WS 04-14-2009 - Laserfiche WebLink

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%Of W.V. Mc (,*y drat wyAs Mr ym Memo Date: To: From: Subject: Introduction April 8, 2009 Dean Lotter, City Manager Grant Fernelius, Community Development Director Qf—' Janice Gundlach, City Planner} IM11' ..[moi. . - The purpose of Tuesday's work session discussion is to update the Council on the status of Bell Pole's odor problems, which have become a recurring problem over the winter. Because the problems still linger (albeit in lesser concentrations) and we continue to receive complaints, staff felt it was important to update the Council on this issue. In addition, we would like to outline some options for the Council to consider, which are described at the end of the memo. Background In the summer of 2006 the City began receiving complaints from area residents about strong odors in the vicinity of Bell Pole. Upon notification to Bell Pole of these odor complaints, the company began an internal review of their operations. Then, over the next 18 months various testing was conducted and numerous meetings were held to understand the issues and work towards a solution to eliminate odors. Also during this time, Bell Pole expanded their operations by installing a second treatment cylinder. The City issued building permits for this work but only after they entered into an agreement with the City that required them to conduct further odor testing. Finally, in November of 2007 the City and Bell Pole entered into a Memorandum of Understanding that established a base line odor threshold of 1.2 odor units at the property line. Under the MOU the company agreed to notify the City if a change in operation resulted in an increase in odor above 1.2 odor units. 1.2 odor units was chosen for two reasons: 1) the company could achieve it with all odor mitigation efforts they agreed to put in place and 2) 1.2 is considered very low and non-detectable by most people.