Litigation aims to stop Yaphank waste transfer station, distribution center

Gina Liles lives close to the Yaphank site where a carting company wants to build a waste processing plant to truck in thousands of tons of construction trash every day.

It would be another large industrial project in a neighborhood that's home to the Brookhaven Rail Terminal, a sprawling freight and sand mining facility the mother of two said causes her home to shudder with frequent vibrations. 

“It's impacting our livelihood; it's going to impact our health, and you can’t guarantee that it won’t,” Liles, a 44-year-old office worker, said about a proposed site expansion.

On Monday, Liles was part of a complaint filed in State Supreme Court in Suffolk County by Farmingdale nonprofit Citizens Campaign for the Environment, the state NAACP and other Yaphank residents who oppose more development at the 350-acre industrial site on the southeast corner of Sills Road by the Long Island Expressway.

The complaint — a legal challenge of a government action known as an Article 78 petition — seeks to throw out a pair of decisions the Brookhaven Town Board made March 30. The board voted 6-0 to approve the addition of a 1.2 million-square-foot distribution center to the property.

The complaint alleges board members erred by relying on a 2017 property site plan that is outdated because it doesn't include the distribution center, to be called Long Island Rail Terminal, or a proposed 6,000-tons-per-day solid waste transfer station.

The petitioners said in court papers that the board's votes effectively cleared a path for eventual approval of the transfer station, which has drawn opposition from the NAACP and area residents. The approvals also effectively allowed an additional connection to the Long Island Rail Road, they alleged.

Brookhaven officials have touted the transfer station as a partial solution to a waste management crisis that looms as they prepare to close the town landfill within two years. 

The waste station and warehouse projects are joint efforts of West Babylon-based Winters Bros. Waste Systems and NorthPoint Development, a real estate and industrial development company based in Kansas City, Missouri.

The NAACP contends the transfer station, which would be about three miles from the landfill, would cause health problems for area residents.

In the new litigation, project opponents said adding the waste plant and distribution center “jeopardizes the health, safety, and welfare of the neighboring residents and the surrounding communities.”

The complaint also alleges further site development could cause excessive noise, vibrations, odors, dust and debris, along with exposure to toxic materials and other contaminants.

Liles predicted "hundreds of additional rail cars coming past our house every single day" with such an expansion.  

Brookhaven NAACP chapter president Georgette Grier-Key said the risks associated with the project add up to an attack on communities of color.

“Not only are you attacking our health, you're also attacking our economic freedom to be able to resell our house in an area that has been deemed the dumping ground for the region,” she said.

Brookhaven spokesman Jack Krieger said the town doesn't comment on litigation. Peter Curry, an attorney for the distribution center, said he wasn't aware of the lawsuit. A NorthPoint Development spokesman didn't return requests for comment.

Winters Bros. hasn't submitted formal plans to the town for the waste transfer station, the company said.

Company officials previously said the station, which would move baled construction and demolition debris by rail to landfills off Long Island, would benefit the environment by erasing the need for hundreds of weekly truck trips.

"We have not seen the legal filing," Winters Bros. spokesman Will Flower said. "However, we can't understand why anyone would be opposed to a project that improves air quality, allows for the smooth closure of the Brookhaven landfill and provides a real and sustainable solution to Long Island's waste crisis."

The Yaphank property has been mired in legal disputes since 2014.

That year, the town sued Brookhaven Rail Terminal over the company’s plans for a sand excavation and rail-based shipping facility on a 93-acre site portion.

Brookhaven Rail Terminal claimed it was exempt from town zoning reviews, saying only the federal Surface Transportation Board, which reviews commercial rail projects, could approve or reject the plan.

The town and rail terminal reached a settlement in 2016 that granted most approval powers to the federal agency and limited the town’s role to reviewing the environmental impact of site development. The rail terminal opened in 2016.

In 2017, the town adopted a site plan to guide future development. It didn't include the distribution center and waste transfer station proposals, according to the litigation.

For Liles, moving away isn't a possibility because of reasons that include financial considerations. But she said the risk to her family's health is always present.

“It's not as easy to pick up and leave,” the Yaphank resident said. “There are a lot of things that go into it and a lot of things we have to consider.”