Odor issues prompt lawsuit

Suit claims Hardy Industrial Technologies responsible for ‘noxious’ smells

Painesville Township trustees have filed an unclassified misdemeanor criminal complaint against local company Hardy Industrial Technologies.

The filing on Feb. 25 in Painesville Municipal Court stems from continued odor complaints that the facility has generated.

The suit includes 39 separate incidents chronicled from April 6, 2017, to as recent as Feb. 18, 2019. According to court documents, each of the recurring counts state that “Hardy Industrial Technologies, LLC did use the premises or a portion thereof in a manner which resulted in the emission of noxious, dangerous, and/or offensive odors and/or fumes.”

Each count is considered a misdemeanor zoning violation with a fine not to exceed $500 for each offense. This adds up to $19,500 in potential fines. This amount is compounded when taking court records into account that state “each day’s continuation of a violation shall be deemed a separate offense.”

Township Administrator

Mike Manary said that these were far from the only complaints lodged against Hardy. He only included incidents that he felt could be “reasonably proven to come from Hardy.”

The counts were derived from complaints collected from township residents. The township also has added a “report an odor” tab on their official website. The township’s fire station, located within close proximity to Hardy, has also complained of the overwhelming

odors.

The offenses were also investigated by township Zoning Inspector Richard Constantine, according to court records.

The township has filed legal complaints against Hardy for similar offenses in the past but only a fraction of the number of counts included in the most recent filing.

Manary said that in the past, Hardy and the township were able to come to an arrangement without involving the courts. He believes that Hardy has

since failed to reduce the number of odor offenses to a reasonable amount.

Manary expects the case to go before Painesville Municipal Court for a hearing.

He has expressed a willingness to meet with Hardy representatives to mediate the smelly situation without protracted court hearings but only if that results in a reduced number of odor offenses.

When asked for a statement, Hardy Industrial Technologies declined to comment.