Fruitland board OKs nuisance mandate

By JESSICA KELLER - ARGUS OBSERVER
Tuesday, September 25, 2007 12:56 PM PDT

FRUITLAND - The Fruitland City Council approved a measure to expand its nuisance ordinance to include language aimed at odors at Monday night’s City Council meeting.

The intended ordinance would prohibit: “Allowing odor from fire, feces, manufacturing processes, commercial processing, waste treatment or from any other source to travel beyond property boundaries or travel into the city limits, which odor annoys, injures or endangers the health, safety or well-being of any number of persons.”

The issue stemmed from a number of complaints sent to the city regarding the smell emanating from Dickinson Frozen Foods this summer. One resident lodged a formal complaint regarding the smell to city attorney Bert Osborn. Osborn then discovered the city nuisance ordinance, as it stood, did not offer a mode of recourse to address or prosecute because it did not specifically mention odors.

While nobody spoke at the public hearing, Fruitland City Clerk Rick Watkins read a letter from Walter Garman asking the City Council to strike the word “annoys” pertaining to odors from the ordinance because as housing development moves closer to outlying farming operations, which may generate smells, the word “annoys” will create conflict.

Before voting on the matter in regular session, the council briefly discussed the somewhat ambiguous nature of the word “annoys.”

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Councilman Keith Schuller asked if there was a way to address Garman’s concern, or any other way the ordinance could be phrased that would eliminate the uncertainty. Councilman Ken Bishop said he understood the concern, but could see no other way to sufficiently address odor concerns other than to include some description that could be open to interpretation.

“How do we put something in short of injury or endangering health?” Councilman Ken Bishop asked, adding at best leaving the ordinance language the way it was written provides the city with a vehicle to move forward with addressing noxious odors and put them in front of a court to decide.

The council agreed some descriptive language was needed to define odors if the city wanted to implement the ordinance as it was intended, even if it was open to interpretation.

“I agree that’s asking for trouble, but gosh, how do you do it,” Councilman Ed Pierson asked.

Fruitland Police Chief Rick Skelly pointed out to the council the word “annoys” is used frequently in city ordinance, specifically citing the noise ordinance, which declares “all loud or unusual noises and annoying vibrations which offend the peace and quiet of persons of ordinary sensibilities” a nuisance.

“I don’t think we can find anything less vague,” Bishop said.

The council went on to approve the ordinance on its first reading, waiving the second and third readings. After the meeting, Skelly said, the matter regarding Dickinson was being reviewed by Osborn, who will review the cases forwarded to him by the police department and determine whether there is enough evidence to prosecute.

City police, however, also have the option of issuing a misdemeanor citation, which is punishable by up to a $1,000 fine, for odor nuisances. Written complaints can be filed with the city police department, or the city’s ordinance officer can respond to calls.

In other news: In a split vote, the City Council approved an agreement between the city and developers Riley Hill and Jackson Fox, granting them permission to proceed with connecting water and sewer services to an existing house on a piece of property near Washoe Road prior to the annexation and completion of the development process because of a desire to sell the house as soon as possible. Councilmen Bishop and Bud Reifsnyder were opposed to the agreement.

“I think we’re putting the cart before the horse here,” Bishop said, adding one of the main reasons Hill and Fox were requesting the agreement was to sell the house as soon as possible, but they can’t get city services in prior to winter anyway.

Councilmen Pierson and Schuller were in favor of the agreement, and Fruitland Mayor Tom Limbaugh broke the tie in favor of the developers, stating he approved of it “because I believe the agreement protects the city in every way, shape and form.”