{"id":5329,"date":"2019-12-26T17:41:26","date_gmt":"2019-12-26T22:41:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=5329"},"modified":"2019-12-26T17:41:50","modified_gmt":"2019-12-26T22:41:50","slug":"bs-ranch-and-farm-faces-a-code-enforcement-fine-of-up-to-600000","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2019\/12\/26\/bs-ranch-and-farm-faces-a-code-enforcement-fine-of-up-to-600000\/","title":{"rendered":"BS Ranch and Farm faces a code enforcement fine of up to $600,000"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">BS Ranch and Farm, a Lakeland human waste recycling\nfacility, faces a code enforcement fine of up to $600,000 as a nearly\n3-year-old legal fight with Polk County continues.<\/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 code enforcement case against BS Ranch and Farm, a waste\nrecycler in East Lakeland, may hinge on the acuity of investigator Robert\nPlavchak\u2019s nose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">BS Ranch and its parent company, WHS Visions of Lakeland\nLLC, face fines of up to $600,000 if Special Magistrate Tiffany Hawks\ndetermines Plavchak\u2019s nose knows. At issue is whether the recycling facility\nwas the source of an objectionable odor in the&nbsp;neighboring East Lakeland\nresidential area on eight dates in September and October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hawks held a Dec. 12 hearing to consider 15 code enforcement\nviolation notices Plavchak and the county issued against BS Ranch, which\noperates a facility that recycles human and food wastes and other organic\nmaterials into soil for agricultural use. Hawks gave the attorneys until last\nweek to submit their final arguments in the case after hearing more than two\nhours of Plavchak\u2019s testimony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The code enforcement investigator said all the notices arose\nafter he went to the East Lakeland neighborhood upon&nbsp;receiving complaints\nfrom residents about the distinctive odor attributed to BS Ranch. Plavchak\ntestified he tracked the scent back to the 300-acre BS Ranch property, which is\nzoned for industrial use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The current skirmish continues a nearly three-year battle\nbetween the county and BS Ranch over the odor issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The county first cited BS Ranch in March 2017 after\nreceiving many complaints from local residents&nbsp;since January, as The\nLedger reported. At the time, company President Brandy Stanton told The Ledger\nthat BS Ranch had been unfairly targeted as the source of every bad smell in\nthe area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In May 2017,&nbsp;Special Magistrate Nicholas Troiano ruled\nagainst the county\u2019s code enforcement actions&nbsp;because it could not prove\nthe objectionable odors came from BS Ranch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That summer, the county commission changed its land use laws\nin a way that would have prevented BS Ranch and similar operations from\noperating. The company successfully challenged that action when an&nbsp;administrative\nlaw judge in Tallahassee ruled the county presented no evidence&nbsp;supporting\na reversal of its original 2016 ruling to approve the plant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the county won an appeal of that ruling to the Florida\nCabinet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The long legal tussle appeared to end in the fall of 2018,\nwhen the company and county officials reached a settlement that would allow BS\nRanch to continue&nbsp;operating the recycling facility with additional\nregulatory oversight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the dispute began anew with the code violation notices\nissued last fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Once again, the company\u2019s attorneys assert the county lacks\nevidence to prove its case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Plavchak testified that, in addition to detecting and\nfollowing the scent, he used data from local weather stations and his own\nobservations from flags and tree branches to determine the wind was coming from\nthe direction of the BS Ranch property. He followed the odor back to the\ncompany site but did not enter the property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The company\u2019s attorney,&nbsp;Julie Ball of Hardin &amp; Ball\nPA in Lakeland, repeatedly asked Plavchak whether he took any scientific\nmeasurements on wind direction or air samples in the course of his investigation.\nHe replied he had used only his nose and the weather station data supported by\nhis own observations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ball also repeatedly questioned Plavchak on why he was\ncertain the smell came from BS Ranch and no other industrial sites in the area,\nincluding the county\u2019s own landfill. He said the odor from BS Ranch recycling\nfacilities was unique, unlike any other industrial odor he has detected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In her final written arguments, Ball noted&nbsp;Troiano had\ncited lack of scientific evidence in his 2017 ruling against the county\u2019s code\nenforcement action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMagistrate Troiano further held that \u2018substantiation would\nrequire some scientific tests as evidence\u2019,\u201d she wrote. \u201cFurther \u2018if anecdotal\nevidence was all that was needed to sustain any charge of violation of\nanything, societal havoc would result\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Assistant County Attorney Randy Mink countered in his\nwritten arguments that a special magistrate\u2019s ruling does not carry the same\nweight as a legal precedent that a regular court ruling does. Therefore, Hawk\ncould not rely on Troiano\u2019s ruling in deciding the current code enforcement\ndispute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe special magistrate in the 2017 order specifically\nlimited his findings to that case and considered factors unique to that case,\u201d\nMink wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The county\u2019s land development code does not require the use\nof scientific instruments to substantiate an odor complaint, he added, and\nrequiring that would lie beyond the special master\u2019s authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The BS Ranch site contains five separate parcels, and the\ncounty cited the company for a code violation on each parcel. That\u2019s allowed by\nstate law, both attorneys agreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Ball argued the county must still prove which of the\nfive BS Ranch parcels created the objectionable odor and cannot make a blanket\ndetermination that all five parcels are at fault.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In his testimony, Plavchak acknowledged he did not have\npermission to enter the BS Ranch property and could not specify the precise\nsource of the odor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The county \u201cmust demonstrate that each of the five separate\nproperties was the substantiated source of off-site odor on each of the eight\nodor events,\u201d Ball wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mink countered the county ordinance states only that it must\nprove a single operation is the source of the odor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAlthough Investigatore Plavchak admitted he could not\ntestify as to the specific parcel, he was able to confirm through a flyover and\naerial photos that the five properties subject to the (notices of violation)\nare being used for the operations of the BS Ranch and Farm facility,\u201d the\ncounty attorney wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mink concluded the county had met the burden of proof\nrequired by state law in a code enforcement case. That requires the county\nprove a violation occurred based on the \u201cpreponderance of evidence,\u201d or the\nweight of evidence showing a violation was \u201cmore likely than not.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BS Ranch and Farm, a Lakeland human waste recycling facility, faces a code enforcement fine of up to $600,000 as a nearly 3-year-old legal fight with Polk County continues. 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