Encroachment. That word seems to be appearing in renderers’ vocabulary a lot more these days.
Modesto Tallow, Modesto, CA, and John Kuhni Sons, Provo, UT, are just two renderers who have had to deal with the affects of poor city planning. For decades, both were located in agricultural, rural areas. Now they each sit in the midst of developed communities that no longer want the renderers in their back yard.
Sacramento Rendering Company (SRC) now finds itself added to this undesirable list of renderers facing encroaching development.
Located on hundreds of acres in a remote area of southeastern Sacramento County in Northern California, SRC is battling with the region’s largest developer who has plans to build 22,000 homes, several shopping centers, parks, and a school on 2,632 acres nearby. The first phase of the project as now planned will put 10,000 homes within one to four miles of SRC, in the path of prevailing winds. Odor is the issue being debated.
Every month, SRC collects 11 million pounds of dead livestock, slaughterhouse waste, and restaurant grease from throughout Northern California and Nevada and processes the products into usable animal fats and proteins. As A. Michael Koewler, president of SRC and a third generation renderer, admitted to the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors at a January meeting, odors from the plant will emit, especially during the 100-plus degree summer months that the Sacramento Valley endures.
“When I cook chicken from Foster Farms, I smell like Kentucky Fried Chicken,” said Koewler. “But when it’s 105 degrees and a dairyman loses 100 cattle, I don’t smell like Kentucky Fried Chicken. I smell like you have a bad roast beef in your oven.”
SRC recently invested $300,000 to upgrade their odor control equipment, but the developer is demanding that the renderer spend $1.7 million more to reduce the smells to “acceptable” levels – more than half of the $3.1 million price tag. The developer has offered to contribute $1.4 million towards the new controls but SRC owners are arguing that those who encroach on the plant should pay for any upgrades.
Even if upgrades are installed and the plant’s odors are reduced, to the county supervisors, it is unclear how much these upgrades would reduce odors during the hottest summer days. As Supervisor Roger Niello said in an April meeting, “It [odor] is in the nose of the beholder. I don’t know how you regulate that.”
County planners have endorsed an “odor easement,” a property restriction that requires landowners be notified of an odor problem, but the developer opposes it, arguing that the county should crack down on the plant. SRC is recommending the developer attach a set fee on the homes, in the amount of $130 per unit, to help pay for the odor improvements. The county supervisors now find themselves caught in a debate of how to please two vital businesses, and prevent possible lawsuits in the future from unhappy residents.
Owned and operated by the Koewler family since 1913, this is not the first encroachment battle SRC has fought. In 1956, the renderer was forced to move from another rural Sacramento location after residential development sprung up around the plant and neighbors complained about odor. The company then set up shop at their present location.
As a fourth generation renderer, Michael P. Koewler is optimistic about this latest growth plan near his family’s business. He said local support for the renderer is mounting and feels that although the development will be built, both will be able to coexist in harmony.
Newsline - June 2002 Render