A human waste recycling facility in East Lakeland has to pay a fine after a special magistrate ruled that it violated the county code in 2019 because of its odor.
Polk County announced in a news release Wednesday that BS Ranch and Farm has to pay $11,000 “per day for each of eight days on which off-site odor violations were substantiated to be emanating from their property,” the county release reads.
The business can appeal the decision, and it has 10 days to notify the county of that intention.
Owners Bill and Brandy Stanton would not respond to comment by The Lakeland Gazette deadline.
But Bill and Brandy Stanton have threatened the Lakeland Gazette with a lawsuit for posting the truth about BS Ranch and Farm in the past.
Let’s get the facts straight —- The facility reprocesses human (shit) waste, mulch, and out-of-date food products into organic agricultural products. RIGHT?
Organic agricultural products?? —- it’s really not organic — it’s a biosolid which should never be used in planted crops for humans to eat. But we know that Bill and Brandy Stanton sold this biosolid concoction to strawberry farmers in and around Plant City.
BS Ranch and Farm produces this soil using fruits and vegetables, septage and sewage then generate money from selling the soil and accepting the waste using above-ground ponds with no liners.
There have been other biosolid plants in Polk County but not like BS Ranch and Farm.
In January 2019, when the county hit BS Ranch and Farm with a violation, their attorney said that the business had been treated unfairly.
“This is a witch hunt prompted by one or two disgruntled business owners for reasons unknown to us,” she said. “The allegations are unfounded. People are relying on social media and other unsubstantiated sources to accuse and harass my client.”
In 2017, Brandy Stanton told The Ledger that BS Ranch and Farm wasn’t the cause of every bad smell in the area.
“Now every time someone smells a smell they’re going to say it’s BS Ranch and Farm,” Stanton said.
Several residents of the Dawn Heights community, less than a half-mile from the business, say the stench continues to disrupt their quality of life.
“We can’t take it anymore,” James Wilson said. “You can’t even work in the yard. It’s horrible. The stink is so bad that I’ve thrown up.”
The Polk County Commission, in March 2017, voted 5-0 to seek a cease-and-desist order for the business.
The county was entangled in a lengthy legal battle with BS Ranch over the next year over the offensive odors allegedly caused by the facility’s operations.
Under a December 2018 compromise, BS Ranch was allowed to continue operating under stricter oversight with a new site plan. Part of the agreement was the facility would be found in violation of its conditional use permit if more than eight “verified legitimate complaints” occurred over a three-month period.
The business was hit with the code enforcement violation in December 2019, which was settled by a magistrate judge Wednesday.
BS Ranch was also slapped with a lawsuit from FDEP, as the state alleged the company has failed to fix persistent odor issues after numerous warnings. The state agency has also cited the company in the past for violating its permit.
BS Ranch and Farm in an FDEP consent order agreed to build a tented area over the dump ponds to control the odors over ten months ago and still has not done it.