Dirt, debris and 'diaper bucket' smells near Bay Park plant

The large generators at the Bay Park Sewage Plant have been running for 24 hours a day since Hurricane Sandy two years ago

Tim Baker/Herald

Even with the promise of upgrades and repairs, residents are still dealing with unpleasant smells and loud noises emanating from the Bay Park Sewage Plant.

“The ongoing nature of it all can get pretty frustrating,” said Dan Caracciolo, a Bay Park resident and a co-founder of the local advocacy group the 11518. “The smells, the noise — it can all be a lot for residents to deal with.”

The plant, which was sorely in need of upgrades before Hurricane Sandy threw it offline two years ago, is in the midst of a decade-long overhaul. There are currently six construction jobs under way, including cleaning, a complete rebuilding of the electrical system, the construction of a new dewatering facility, improvements to the plant’s odor-control system and other, smaller jobs. Roughly $830 million in federal funding has been allocated for the work.

Temporary generators now power the plant, whose electrical system was destroyed by Sandy. The generators are noisy, however, and have been in use for longer than the county had planned. Deputy County Executive Rob Walker said last summer that they would be offline by Aug. 1, but they remain in use.

Trisha Kearney, a Bay Park resident for more than 20 years, said it is time for the county to come clean about when the generators will be gone. “The county keeps telling us it’s too hard, too costly to do anything about the noise right now because the generators are temporary, but it’s time to call it what it is,” she said. “I think residents and workers need to start thinking of the generators as there for a very long time, and we need to plan for them so they can have as little impact on the community as possible.”