ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Childs Park Neighborhood Association is taking a new approach when it comes to combating those obnoxious odors we’ve been reporting on for years.
Brother John Muhammad is the president of the Childs Park Neighborhood Association.
For years, he has pushed for answers about the recurring odors that many describe as chemical, burning oil, or rotten eggs.
Now he said the neighborhood is taking its biggest step yet after a resident challenged the renewal of an air permit for one company in the industrial corridor. The neighborhood association successfully asked to become part of the administrative case with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Muhammad said that’s a significant shift.
“We wanted to be included as a party or an intervener, as the term I’m familiar with now, to the lawsuit so that we can actually have standing and be able to call witnesses, do depositions, cross-examine witnesses,” he said.
This comes after years of odor complaints. Spectrum Bay News 9’s previous reporting uncovered pages of odor complaints made to the fire department, the city of St. Petersburg, and Pinellas County.
Muhammad says they’re now focusing on one of the companies listed the most in those complaints, HOWCO Environmental Services.
“Moving from the outside of the process making public comment, to actually having a seat at the table so we can lift up our voices and have the association as an entity be a part of the process,” said Muhammad.
Rachel Curran, a staff attorney at the Jacobs Public Interest Law Clinic for Democracy and the Environment at Stetson Law, is representing the Childs Park Neighborhood Association.
Curran said the administrative hearing will allow both sides to present evidence before the Florida Department of Environmental Protection decides whether the permit should be renewed.
“It’s akin to a trial where we’re gonna to the bottom of what’s causing this smell, so that DEP can finally make an informed regulatory decision upon the recommendation of an ALJ that makes the right call,” she said.
Muhammad said residents hope the process finally leads to answers and cleaner air for the neighborhood some have called home for decades.
Spectrum Bay News 9 reached out to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for comment and did not receive a response. The news station also reached out to the owner of HOWCO Environmental Services, but those requests for comment were not returned.
Attorneys for the Childs Park Neighborhood Association say they should know more about the hearing starting in September.