Laveen residents raise stink about stink, push out composting company

For months, a putrid odor has permeated the streets and houses in a Laveen Village neighborhood. Until recently, residents had no idea what was causing the stench.

Brian Mosby lives close by and thought it was coming from a nearby junkyard. “You get it in the morning and at night,” he said. “It’s horrible.” Another resident, Rashawl Session, said the smell was the worst at 4 a.m. in the morning, while Daniel Vigil and Max Salcedo felt the malodor peaked in the summer.

“Sometimes the smell is so bad you can’t even breathe,” said Session, who stopped going outside in the morning. “I was like, ‘Yo, this is intense.’”

Residents began complaining to municipal authorities roughly six months ago, with Vigil saying he was one of the first to lodge a complaint. According to Maricopa County Communications Director Fields Moseley, more than 600 complaints were made about the smell as of Thanksgiving week.

Eventually, residents identified the smell’s origin: a nearby composting business called Growers Market, which is located near 31st Avenue and Dobbins Road. The company has been incorporated since 1995, according to records kept by the Arizona Corporation Commission, though it’s not clear how long it has operated at the Laveen location.

During a recent visit to the property, excavator vehicles lumbered around heaping piles of organic material. A pungent, sour smell of rotting fruit, already strong around the neighborhood, was overpowering near the facility, with the air so thick you could feel it on your skin. Google Reviews of the facility from residents who live nearly a mile and a half away are filled with complaints about the smell.

The company rents the space, but not for much longer. In the face of community backlash, the facility will reluctantly leave the area.

“We could apply for all kinds of permits. We’ve chosen not to do that and just to leave,” said Growers Market owner Neal Brooks. “All we’re doing now is processing what’s on sight to leave.”

Fines accumulate

The impending shutdown of the composting business is a victory for residents who spent months complaining about the smell it emitted.

Initially, it appeared that little could be done. Moseley said the county’s Air Quality and Planning and Development departments “are continually monitoring the area now, and they haven’t found any public health or air quality violations that are within their authority.” He added that the county “can’t regulate odors caused by hydrogen sulfide.”

But on Nov. 8, Harold Merkow, a hearing officer for the Maricopa County Department of Planning and Zoning, found that property owner Tymon Bolton, who leases the land to Brooks, was violating a zoning ordinance by operating the business there. “The property did not have an agriculture exemption to operate,” Merkow wrote, adding that Bolton “had not applied for or obtained a Special Use Permit” to operate the composting business.

That violation resulted in an immediate $750 fine for Bolton and a $75 fine for every day the business is not in compliance. As of Monday, the business was still operating, which means Bolton has racked up more than $2,500 in total fines. The county gave Growers Market until March 10 to either cease operations, apply for rezoning or a special use permit, or prove that the property has obtained agricultural tax classification.

“I understand that you are all eager for this business to come into compliance,” Supervisor Steve Gallardo, whose district includes Laveen, said in a press release. “Maricopa County is working diligently to address the violations and keep you all informed of the latest updates.”

Bolton declined to comment when reached by Phoenix New Times.

Pulling out

Growers Market will leave. Brooks said the company will not put up a fight. It has stopped taking incoming composting materials and is preparing to leave the area as soon as possible. He did not say whether the business would set up shop elsewhere.

But Brooks and Growers Market will be leaving less than willingly. Brooks is passionate about composting, which diverts organic matter otherwise destined for a landfill and helps recycle it for use as healthy soil, and he believes it’s an important process for creating a healthier environment. In a March interview with 12News, Brooks said Growers Market had received a $2.4 million grant for composting, though he did not specify who awarded it.

Brooks also believes his business has been unfairly targeted by a community that’s whipped itself into a frenzy. He said complaints about his business reached a point of hysteria among residents, with some claiming dead bodies and burning fires are on the property. Brooks said the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and regulators found those conspiracy theories to be false.

“Then I get four people, other neighbors, who say, ‘We don’t smell anything. We care about the environment, and we think this is a travesty of justice,’” Brooks said. “I made the mistake of forwarding that to a regulator, and somehow the neighbors got a hold of it and called and threatened the lady that made that comment.”

Brooks declined to share more information about the woman he said was threatened for supporting his business.

Yes, composting stinks, but Brooks insists it smells no worse than many other odors emitted by businesses in the area. “Go by our place and smell it, and go by a landfill and smell it,” he said. “There are four other composters in town; there’s about 10 dairies in the area. Go by and smell them. They all smell like Laveen, which is an ag community.”

Brooks could stick it out, apply for a special use permit and make his case to the community. But if nearby residents feel his business has poisoned the air, Brooks says they’ve poisoned the discourse about it. He doesn’t foresee upset residents ever halting their effort to shut him down, even if he had a proper permit.

“I don’t have any faith,” he said, “that I’ll be heard.”