LAVEEN, AZ — Dozens of residents in Laveen came out to a community meeting with Maricopa County and City of Phoenix leaders Thursday night to voice concerns over a composting operation in Laveen.
"I'm next to them, I'm just a few feet from them and it's been a nightmare," stated Maria Gallegos. "I'm the kind of person who loves to be outside with my animals and my plants and my garden and this to me is like when we were in COVID-19, I have to be inside."
Maria and her husband Jose say they have been smelling the composting operation for months.
"We called the fire department because it smelled really bad like gas," said Jose Gallegos. "We were like, 'There's something wrong here something is going to explode.' The fire department, the very first thing they told us is, 'Why did you build your house next to a composting facility?' We were here first!"
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Residents claim that brewery wastewater at the composting farm is largely to blame for the smell, but county officials said the more than 300 complaints have been investigated and handled.
"Our concern with the waste was if it was going to attract flies or if flies were going to breed in the waste but it was removed, we confirmed it yesterday," an official said.
The owner of the composting farm, Neal Brooks, responded to ABC15 with a statement saying there is "Zero yeast coming in, [we] stopped when we determined that was 'smell.' [Also, we are] moving by mid-January 2025."
Maria said she doesn't believe it.
"The piles of waste are a lot bigger. The piles that were like 12-15 feet, now they are like 20-something. I don't see any intention of leaving," stated Maria.
Maricopa County Planning and Development is scheduled to hold a compliance meeting on November 5 to determine if the composting farm is operating a business within a rural zoning district.
