Lousy smell in the area has Marysville residents banding together for a solution

MARYSVILLE — People who say they’re tired of an offensive odor assaulting their homes are raising a stink of their own.

A group calling themselves Citizens for a Smell Free Marysville has formed to find a solution for the persistent stench in town the past few summers.

The group’s founder, Mike Davis, and many others believe the odor is coming from Cedar Grove Composting on Smith Island in Everett. The group has scheduled a public meeting from 6:30 to 8:30 tonight at the Marysville Library.

“We’re gaining some steam and we’re contemplating legal action,” Davis said.

Davis estimated that 40 to 50 people have been actively following the issue along with him.

Cedar Grove Composting receives all yard and food waste from Snohomish County that is collected separately as compost. The business, which also has an operation in Maple Valley in King County, sells the finished product for use in gardens.

Numerous complaints about odor the past three summers have been traced to Cedar Grove Composting by inspectors for the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, which has jurisdiction over nonindustrial odors.

Many of these complaints have come from residential areas east of downtown Marysville, in line with the prevailing southwest wind and Smith Island.

When the wind shifts, people in Sunnyside, north Everett and even farther south have said they, too, get a shot of stink that reeks of rotting compost.

Cedar Grove officials have spoken with Davis, said Bryan Cohen, a spokesman hired by the company.

“Cedar Grove wants to work with any group to help identify odor sources in the area,” Cohen said in an e-mail. “Cedar Grove is making its odor specialists available to share the procedures it uses to identify odor sources, document times when odors are identified and share the meteorological data it uses to identify possible sources of odor. We’d also like to offer a tour of other possible odor sources in the area.”

Cedar Grove officials have said wind data show that some of the odor complaints could not have been generated by their company.

Other operations in the area include mulching and bark businesses, manure-spreading and irrigation. Sewage treatment plants for Everett and Marysville also are nearby. These other sources, however, have smells that are easily distinguished from that of Cedar Grove, officials with the Clean Air Agency have said.

Davis is especially concerned because Cedar Grove expects to process more compostable food containers from Seattle because of that city’s ban on foam containers, which went into effect July 1.

It’s not known how much of this material Cedar Grove will receive, Cohen said. It’s not expected to affect odor, he said.

Cedar Grove has been receiving a steadily increasing amount of food waste from Seattle and King County since 2006, Cohen said, with 1,500 restaurants there signing up with Cedar Grove to donate food waste.

Cedar Grove in Everett is licensed by the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency to process up to 228,521 tons of waste per year. In 2008, it processed 170,000 tons; in 2009, 195,000 tons, Cohen said.

Davis is frustrated that the Clean Air Agency can’t do more to stop the stench. The agency has levied at least $30,000 in fines against Cedar Grove since 2008. Cedar Grove has taken several steps to curb the odor, but many residents say it’s not working.

To cite a company for odor violations, the Clean Air Agency must send an inspector to the address of a complaint call and immediately trace the odor to the source.

“Anybody who calls on a weekend or an evening just gets ignored,” Davis said.

The Clean Air Agency has 12 inspectors for a four-county area and they don’t work nights or weekends, said Laurie Halvorson, director of compliance for the agency.

Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439, sheets@heraldnet.com.

Meeting tonight

Citizens for a Smell Free Marysville has scheduled a public meeting for 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. tonight at the Marysville Library, 6120 Grove St. For more information, visit http://freemarysville.blogspot.com.