That Smell in Tangerine, Florida and Nearby Neighborhoods

More info on the City of Mt Dora Water Reclamation Plant upgrades at 441 and SR46, from Joe Grusauskas/ Utility & Plant Operations Director. “The project engineering task authorization will begin shortly. The new system will need to be permitted by the FDEP before it can be bid. The construction process will take a while. Staff will have a better startup schedule after the engineer submits a permit and has prepared a bid. In the meantime, the existing odor system is getting additional repairs which should help eliminate some of the airflow shortcutting. This should help knock down more odor in the interim. The new unit will be a state of art technology and sized for the buildout of the facility The upgrade was anticipated to happen with a larger plant expansion, but to be a good neighbor, Council concurred it would be best to accelerate. Thanks for taking the time to visit and learn about the facility. It takes Citizens like you to be involved to build a great utility. Joe” S...

  "Report from my 12/17/20 tour of the Waste Water Plant" The Mt Dora Water Reclamation Facility on 441 and SR 46 has been in operation for approximately 12-15 years. Its’ primary function is to convert sewer wastewater into reclaimed water for irrigation purposes. The facility is operating at half its current capacity and is master-planned to be built to double its current size. Grease trap waste and septic tank waste are NOT accepted at the facility. Sludge (a compost material) extracted at the end of the reclaim process is hauled off by Shelly’s Septic for additional treatment and reuse as fertilizer. This sludge has no smell when it leaves the treatment plant site. After touring the facility, the only step that has odors is the "headworks" where the wastewater comes in and the "surge tank" where the wastewater is stored for processing. The current odor control system is carbon filtration. The carbon filters are changed out as needed. While carb...

I haven't written about the Mount Dora City Council meeting on December 15th yet for several reasons. You can listen to a recording of the meeting here.  Although I was there, I spent all of the meeting in the hallway as the room was too crowded during a pandemic, so I didn't hear much of what was going on.  Although fixing the smell is important to me, my health and my significant other's health is more important.  It was clear to me that there was no regard for Covid-19 when the decision was made to hold the meeting in the City Council Meeting Room instead of the much larger Community Room. I don't know the room measurements but I believe that it was unsafe to be in. (I have a contract tracing certificate from Johns Hopkins.) You can calculate the number of safe minutes using the square footage, ceiling height, and the number of people present here.   I don't know how big the room is but I assumed it was 1,000 square feet with 12-foot ceilings. I don't know ho...

This e-mail exchange was between a community member and someone from the FDEP (Florida Department of Environmental Protection) 12/14/2020 8:18 am On Mon, Dec 14, 2020 at 8:18 AM Boyles, Sean Sean.Boyles@floridadep.gov wrote: Good morning,   I received the odor complaint that you provided on December 11, 2020. I live in the area and make it a point to drive-by the WWTF in the mornings when I need to go into the office. On that morning I drove around the 4 borders of the WWTF around 6:00am in the morning. No odors from the WWTF plant were noted. I also drive down Pond Rd, which is just to the east of the plant, and observed a very light sulfur odor. And I drove to the entrance of the Stoneybrook development and no odors were observed. That afternoon I received two odor complaints. I drove back to the WWTF and noted no odors and then drove to the landfill and observed the odor from the morning.   Just to give you an update, the WWTF has been working with an engineer to resolve a...

The text of a recent e-mail chain to a Mount Dora city official regarding the odor and the response. Please note that many residents have complained and this is just information from one resident.  December 4, 2020 Dear Mr. Grusaukas, I had to go to CVS in Mount Dora last night at 10:00 p.m.  I was traveling north on 441 and when I got to Stoneybrook Parkway there was a horrible sewage smell, even with the car windows up.  When I got to the top of the hill to the water plant the smell was enough to make you gag!  I continued to smell it all the way to Renningers.   45 minutes later when I was returning home and traveling south on 441 the stench was still there.  I cannot believe the poor residents of Stoneybrook are subjected to this.  What is wrong with the water plant?  I travel to Leesburg all the time and go right past their water plant and it never smells.  Mount Dora’s water plant is also an eyesore!  It is covered in black mold an...

Odors noted in Stoneybrook and Sullivan Ranch. The is a public speaking portion of the Mount Dora City Council meetings. The Council was unaware of the odors at the October meeting as our complaints weren't getting to them. We plan to address the odors coming from the Mt. Dora Wastewater Treatment Plant on 441. I personally made a complaint in September and a city official came to my house but didn't write a report because he "didn't want it put out on the internet." We need to make our complaints heard.  

To: grusauskasj@cityofmountdora.com Letter 1 Dear Mr. Grusaukas,   I had to go to CVS in Mount Dora last night at 10:00 p.m.  I was traveling north on 441 and when I got to Stoneybrook Parkway there was a horrible sewage smell, even with the car windows up.  When I got to the top of the hill to the water plant the smell was enough to make you gag!  I continued to smell it all the way to Renningers.   45 minutes later when I was returning home and traveling south on 441 the stench was still there.  I cannot believe the poor residents of Stoneybrook are subjected to this.  What is wrong with the water plant?  I travel to Leesburg all the time and go right past their water plant and it never smells.  Mount Dora’s water plant is also an eyesore!  It is covered in black mold and looks disgusting!  Other towns have their water plants painted and they look neat and clean.   Mount Dora painted the stalls around the dumpsters in to...

  I was keeping an eye out for my friend and neighbor to pick up some Christmas gifts I'd made, so when I saw a car similar to hers across the street I ran out there. Well, it wasn't my friend, it was Dr. Kane of the FDEP who was making his rounds. He was following up on some recent odor reports.  We discussed the recent odor reports I'd submitted. The wind had been coming in from the North during these occurrences so that ruled out Monterey Mushrooms, Shelley's Septic Tank, and Anuvia which isn't running anyway.  That left the landfill, the Mount Dora Wastewater Treatment plant, and, news to me, a private lift station in Stoneybrook Hills. We discussed the nature of the odor in the recent reports.  I told him about Hubbard's application to be annexed into Mount Dora and those various members of the Mount Dora City Council that had visited the Hubbard Landfill unannounced and found nothing significant. He asked if these recent odors smelled of sewage and I told ...

 

  Bless Crissy's heart, it's 6:13 am and she replies to my FB post in 3 minutes verifying that there is a known problem.  *In the wee hours of the morning when I typed this, I titled it "Northwest" which was incorrect. I fixed it when Tangerine's premier analytical mind pointed out to me what I'd done. Fixed.

  I attended the Mount Dora City Council meeting last night for the sole purpose of following up on the landfill and odor complaints we have when the wind is coming in from the North. One thing I noted right away is that simply bringing up the odor brought a lot of attention (in a good way) to allow the annexation of the landfill into Mount Dora. The landfill isn't the end-all, be-all cause of the odor problems at Sullivan Ranch It can reach a height of 205 feet and that would make it the highest elevation in the city when it reaches maximum capacity (it would be attractively landscaped and be tiered) A landscaping buffer is planned between the landfill and Sullivan Ranch within the next year or so (no definite dates) Several citizens and council members toured the landfill and only one noted an odor and that was in only one section Our questions brought out other issues such as planning and zoning concerns The facility would provide revenue to Mount Dora in the form of a portion o...

Via Maria Repass of Orange County's Environmental Protection Department Orange County Government is responding to complaints concerning objectionable odors in the Zellwood, Mt. Dora, and Tangerine areas and providing updates as new information becomes available. Working together on this complex issue, Orange County and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) are streamlining complaint processes, investigating odor concerns, providing compliance assistance to potential source facilities, and pursuing enforcement actions for violations of regulations and permit requirements. Latest actions and information • Residents continue to use Orange County’s online reporting form to submit odor complaints. Between August 24 and October 1, 2020, the County received 40 complaints concerning objectionable odors. Anuvia Florida LLC: Anuvia, FDEP, and the Orange County Environmental Protection Division (EPD) executed (signed) a Consent Order (CO) on July 21, 2020. The Order a...

  The post below is from  a comment on the Facebook group dedicated to the smell. -The 9/24/20 Mt. Dora City Council Meeting motion to annex the Hubbard Construction C&D (Construction & Demolition) Landfill was TABLED until October 20th, 2020 meeting. City council members intend to tour the landfill site prior to this date. The City initially noted with the annexation, they would not be responsible for jurisdiction, permitting, use, or monitoring of the landfill as they did not have the expertise or code enforcement ordinances to do so. This is a major i ssue as mitigation of smells/issues would fall solely to the Hubbard Construction and the state, FDEP. The state only inspects annually, unless called with complaints. Four different area residents spoke noting the C&D landfill, at times, creates significant smells/air quality issues and they were opposed to the annexation if the City refused to be involved with the mitigation of issues. Counsel member, C. Stiles n...

sandersfeldv@cityofmountdora.com Hello  Mr. Sandersfeld, I recently learned that the Mid-Florida Materials (construction dump) has requested that the City of Mount Dora annex their property into the city and that this issue is to be voted on at the City Council meeting on Thursday, September 24, 2020. I am seeking information on how the city will deal with the odors coming from this dump that the residents of nearby communities, including Sullivan Ranch, have long complained of. Specifically, I want to know if Mount Dora can make it clear that odors will not be tolerated. At times, when the wind in coming in from the North, we can smell the dump as far South as Lake Ola Drive in Tangerine. I spoke with a member of the dump management and he assured me that they've had no complaints since they took ownership. The county sent someone out the day when I complained, who came to my house. By then the atmospheric pressure had risen and the smell was gone. The county official informed me ...

  The dump on 46 that has been the source of recent smells in our area is about to be annexed by Mount Dora! The annexation is scheduled for the Mount Dora City Council meeting on Thursday, September 24, 2020 at 5:30 p.m. We need all able bodies to show up at the city council meeting to show opposition to the annexation of the dump! Please go to the city council meeting if you are available! Thank you in advance! Below is a comment typical of those we get from nearly residents who have lived with the smell of this dump for years. It's much worse in the Sullivan Ranch area than it is in Tangerine. There are many others but it's 5:30 am and I went to bed after midnight so I'm stopping here.  - First thank you for accepting me in this group, second I wake up to that aweful smell as well I live in Sullivan ranch, I’ve been here for about 8 yrs and it has gotten worse over the yrs. I’m hoping it gets resolved what can I do to help it along? Please come to the meeting. We cannot ...

  This post is for September 9th but is being published on September 10th due to a widespread internet outage.  Comments 9/9/2020 Oh my goodness!! Thank you!! This would be amazing if it can be resolved! Terry, Crissy Stile is running for state representative in our district. She has been fighting vigorously for us and has even gone to the Agriculture Commissioner. Her opponent has received the maximum donations from Shelley's Septic who we have been fighting since February 2019. Please support Crissy as she will support us We had one of our landfills in Zellwood where Hubbard Construction dumped construction materials too. We would get terrible odors. The odor would wake us up around 2 in the morning and just linger all day. We suffered for years. The EPA at the time said it was the drywall. It decays and causes hydrogen sulfide gas to be emitted into the air if the landfill does not have those automatic flares that burn off the gas. The EPA representative was at my house and...

Daniel from Commissioner Moore's office responded almost immediately to the e-mail I sent yesterday.  So we responded immediately as well.  We also got more information about the location. The dump is located in Lake County but smell knows no boundaries so we can smell it in Tangerine on occasion.  I'd like to extend special thanks to the Facebook group members who helped me get the address and information for Commissioner Moore's office.