property. The large earth-moving equipment that Quarry Management used to push the debris just beyond his property line did further damage to his lawn. His efforts to get a response from those involved have not been successful.
His legal efforts, Muita wonders, are perhaps stymied by who is involved at the local level. “I’ve tried talking to local attorneys, but when they hear of Arthur Trovei’s connection to the project, they go ‘oh’ and then back off and never call me back.”
Arthur Trovei, a Deerpark councilman, sold the property to Quarry Management. Muita supposes the presence of Trovei, and his attorney, Glen Plotsky, Esq., who also represents Deerpark, its Building Department and Planning Board, might be viewed as threatening and intimidating by the other attorneys.
For now, Miuta tries to enjoy the property. He wants to stay there and hopes that the publicity will bring positive changes. Several neighbors have given up and sold their properties to Quarry Management. “It was such a beautiful place,” he sighed. “Now look at it. What a shame.”
Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) inquires have been made to the Town of Deerpark Planning Board and Building Department, along with the NY Department of Environmental Conservation for more information on this situation. No responses have been received at this time.
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Mr. Miuta should contact an environmental law firm in White Plains or NYC.
That mountain of dirt is a disaster waiting to happen. it's going to cause a mud slide that'll get someone killed