{"id":3006,"date":"2019-09-27T21:37:46","date_gmt":"2019-09-28T01:37:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=3006"},"modified":"2019-09-27T21:38:04","modified_gmt":"2019-09-28T01:38:04","slug":"polk-county-again-cites-whs-visions-of-lakeland-llc-property-owners-of-bs-ranch-farm-inc-for-offensive-odors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2019\/09\/27\/polk-county-again-cites-whs-visions-of-lakeland-llc-property-owners-of-bs-ranch-farm-inc-for-offensive-odors\/","title":{"rendered":"Polk County again cites WHS Visions of Lakeland LLC property owners of BS Ranch &#038; Farm, Inc for offensive odors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"bs ranch and farm failed berm rebuild\" width=\"1110\" height=\"624\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/l3J6jUp8ADk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">County officials are bringing BS Ranch &amp; Farm, an east\nLakeland biosolid waste recycling facility, to court for allegedly producing\noffensive odors wafting through the community. But it could get very serious\nbecause The Lakeland Gazette has learned that the CDC is sending an inspector\nto the site and so is the Florida Health Department. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Polk County officials are currently bringing BS Ranch &amp;\nFarm, back to court nine months after striking an uneasy treaty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Autumn Fenton, the county\u2019s code enforcement director, said\na notice of violation was issued against BS Ranch on Sept. 19. Polk inspectors\nconfirmed \u201cobjectional off-site odors\u201d in the community were emanating from the\nfacility on four different days between Sept. 9 and 14, according to Fenton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The rank odor has been described as the \u201csmell of raw\nsewage\u201d or \u201cpossible rotten food products\u201d in code enforcement officials\u2019\nreports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;\u201cWe\u2019ve received at\nleast a dozen complaints in the last six days, more than a dozen,\u201d Fenton said.\u201d\nIt\u2019s like we\u2019re being flooded with complaints.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"bs ranch and farm septic dumping without filter\" width=\"1110\" height=\"624\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bqQ_m-lJCC4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The county was entangled in a lengthy legal battle with\u00a0BS Ranch\u00a0in 2018 over offensive odors allegedly caused by the facility\u2019s operations. The facility reprocesses human waste, mulch, and out-of-date food products into organic agricultural products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under a&nbsp;December 2018 compromise, BS Ranch was allowed\nto continue operating under stricter oversight with a new site plan. Part of\nthe agreement was the facility would be found in violation of its conditional\nuse permit if more than eight \u201cverified legitimate complaints\u201d occurred over a\nthree-month period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2400\" height=\"1632\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2400px) 100vw, 2400px\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/AR-181208726.jpg?fit=1024%2C696&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3007\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/AR-181208726.jpg 2400w, https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/AR-181208726-300x204.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/AR-181208726-768x522.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/AR-181208726-1024x696.jpg 1024w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Patrice Boyes, a Gainesville-based lawyer for&nbsp;BS Ranch\n&amp; Farm, said the owners, Bill and Brandy Stanton, have not received any\nnotice of the alleged violation from Polk County as of Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is a witch hunt prompted by one or two disgruntled\nbusiness owners for reasons unknown to us,\u201d she said. \u201cThe allegations are\nunfounded. People are relying on social media and other unsubstantiated sources\nto accuse and harass my client.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Boyes said she thinks the odors are coming from a neighboring\nbusiness, Village Water, located on Maine Avenue. The water treatment plant\nnotified Florida Department of Environmental Protection it planned to release\ntreated wastewater from its holding ponds onto the ground to prepare for the\nheavy rainfall predicted in advance of Hurricane Dorian. This would have\nprevented the plant\u2019s ponds from possibly overflowing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf you ever opened a baby diaper and have dealt with that\nmaterial, you recognize that smell,\u201d Boyes said. \u201cIt lingers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Matt Rihs, a community services supervisor for Florida Governmental Utility Services, said 120,000 gallons of treated wastewater mixed with rainwater were discharged into a wooded area Aug. 30 through Sept. 9. Rihs denied that it would have created the odor cited by Polk County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe are aware of those odor concerns,\u201d he said. \u201cThe odor\nconcerns in the area are coming from the composting site.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fenton said Polk County received no complaints about the odor when the wastewater plant\u2019s discharge was ongoing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThat does not have anything to do with it or persuade us in\nany way,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fenton said when Polk County inspectors go out to\ninvestigate an odor complaint, they are tasked with identifying which direction\nthe wind is blowing. In recent weeks, she said, the wind has been coming out of\nthe east or northeast at speeds from 8 to 20 mph. This is inconsistent with the\nlocation of the wastewater plant compared to the complaints received, according\nto Fenton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">BS Ranch also faces&nbsp;a lawsuit from FDEP&nbsp;as the\nstate has alleged the company has failed to fix persistent odor issues after\nnumerous warnings. Pretrial proceedings on the case were held at the Polk\nCounty Courthouse in Bartow on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The county\u2019s case against BS Ranch will be heard at a\nspecial hearing Oct. 17.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe are looking forward to the hearing and to having a\ndecision based on the evidence, not on fear and theory,\u201d Boyes said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>County officials are bringing BS Ranch &amp; Farm, an east Lakeland biosolid waste recycling facility, to court for allegedly producing offensive odors wafting through the community. But it could get&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2951,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}