Agenda - Council - 05/11/2004 - Laserfiche WebLink

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CASE REPORT FROM PUBLIC WORKS By: Public Works Staff Background: The Public Works Committee met on Tuesday, April 20, 2004 and discussed the following six cases: Case #1 Monitoring Air Quality at Commercial Asphalt Background: Public Works Supervisor Riemer stated that in 2003 staff was asked to monitor odors coming from the Commercial Asphalt plant located at 14100 Basalt Street in Ramsey. Monitoring consisted of staff sniffing the air downwind of the plant twice a day and rating the odor on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the worst. Conditions such as temperature, humidity, wind direction and wind speed were also recorded. This information was compiled and given to the Community Development Department for their records, and to see if a trend could be established that caused the odor to be stronger on some days more than others. Public Works Supervisor Riemer explained with the 2004 paving season quickly approaching staff would like to review this process with the Public Works Committee and see if staff should continue the monitoring and if so, what changes if any, should be made to the process. The following is a list of possible changes developed by staff for consideration: Stop monitoring the odor Reduce monitoring from twice a day to once per day Continue monitoring as before · Include a column on the daily report sheet to include production figures for the day · Require the business owner to hire an outside agency to monitor the plant odor using more sophisticated test equipment · City to purchase sophisticated test equipment for odor detection Mike Caron of Commercial Asphalt was in attendance to explain when the weather is cool, like the week they had the problem, what the plant operator was doing was making smaller batches to try to keep the product warm. During the last discussion he had suggested the plant has the capability for making a bigger batch so the plant runs a longer period of time, rather than starting and stopping. With the starting and stopping the bag house does not always stay warm enough to get everything up in the air to disperse. With the cold temperatures they proposed to run the equipment a longer period of time for production so the bag house would stay warm. Consensus of the Committee was that staff monitor the odor once per week randomly, and that Commercial Asphalt provide the City with a production schedule. It was noted a temperature may be determined as the threshold for a different type of production process. Action: Ratify the recommendation of the Public Works Committee.