Residents of the Morgan’s Cove neighborhood in St. Johns County have filed a class-action lawsuit against Indianhead Biomass Services, claiming the composting and biosolid treatment facility is producing a noxious stench of human waste.
The odor, they say in the suit filed this week, is constant and invasive. The plaintiffs accuse the company of negligence, nuisance, and failing to control emissions from its site off County Road 214 — roughly two miles from the development.
Indianhead has countered that their operations are legal, provide a vital environmental function and existed prior to the arrival of the residential development.
“We are proud of the work that we do and we are going to continue to look to the future,” spokesperson Heather Neville told The Citizen Friday. “I’m hopeful for our community to all come together because there is a solution here.”
The surprise suit comes just weeks ahead of a planned community meeting on the matter to be hosted by Indianhead sometime next month.
The plaintiffs—Sonya Fry, Heather Babcock, Trent and Breanne Turner, Zeida Gutierrez, and Robert Warner—say they can’t enjoy time outside, invite guests over, or open their windows during certain times.
They’re seeking damages for loss of property value and quality of life, as well as a court order forcing Indianhead to stanch the smells or shutter its biosolid processing altogether.
“We obviously deny all of the allegations in the complaint,” Indianhead’s attorney, John Wallace, told The Citizen. “We’re in compliance with the permit, and we will defend this case vigorously.”
Between January 2023 and February 2025, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection logged more than 700 reports from Morgan’s Cove about the issue.
Residents argue the company has dismissed their concerns as “subjective.” According to the lawsuit, Indianhead has made insufficient effort to monitor or address the smell and has failed to prevent recurring issues flagged by county inspectors, including excessive waste piles.
The problem has drawn the attention of environmental activist Erin Brockovich, who wrote on her blog that “you can’t deny people’s senses” and criticized officials for brushing off the complaints.
She noted that some states have banned biosolids from being used as fertilizer over concerns about chemicals leaching into groundwater.
Neville defended the facility as performing a necessary and fully legal public service.
She said the company has operated in the area since 2018—years before Morgan’s Cove was developed—and is contracted by the county to process yard debris and biosolids into compost.
Neville acknowledged that the facility was cited for administrative violations this spring, including operating outside permitted hours and storing too much material. She said those issues have been corrected.
She said the company is exploring ways to satisfy an odor management plan, including lowering compost pile heights and adding more wood chips to absorb smell.
The lawsuit is seeking not just compensation, but concrete steps to reduce the odor.
4 Responses
Why would a developer build near a plant like this? It’s the old age caveat emptor…let the buyer beware. It seems to me that the developer is responsible for non disclosure, not the business.
In 2018, the facility was only processing leaves, trees and other non-sewage. I believe the human feces was introduced two years ago – after houses were built, and WHILE some were being built. No way the builder or the buyers can be blamed, IMO.
Every waste processing plant stinks. They build more and more. Now a new one off sr207. It’s going to horrible. We’ve lived here before all the houses now surrounding us and I would rather smell swamp on a 100° day.
I can’t believe this has gone on so long. You need to get Desantis involved ASAP. We were moving to St Augustine . My husband went there last week and said it smells like feces. We found out about this and now not going. I am brokenhearted. Please don’t let St Augustine become a toilet. You need this fixed it has probably seeped into ground water.