Sara Lee Vows ‘Return To Normal In The Coming Weeks’ For Boardman Lake Odor Issues

One neighbor is in the fledgling stages of building a brand for his new business. Another is a school leader trying to plan a fall semester that would have included considerable outdoor learning time. Both are confused and upset about the pervasive and lingering odors that have settled over the western side of Boardman Lake in recent weeks.

While initially thought by many to be the product of the Traverse City Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant on the north end of Boardman Lake, the odors were confirmed last week to be the result of an issue with the “on-site wastewater pre-treatment facility” at the Sara Lee Frozen Bakery building on Sybrandt Road. A Sara Lee spokesperson tells The Ticker the problem is expected to “return to normal in the coming weeks,” but the company declines to offer a more specific timetable.

Justin Rivard officially opened the doors of Nocturnal Bloom Brewing Company on July 30. Located in the Atomic Marketplace at 3344 Cass Road, Nocturnal Bloom is just steps away from the Sara Lee facility, and Rivard says he started noticing odd odors almost immediately after opening.

“It’s been a problem for over a month – maybe two months,” he says.

Rivard tells The Ticker the smell has had negative impacts on the brewery, which has a large outdoor beer garden space with patio seating and a bocce court, as well as garage doors on the building to create an indoor-outdoor flow when weather allows. Because of the odors, Nocturnal Bloom hasn't been able to utilize its outdoor space as much as desired.

“We’ve had days we had to close the garage doors due to the smell,” he says. “I thought for a while, ‘It’s the wastewater treatment plant,’ but just recently found out it’s Sara Lee.”

The City of Traverse City confirmed the Sara Lee Frozen Bakery facility as the source of the odor last week.

“The city has recently received questions from residents about changes in air quality in the community, particularly around the Boardman and Fernwood neighborhoods,” the City's Bay Brief newsletter noted. “While these concerns were initially thought to be connected to the city’s wastewater treatment plant, the source has been identified as Sara Lee Frozen Bakery’s on-site wastewater pre-treatment facility, which is located near Boardman Lake in Garfield Township, just outside of the city.”

According to the city, the issue stems from “a process-related change” within Sara Lee’s treatment system. “Once identified, the company began implementing adjustments to return the system to its normal operating balance,” the newsletter noted.

While the Sara Lee facility is located in Garfield Township and is therefore not within the purview of the City of Traverse City, the Bay Brief reported that the city will “provide biological solids from our treatment system to help reseed and stabilize Sara Lee’s facility – a standard and effective practice in the wastewater field that the city has successfully used to assist other facilities in the past.”

Reached by The Ticker on Friday, Sara Lee spokesperson Mark Hubbard provided a written statement saying these “adjustments” to the local facility’s water treatment system were “already showing positive results.”

“We’ll continue working closely with local partners, including Traverse City leaders, and we appreciate the community’s support as conditions return to normal in the coming weeks,” the statement said.

When pressed for a more specific timetable on Monday, though, Hubbard was not able to provide one.

“Sara Lee Frozen Bakery is working as expeditiously as possible to improve the air quality at the wastewater treatment plant,” Hubbard wrote in an email to The Ticker. “It takes a minimum of several days but could take longer, and we don’t want to mislead anyone.”

Hubbard added that the wording included in the initial statement – that things should return to normal in “the coming weeks” – was chosen because it provided “some flexibility for expectations.”

“We very much hope it is sooner than later,” he concluded.

In the meantime, some of Sara Lee’s neighbors are running out of patience.

“Greenspire High School is an environmentally focused, place-based program with a daily curriculum focusing on outdoor exploration/investigation,” says Erica Walsh, who serves as principal of the school that leases space at Northwestern Michigan College’s Boardman Lake Campus. “Since school began on September 2, our students have endured this sewage-like odor while attempting to learn in nature. Our staff has endured this since August 18. It has been one month of this, and we are frustrated by the lack of action that has taken place to rectify this problem. My parent community has been very patient with me as I have attempted to correct this issue, but they are upset as well.”

Walsh says she’s reached out both to Sara Lee and to “several area governance organizations” – including the Grand Traverse County Health Department, local commissioners, and even the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) – to communicate her concerns. “While these organizations are sympathetic, the odor persists daily, depending on the wind direction,” she says.

Though Walsh has received multiple apologies from local Sara Lee leaders – including from plant manger Ty Hakman, who visited Greenspire in person to say sorry – she’s not satisfied with how slow-moving the response has been.

“[Sara Lee leaders] said they are trying to ‘dilute a slug in the system’ and they have to do this slowly. Yet, it has been a solid four weeks of this. How long should this last when there are schools, businesses, and coffee shops nearby?” Walsh asks.

“I’m wondering why it’s taken so long,” Rivard concurs.