Representatives from Proper Cannabis appeared before the Rock Hill Board of Aldermen on Tuesday night regarding resident complaints about a strong odor coming from the marijuana growing facility located in the Rock Hill Industrial Court.
According to David Bonenberger, director of security and compliance for Proper Cannabis, the last time the facility received consistent odor complaints was two years ago. At that time, Bonenberger said the company met with the city and a third party engineer, resulting in the installation of 12 carbon air filtration system units.
“Years went by and we didn’t hear any complaints. We later did some renovations and put in seven additional units, and it was so far so good up until a few weeks ago,” said Bonenberger. “We don’t know what occurred.”
Earlier this month, due to an influx of odor complaints, the city of Rock Hill set up an email address — marijuanaodor@rockhillmo.net — to log complaints about where, when and how often odor concerns are occurring.
“We had a meeting one morning where staff thought there was a man smoking marijuana outside, but the odor had just come all the way up here to city hall,” Rock Hill Mayor Edward Mahan said. “When we met last time, it got better. We didn’t have any situations, and then all of a sudden it just went haywire.”
Proper Cannabis COO and co-founder Matt LaBrier said the recent complaints have forced the facility to do a “deep dive” into every space in the building to determine where air is seeping out.
LaBrier acknowledged that the facility recently expanded its growing capabilities by 75%, but said additional filters were added at that time as well.
“We did the measures ahead of time. I don’t want the board to have the impression that we expanded by 75% and didn’t do anything else,” he said. “We noticed pockets of air escaping from the building. We’re still on the roof constantly trying to smell where the scent is coming from.”
Rock Hill City Administrator Garrett Schlett said the frequency of odor complaint emails has slowed in the past week. Proper Cannabis representatives asked to be forwarded any new emails or complaints to help determine where the odors may be coming from.
