BATH TOWNSHIP, Ohio (WLIO) — It was a full house at the Bath Township trustees meeting Tuesday night as residents voiced concerns about smells and noise coming from the Resource Recycling Inc. facility.
Residents say for months — and in some cases nearly a year — they’ve dealt with strong odors they say make it difficult to spend time outside, host gatherings or even open windows. Some also raised concerns about noise from machinery running overnight and heavy truck traffic on local roads. They say they’ve filed complaints with the township and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, but the smells have persisted.
“We have made multiple complaints to the EPA. We have called the township and made complaints to the township, and we understand that there’s a protocol that needs to take place, and we’ve been patient, but it’s coming up on a year, and we’ve kind of run out of patience, because now it’s affecting our livelihood and our daily activities,” said Angela Rasor, a resident of Bath Township.
“I just thought was important for us to be here, just let the community know that we were sorry and it wasn’t intentional by any means, and that we have every intent of we have been changing our recipe and fixing the problem, but it’s just doesn’t happen overnight. So just kind of the idea was to just try to give people good information, inform people,” said Micah Hollinger, owner of Resource Recycling Inc.
The board passed a resolution to begin pursuing legal action, with the first step being to seek a declaration that the property is a nuisance.
“We did pass that this evening. So that just means that it starts the process of us being able to work through the legal system to pursue solutions to try and find how we can overcome this challenge right now,” said Brad Baxter, chairman of the Bath Township Board of Trustees.
Trustees are encouraging residents with concerns to continue documenting issues and submitting complaints as the process moves forward.
