After years of complaints and discussions, Ellsworth officials have reached an agreement with a local composting company over bad smells emanating from its property.
In exchange for Maine Organics taking ongoing steps to address the issue, the city council on Monday gave preliminary support to an agreement that would exempt it from citations for two hours each morning.
The agreement also would impose a measurable standard on the company that is more strict than the city’s general ordinances and which would be enforceable outside that two-hour exemption window. It also obligates Maine Organics to pay $3,500 to cover the city’s legal fees, and carries a $1,500 fine if the company violates its terms.
Since the composting company was founded in 2018, it has accepted shellfish waste at its site off Industrial Road. But neighboring property owners have complained about the occasional smells that have come from the site, saying the stench can be overpowering and unpleasant.
Josh and Tracey Wellman, owners of Maine Organics, have taken steps to mitigate the smells, but say there’s only so much they can do. They say that when the shellfish waste is delivered on weekday mornings, they cover it up as quickly as they can, but they can’t guarantee that the odors won’t drift downwind to neighbors during the process.
For that reason, the Wellmans want to be exempt from odor violations from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. from Monday through Friday.
“It’s a compost facility,” Josh Wellman said. “We’ve definitely changed things. We’ve worked at night. We changed our recipe.”
He said the company now puts wood chips in its large metal bins before the lobster waste is dumped in them and then brought to their operations site, which has helped reduce the odors.
“Those changes have made a big difference in the last five months,” Wellman said. ‘We’re always trying to change things and move things around and make it better. We don’t want to cause a problem.”
The facility is licensed by Maine Department of Environmental Protection, which limits the city’s enforcement power. Ellsworth’s code enforcement office can impose monetary fines on the company for violating city ordinances when bad smells impact neighbors, but there are no city operating licenses that it can suspend or revoke in order to address the issue.
Members of the council said that while they sympathize with neighbors, it would be unrealistic to expect no bad smells to ever come from the composting yard.
“Providing no exemptions, I think, is somewhat draconian, especially [for] a business that has changed so much over the last few years to try new ways for masking the smell,” said council member Jon Stein. “I think there’s probably a middle ground.”
Councilor Steve O’Halloran was less receptive to the idea of allowing Maine Organics a two-hour window each day to emit smells that drift onto neighboring properties.
“If we accept this, then we need to allow people to speed on High Street for two hours a day,” O’Halloran said.
Tim Stone, who co-owns rental cabins on the east side of the Union River, about a mile away from Maine Organics, said he hasn’t detected any foul composting odors at his property for more than three months. But he says that when the stench does drift across the river, it has a direct impact on his business.
“It seems like it is giving away too much to me,” Stone said. “This is not a small problem for our business. When it comes, it is major and it is nauseating.”
The council voted 6-1, with O’Halloran opposed, to adopt the proposed agreement that would allow the enforcement exemption.