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ROCK HILL, Mo. — Rock Hill residents say the air in their neighborhood sometimes smells like marijuana, and now city leaders say the number of complaints is growing and the state is investigating.
The odor is coming from a large cannabis grower warehouse in the Rock Hill Industrial Court, where Proper Brands cultivates and manufactures cannabis products.
Nancy O’Reilly has lived in the McKnight Crossing condominiums for more than eight years, and the warehouse is just behind the condos. She says the smell has become a regular problem.
“It smells like skunk weed, there’s no other way to describe it,” O’Reilly said.
She says the odor is worst at night and during warmer months.
“It can be really thick on some nights, depending on the way the wind is,” said O’Reilly. “We would sit at the pool all summer, and we could smell it all summer long; it’s like, ‘What is that?’ And we’re like ‘Oh, its the plant.’ It’s bad.”
O’Reilly says the issue is affecting more than just daily comfort.
“My realtor told us this is affecting our property value,” she said. “It’s just not a good smell and not a good look for a really nice development.”
Rock Hill City Administrator Garrett Schlett says the city has received complaints since the facility opened in 2021, but those complaints have increased significantly over the past year, especially in the last few months.
“So we’ve been getting complaints since they moved in, and they were a lot less in the beginning, and in more recently, we had an uptick in complaints,” Schlett said.
Last spring, the city created a dedicated email so residents could report when and where they smell marijuana.
“At that point, we had 99 complaints from April to December,” Schlett said. “And I would say in the last few months, we’ve been getting more complaints. The smell seems to be a little bit stronger, and more people are catching that smell.”
Schlett says complaints are coming from multiple parts of the city, including along Manchester Road, South McKnight Road, and nearby condominium complexes, as well as neighborhoods on the other side of the warehouse.
“With the amount of complaints that we’ve gotten more recently, it seems it’s getting worse,” said Schlett.
Those complaints were forwarded to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, which regulates cannabis facilities in the state.
“Their response was that they began an investigation,” Schlett said. “They can’t really comment on where their investigation is at, because it’s still an open investigation, but they are doing the investigation.”
Schlett said the state is investigating whether Proper is violating state cannabis regulations.
St. Louis County environmental testing shows the odor does not pose an air pollution risk.
“He didn’t believe that it would qualify as air pollution, and it’s just a smell,” Schlett said.
Schlett says city staff can sometimes smell it a half mile away from City Hall.
“Sometimes we can smell it up here at City Hall… when we come in in the morning,” he said.
Schlett says the city has repeatedly worked with Proper Brands to try to reduce the odor, often asking the company to change filters or adjust equipment.
“So I would say that anytime we’ve shared complaints, they have been as responsive as they can,” Schlett said. “It’s just not always helping.”
He says the company has installed air scrubbers and filters, but the smell continues.
“Even changing the filters hasn’t seemed to help,” Schlett said.
Under Rock Hill’s municipal code, cannabis facilities are required to prevent odors from being detectable beyond their property lines.
“That is happening,” Schlett said.
Now, residents say they plan to take their concerns directly to city leaders.
O’Reilly says people in her condo complex plan to attend the upcoming Board of Aldermen meeting.
“People complain a lot, and so we all do, so it bugs everybody,” she said. “It’s not their fault, they have a business to run, and it is a business. But at the same time, it’s affecting 84 units and other houses; it’s not just us.”
Schlett says residents are encouraged to attend the meeting and share their concerns.
“I think the residents of Rock Hill should come to this meeting,” he said. “That way, the owners of the company know how the residents feel, and the elected officials have a good idea whether people support it or not.”
Proper Brands representatives are expected to attend the meeting and provide an update on what steps they are taking to address the odor.
The Rock Hill Board of Aldermen meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 3, at Rock Hill City Hall.