The Town of Oyster Bay and the owners of a property that straddles the town boundary with Huntington are going to trial to determine the destiny of a stinky mountain of wood chips.
The 18-acre property has drawn the ire of residents in both municipalities because of the stench of decomposition wafting from the pile.
The owners of the property, Wayne and John Dougal, pleaded not guilty last week to Oyster Bay's charges of not maintaining the property, operating a business in a residential zone and having wood logs and commercial trash bins in a residential zone.
On Friday, Oyster Bay served the Dougals' company, Big Dougs Enterprises, with a cease-and-desist order to get the property owners to stop manufacturing wood chips, said Oyster Bay spokeswoman Phyllis Barry. An inspector is expected to return to the site today to see if they are in compliance, she said.
From now until the trial commences at Nassau County Supreme Court - a date has not been set - Barry said town officials will be working to get the Dougals to meet town regulations.
"We're not looking to go to trial. We want compliance," she said.
Wayne Dougal said yesterday that he and his brother divided the property, on Jericho Turnpike, and the pile is located on his brother's portion. John Dougal could not be reached to comment.
Deputy Town Attorney Thomas Sabellico said one option would be for the owners to move the pile to the Huntington side of the property.
"We wouldn't have jurisdiction over it then," Sabellico said.
But Bruce Richard, Huntington's director of Public Safety, said that having the wood chips on Huntington's portion of the property would also be against his town's code.
"If they should move it into Huntington we would pursue legal action [against the owners] to the fullest extent of the law," Richard said.
The Dougals were also due to appear before Huntington's Zoning Board of Appeals earlier this month to address the status of some structures on the property, but the meeting was adjourned until April 23 because the state wants to conduct an archaeological study of the property, he said.
"Because of the location and size of the plot there may be something of archaeological value on the property," Richard said.
