Thorlakson Feedyards, just east of Airdrie in Rocky View County, is composting material that is creating a pungent odour that is plaguing the citizens of Airdrie within smelling-distance.

 The affected locals have joined together to create a group called "Stop the Stench" and will be presenting to the Airdrie City Council on Monday to bring awareness of the issue and try to end it.

Dennis Gieck of Stop the Stench gives the breakdown of what exactly is creating the smell.

"We have a productions feedlot out east of Airdrie. It's been operational for (around) 40 years. Probably 10 years ago or so, they started composting some of their manure, which is a great idea. Then, about the last two years, they started composting all sorts of fine other things including paunches from slaughterhouses, green garbage, any kind of garbage that included animal waste. So at that time, for about the last two years, we've been getting the stench out there that is putrid."

Gieck describes the smell as something strong enough to change your daily life.

"It's the type of smell that turns your stomach and you just can't plan on anything. Take, for example, it's a nice summer night and you want to open the window and turn the fan on and clear out the area, you'll get that stench and you just close it up and live with it. You can't take a barbeque, you can't plan on having company out. People are having trouble starting to sell their places now because that's the first question."

Gieck says the group has had a long journey with the landfill

"We're not unhappy at all with the feedlot smell. We're very unhappy about this stench (from the composting). And then, about a month or so ago, there was an advertisement for a bylaw change. And basically what it was, the bylaw was a land use change and Thorlakson's composting facility had been operating under an agricultural land use which was illegal. So they've been doing that for quite a few years, so they finally applied to change the land use and the only land use that would fit was the direct control. So the bylaw was to allow this entity to change to direct control," explains Geik. "At the same time, there was a change of classification which would allow the throughput of the facility to double."

"We opposed it. We had 265 people sign a petition in a matter of ten days, we showed up at the hearing. We had all sorts of problems presenting at the hearing. We were almost stonewalled."

The opposition that "Stop the Stench" created did, however, result in some amendments.

"They did make two or three amendments. When you look at the amendments (at first) it looks not bad, but when you look at it closely, (they) really have very little impact and no teeth at all."

"There have been all sorts of complaints, but nothing ever happens. So, we've got the group forum, our plans are to talk to all of the people that supply the facility and we will be putting on a presentation to the City of Airdrie on the 21st and what we will tell (them) is what the other side of the fence looks like."

Rocky View County released a statement about the recent approval and says this:

“Rocky View County put a number of conditions on the facility before approving the land use change to allow composting.  We are very early in the process, so we strongly encourage anyone who experiences unreasonable odours to email us with the exact date and time so that we can begin to understand and address any problems with the facility owner.  Our e-mail is questions@rockyview.ca.”

 

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