‘Unbearable’ smell in Hollister neighborhood, city takes legal action
By Christian Balderas
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HOLLISTER, California (KSBW) — For months people in a Hollister neighborhood along South Street have been complaining about an ‘unbearable’ odor coming from sludge ponds located steps away from their homes.
The smell is from tomato waste that sits in concrete basins behind locked gates, according to City Manager David Mirrione.
That organic waste is from a local cannery owned by San Benito Foods. It sits in pretreated water, and is eventually dried and hauled away to be used as soil amendments for crops.
In a memo sent to the city on March 26, San Benito Foods’ contracted operator, Sunnyslopes County Water District, said the drying process typically takes five days.
This year the process and smell lasted longer because of weekend rain.
“The sludge hauling process will result in odors that smell like horse manure or other agricultural smells. These odors are not associated with the City Wastewater Plant operations, and they are not a product of any municipal sludge operation,” the memo in part says.
It also states that Sunnyslopes directed a contractor to haul the sludge away starting April 1.
Sunnyslope’s general manager, Drew Lander, said it is not contractually responsible for hauling away the sludge and directed any questions to San Benito Foods who denied to comment for this story.
“Removing the sludge early was our attempt to be proactive in our preparation of this season but we we have determined that next year we will not begin any sludge removal until the end of April or May to avoid Rain,” the memo says.
“Once this process is completed there will be no sludge odors until next year. We will continue to refine this process to be respectful of the Hollister residents.”
When KSBW reached out to neighbors on April 16, multiple people were surprised to find the smell was gone.
“I don’t know what’s going on but the smell was just unbearable. I find it hard to believe it was just tomatoes,” Crystal Cooper said. She lives a few houses away from the sludge ponds.
“In the morning when we would wake up, normally if it’s a good day we would walk to school, but because it stinks. You can’t do that. I can’t garden in the backyard because it smells so rancid,” she said.
A little over two weeks after Sunnyslopes sent the memo, the City of Hollister issued a cease and desist order to San Benito Foods to address the problem.
“San Benito Foods was notified that they must immediately address and remediate their odor issue,” Mirrione said in a statement.
“The City of Hollister values the quality of life of its residents and is actively working with San Benito Foods to ensure that the odor issue is resolved expeditiously,” he said.
Mirrione would only confirm the city’s cease and desist order and would not answer further questions.
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