Plymouth Company's Roses Don't Smell So Sweet To Neighbors

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Some neighbors in Plymouth are raising a stink about the odor they say is coming from a nearby business.

And of all places, it's a company that produces flowers.

Len Busch Roses has been in business for 50 years, growing several varieties of flowers and plants in its 15 acres of greenhouses.

The company's motto is "Minnesota grown, wildly fragrant."

CEO Patrick Busch says the company grows about seven million stems of fresh-cut flowers each year, with production in all four seasons.

"We wouldn't be able to economically produce cut flowers in Minnesota if we were burning natural gas or Number 2 fuel oil," Busch said.

The flowers are kept warm by steam heat, which is produced by burning wood chips onsite. And that's where the problem comes with some of the neighbors downwind.

Corby Pelto lives about a block away from some of the greenhouses.

"It's bad. When you walk out in the morning in your driveway, it hits you in the face," Pelto said. "My 17-year-old daughter said she has to scrunch her nose up because it's that offensive."

Pelto and some of his neighbors blame decomposing wood in the large piles outside the greenhouses for letting off an unpleasant odor.

"It smells like a strong vinegar kind of smell," he said.

Not all neighbors are complaining, though. Joanne Irish lives about a block away from the main facility.

"I've been here 16, going on 17 years and I've never smelled a thing," Irish said.

CEO Patrick Busch says his company has been burning wood chips since the 1970s and these are the first complaints.

"There's no question that there's an odor that goes along with wood chips," Busch said. "It's something that's always been part of it, and it's not anything anybody's ever found offensive until this came up now."

Pelto says he and his neighbors will keep up the fight until the smell goes away.

"We're working people and this is our major investment, our home," Pelto said. "I spent four years in the military protecting our country with an M16 over my back. I want to defend my property values and my right to enjoy it as well."

Plymouth Mayor Kelli Slavik has been in touch with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. Officials there say it's not a pollution issue, and they don't have regulations on smell.

Busch says his company cares about the community, and they'll see what they can do.