Prestige Feed Products in Mount Prospect, which occupies the nearest portion of the building in this view, has agreed to cease operations by the end of the year. Joe Lewnard/[email protected]
The two-year legal battle pitting two suburbs against an odor-causing animal feed producer is over.
Mount Prospect and Des Plaines settled their lawsuit with Prestige Feed Products, which has the company departing the Kensington Business Center by the end of the year.
Des Plaines ratified the agreement Monday and Mount Prospect followed suit Tuesday.
For Prestige’s neighbors, it means an eventual end to what they say is a nightmare that began in 2019, when the business opened. Neighboring residents, businesses and even a school complained about odors they compared to “burned cheese.”
As part of the settlement agreement, Prestige has agreed to cease manufacturing operations at the site located at 431 Lakeview Court in Mount Prospect by Dec. 31. Prestige will also reduce its manufacturing hours from 84 to 53 per week.
Manufacturing operations will be restricted to 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. between Monday evening and Friday morning and 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. on Sunday night and Monday morning.
Prestige is prohibited from operating between 7 a.m. on Friday and 10 p.m. on Sunday.
Although the settlement concludes the litigation involving the village and the city, it does not completely wrap up legal matters. Neighbors still have a class-action lawsuit against Prestige pending.
There also remains a lawsuit against Prestige filed by the Illinois Attorney General.
For neighbors like Mary Beth Stillmaker, the litigation still means they will experience the odors through the end of the year.
“(The hours) are reduced, and at least we get some relief on Friday nights and Saturday nights,” she said. “We will be happy when we when they stop operating.”
Under the agreement, the parties have agreed to limit public comment to press releases and what is contained in the agreement, but Mount Prospect and Des Plaines officials issued a joint statement on Tuesday.
“The Village, the City, and Prestige were looking at a trial date that would take the parties into October with potential appeals after that,” Mount Prospect Village Manager Michael Cassady said. “This agreement gives everyone certainty on an end date, allows for limited manufacturing hours including limited weekend hours through the summer, mitigates the risk of trial for both sides, gives Prestige the ability to determine its next steps, and saves our taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in litigation and litigation-related costs.”
Mount Prospect officials estimated it would cost about $400,000 to take the suit to trial.
Des Plaines Mayor Andrew Goczkowski called the settlement a “beneficial resolution.”
Prestige has not issued a statement.
A court will continue to have jurisdiction during the remainder of Prestige’s manufacturing operations.
The settlement provides for continued odor monitoring through an independent third-party testing service. Testing will occur twice weekly through the facility’s closure date — Prestige will cease production for the following shift if odor levels exceed the agreed-upon levels in the testing protocol.
