Prestige Feed Products and the town where it is based, the Village of Mount Prospect, Illinois, continue their legal battle over noise and odor complaints.
According to a report from Journals and Topics, in a brief status hearing on Feb. 28, Riccardo DiMonte, attorney for Prestige Feed Products, told the judge he had an agreement with the village to exchange discovery and documents in the village’s effort to shut down the animal feed plant. The judge set a date of March 20 for both sides to appear in court again, when an update on the discovery exchange and a deposition schedule will be presented.
DiMonte added that he should already have the results from a fourth study conducted to measure noise and odors coming from the plant located in the Kensington Business Center, which he believes is in compliance with village code, reported Journals and Topics.
In May 2023, Prestige Feed Products, which makes products for the pork, beef and pet food markets, filed a lawsuit against the Village of Mount Prospect, alleging the municipality was planning to illegally take away their business license and put them out of business based on the alleged baseless claim of creating a public nuisance through foul smell. According to the lawsuit, the village reneged on an earlier agreement to stop any legal action while Prestige addressed the odor complaints.
The village asserted that Prestige’s business was a nuisance based on complaints by residents regarding the ‘burnt cheese smell’ emanating from the facility. Prestige has commissioned scientific odor studies, however, which allegedly measure air emitted from the facility, showing that odor levels may be unmeasurable or below legal limits. definition of a nuisance.
Prestige has invested heavily in odor remediation equipment, spending $432,594 between 2019 and 2022. The company also announced a willingness to invest an additional $171,899 to install a special fan system to further address the odor complaints. Prestige shared multiple expert reports with village officials, who insisted the village had no objective measurables or scientific data to counter their claims.
