Prestige Feed Products and the town it's based in, Mount Prospect, Illinois, are continuing their legal battles over noise and odor complaints.
According to a report from Journal & Topics, during a brief status hearing on February 28, Riccardo DiMonte, attorney for Prestige Feed Products, told the judge he has an agreement with the village to exchange discovery and documents in the village's effort to shut the animal feed plant down. The judge set a date of March 20 for both sides to appear back in court, when an update on the exchange of discovery and a deposition schedule will be presented.
DiMonte added he should have by then the results from a fourth study that has been performed to gauge noise and odor coming from the plant located in the Kensington Business Center, which he believes complies with village code, reported Journal & Topics.
In May 2023, Prestige Feed Products, which makes products for the swine, cattle, and pet food markets, filed a lawsuit against the Village of Mount Prospect, claiming the municipality is planning to illegally revoke their business license and put them out of business based on allegedly baseless claims of creating a public nuisance through foul odors. According to the lawsuit, the village reneged on a previous agreement to halt any legal action while Prestige addressed the odor complaints.
The village asserted that Prestige's business is a nuisance based on complaints from residents regarding a 'burnt cheese smell' emanating from the facility. Prestige commissioned scientific odor studies, however, that allegedly measured the air discharged from the facility, demonstrating the odor levels were either immeasurable or well below the legal definition of a nuisance.
Prestige invested significantly in odor remediation equipment, spending $432,594 between 2019 and 2022. The company also expressed 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, asserting that the village lacks objective measurable or scientific data to counter their claims.
