JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — It's a question that's been on the minds of Jacksonville residents for years and been blamed for headaches, nausea and worry over decreased property values - and there may finally be an answer Monday.
More details are expected to be learned about a "chemical-like" odor complained about and smelled sporadically in the Murray Hill area. The final report on a city-funded study into the odor is set to be presented to the Jacksonville Environmental Protection Board.
There has been plenty of finger-pointing and even a lawsuit over where the odor is coming from. But answers from the $125,000 city-funded study may not be, as the city's Environmental Quality Division Chief Melissa Long described to First Coast News in May, a "smoking gun" blaming one facility.
“We did find that there isn’t one particular source or culprit causing objectionable odors," Long said. "It’s more various facilities because it depends on wind direction, it depends on what’s going on that day.”
Long says six potentially odorous facilities in Jacksonville are working with the city and are making or have made changes. She lists: International Flavors and Fragrances, Symrise, Reichhold, American Cool Air, Taylor Made Fiberglass and Revlon.
IFF is a fragrance factory on Lane Avenue fined nearly $15,000 by the city in November following resident complaints in 2021 and ordered to make some changes.
An IFF spokesperson told First Coast News in a statement in May, "In full cooperation with the City of Jacksonville, IFF has invested in systems for wastewater pond maintenance, including: a technology called a hex cover, equipment to oxygenate the wastewater pond and a new oil/water separator."
First Coast News asked Long why multiple people, some of which tracked wind direction at the time they smelled it, describe the same smell in front of IFF.
“I can’t really explain it," she said. "There are different smells from different facilities. Sometimes there is a combination of those smells and one might be a little stronger than the other."
Long calls the study successful, saying its purpose was to see how odors travel through the city. Residents say they believed it was supposed to find the source of the odor.
The final report took longer than anticipated to prepare because it's close to 200 pages, a city spokesperson says. They say the report will be posted online after the Jacksonville Environmental Protection Board meeting, which is at 5:00 p.m. Monday at the Edward Ball Building downtown at 214 North Hogan Street.