Fill dirt dispute soils neighborly relations

A North Salem resident is demanding $1 million from a neighbor and his landscaping company for allegedly dumping contaminated dirt on his property.

Thomas DiMaio claims that Frank Castelli broke a verbal deal to deliver clean fill for a backyard garden and playground, in a complaint filed March 19 in Westchester Supreme Court.

Castelli and Frank Castelli Inc. breached a contract when they “failed to perform the work in a workmanlike manner,” the complaint states, and instead “delivered and provided contaminated …. fill” to the DiMaio property.”

Castelli did not reply to a message asking for his side of the story.

DiMaio lives in a 3-bedroom house on a 1.1-acre plot on Whittier Hills Road that he bought in 2017 for $280,000.

Castelli and Julia K. Lorusso moved in next door into a 4-bedroom house on a 0.98-acre lot that Lorusso bought in 2020 for $465,000.

Frank Castelli Inc. operates as F. Castelli Landscape Contractors in Yorktown Heights.

In Spring 2021, the complaint states, Castelli proposed trucking in fill and leveling DiMaio’s backyard. DiMaio says he liked the idea of creating an area for a garden and a playground for his grandchildren.

Castelli repeatedly assured DiMaio that he would deliver clean fill approved by the state Department of Environmental Conservation, according to the complaint.

DeMaio describes the arrangement as a verbal agreement. In exchange for clean fill he would apply his carpentry skills on his neighbor’s property.

Castelli’s landscaping company purportedly trucked in 35 loads totaling 610 cubic yards of fill.

In 2022, a North Salem building inspector stopped work on both properties and demanded proof that the fill was clean, the complaint states. The North Salem planning board demanded soil testing.

DiMaio says testing revealed contaminated fill on his property.

Castelli allegedly refused to clean it up, leaving DiMaio with an expensive remediation problem.

DiMaio also claims that his neighbors harassed him — installing cameras that were aimed at his house, pool and children’s play area; continuously screaming obscenities at him; shining bright lights on his land; creating dusty and smokey pit fires; and allowing their children to drive dune buggies that stirred up plumes of dust and debris — thus depriving him of “use and enjoyment of his own land.”

The behavior of his neighbors, DiMaio claims, “goes beyond simple annoyances.”

DiMaio, represented by Purchase attorney Gregory J. Tembeck, charged his neighbors with breach of contract, negligence, fraud, unjust enrichment, trespass, infliction of emotional distress, and creating a nuisance.