That Smell in Tangerine, Florida and Nearby Neighborhoods

 

  Once again, we had a Saturday night ruined by bad odors. I'd love to see Tangerine become a hub for commercials and short films again. In the past, we've had Tiger Woods, Cialis, Purina, and Labatt Blue Beer commercials shot here. I don't see how that can happen if the location managers and production companies won't shoot here due to the odor. 

  Nearly a year ago, the founders of "That Smell in Tangerine and Surrounding Communities" came to the conclusion that it was going to take a concerted effort to reduce the odor problems in our area.  We started out as Tangerine residents living primarily around Lake Ola and spread to Zellwood, Stoneybrook Hills, and as far North as Round Lake Road. The Tangerine Improvement Society had been encouraging members to call elected officials when there was an odor. We saw that it wasn't enough and nothing was happening to solve the problems.  It was time to step up the effort, so the Facebook page page was born on January 12, 2020. It gave residents a chance to share their experiences and to begin to reach the right people at the regulatory level. It wasn't all peaches and cream, though. At least one employee  of Shelley's Septic Tank and his/her friends were among the first members and they popped up and defended the sources of the smell, especially when it was relate...

  "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...

 

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...

After writing blog posts two days in a row, the last thing I want to do is to write another one. But here I am. It's 5 am and I was just jolted awake by a foul odor coming in from the North. (Lake County) I am going to use Lake County's Code Enforcement Violation Reporting Link that I just found. Give it a try if you smell it because this odor is coming from Lake County. I suspect that it's a local construction dump that has been cited for odor violations in the past but I have no evidence to back that up. The wind is coming in from the North, Shelley's Septic Tank, Anuvia, and the Mushroom Farm are eliminated. -Wind and gusts from the N at 5 mph -Humidity 91 percent, temperature 77 degrees -Pressure 29.90 and falling -Precipitation 0.06 inches (estimate) This is the e-mail that I sent out today. Yes, it's Labor Day and I'm writing e-mails on a holiday once again. E-mail recipients katherine.marsh@ocfl.net maria.repass@ocfl.net ...

The Shelley Hearing was basically four hearings combined into two. The first three were combined at the request of Jonathan Huels, the Shelley family attorney. The last one was handled by itself. GPITA's function is either a fertilizer storage area or a chipping/composting area for Shelleys and is located further down the road on Jones Avenue. I'm sure that those who weren't able to virtually attend the Code Enforcement for Shelley's Septic Tank are wondering how it went. Long story short, Orange Coun ty Code Enforcement prevailed with the Special Magistrate. Shelley's filed a suit against the County on June 24th, 2020. We have to wait to see if they will file an appeal regarding the Special Magistrate's decision.  You can see the Orange County's PPT for the hearing here.  This was obtained from Orange County Code Enforcement as it's public record. You can see the Shelleys attorney's PPT for the hearing here.  This was obtained fro...

I've had a request for information relating to Shelley's Violations. You can click on the photos to see them more clearly. You can see their Consent Order with the FDEP here.  Visit website Shelley’s Septic Tank, Inc. (dba Shelley’s Environmental Systems): FDEP issued a Consent Order to Shelley’s on March 24, 2020 regarding wastewater permit violations that involve mainly odors, and National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) stormwater permit violations (multiple issues). The Order included penalties and fees of $8,712 and required the company to develop an odor plan as well as a plan to develop and implement stormwater best management practices within 60 days. Shelley’s was requested to respond within 20 days. Orange County’s Code Enforcement Division has issued a series of violation notices to Shelley’s. A March 5, 2020 compliance deadline regarding building permits and site requirements was not met. As a result, a Special Magistrate hearing h...