It’s one thing if you can occasionally smell it when your neighbor lights up a doobie, say, in their yard. But it’s quite another if your neighbor has an extremely stinky — yet very legal — marijuana growing operation going on.

The smell of marijuana emanating from a Boulder growing facility has earned the business a total of $14,000 in penalties from the city so far, the Daily Camera reports: city regulations say no odor should be detectable from outside a pot business, and enforcement is based entirely on citizen’s complaints.

On that note, neighbors of the operation in question say the smell is strong enough to waft a block or two from the business, often seeping into their homes.

“It’s like a really stinky skunk smell,” said one neighbor, who told the Daily Camera that while she supports the marijuana industry, she’s been complaining about the operation for a year because “you can’t even really sit on your deck sometimes, it’s so strong.”

Another neighbor told the city council in a letter that the smell is “constant and very pungent,” while a contractor working on homes nearby said the odor is “every day, and always getting worse.”

Boulder officials say they tried to negotiate better compliance with the home owner but had to issue the latest fine — $10,000 — when that effort failed.

“We went through a two-month process with this business, attempting to mentor them and address the concerns the community had” about the smell of marijuana that frequently drifts to nearby homes,” said a city spokeswoman. “They have elected not to make the necessary changes to come into compliance.”

Marijuana isn’t the only stinky commercial endeavor to cause a fuss: there was the car air freshener company that wasn’t so pleased to hear about plans for a slaughterhouse next door; the cafe banned from cooking bacon because some people apparently didn’t like the smell; and the farmers who fought against a new housing development with signs warning of noisy, smelly animals having sex.

Marijuana odor from north Boulder grow irks neighbors, draws $14,000 in fines [Daily Camera]

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