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Russellville City Council Passes Odor Control Ordinance

RUSSELLVILLE (KFSM) – The Russellville City Council passed an odor control ordinance on Thursday night (July 16), officials say. The ordinance is titled “...
Russellville

RUSSELLVILLE (KFSM) – The Russellville City Council passed an odor control ordinance on Thursday night (July 16), officials say.

The ordinance is titled “The City of Russellville, Arkansas, Odor Control Ordinance.” It defines odor as “the property or quantity of a substance that activates, affects, stimulates or is perceived by the sense of smell.” The ordinance aims to prohibit odor pollution within city limits.

Passing unanimously, the ordinance goes into effect immediately due to an emergency clause that was added to the ordinance, according to the minutes from the meeting.

One section of the ordinance states that any facility generating an offensive smell is to have the “best available control technology as to effectively abate any objectionable odor.”

In order to report offensive odors, the city of Russellville would establish an “odor hot line” to receive complaints. Records of odor complaints will be maintained by the odor hot line operator. For complaints to be considered and investigated, callers will have to leave their name and address, as well as the date, time, location, description and intensity of the reported odor.

A Russellville code enforcement official will investigate complaints within 24 hours of them being recorded, according to the ordinance. If an odor generator is identified during a code enforcer’s investigation, a citation can be issued.

During an investigation into an odor complaint, the code enforcement official will measure the odor with a field olfactometer two times with a 15-minute window between each measurement.

Exemptions from the ordinance include open burning, recreational fires and portable outdoor fireplaces.

Anyone who is convicted of violating the ordinance may be fined a sum of not more than $1,000 or double the sum for each repetition of such offense or violation.

The ordinance states that each day a provision of the ordinance is violated, a fine of not more than $500 may be issued.

In the original ordinance, the city of Russellville and Russellville City Corporation were exempt from the ordinance, but an amendment was made during the meeting that dropped those exemptions, officials said.

To read the full ordinance, click here.

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