$100K settlement in chicken manure case

The owner of the defunct Escondido Country Club has agreed to pay the county $100,000 in civil penalties for spreading raw chicken manure on his golf course last year, an act many thought was done out of spite to annoy nearby residents opposed to his development plans.

The size of the fine was determined after more than a year of settlement talks between Michael Schlesinger’s Stuck in the Rough company and the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District.

District Director Robert Kard described the fine as substantial and what he was looking for all along. Had a settlement for at least $100,000 not been reached, Kard said, the district would have taken the company to court.

“In early April 2014, Stuck in the Rough paid to have approximately 5 tons of raw chicken manure delivered and spread on the closed golf course, which is surrounded by many homes,” Kard said.

An attorney for Schlesinger on Friday disputed that it was raw chicken poop that was spread, instead calling it a “soil enhancer” that was applied on the course for landscaping reasons.

Ronald Richards said the settlement does not come with an admission of liability or wrongdoing and called the $100,000 a “donation” that will be used to enhance the county’s air quality.

Kard said the district received 63 complaints from 46 people who lived near the golf course, which had been shut down more than a year earlier in the northwestern part of the city.

The odors persisted from early April to early May, a total of 26 days, he said. Inspectors documented “very strong chicken manure odors at the residences next to the golf course and in the surrounding neighborhoods,” Kard said, noting the majority of the manure was placed immediately adjacent to houses lining fairways.

“People could not open their doors and windows because of the strong odors,” he said.

Complaints about the odors causing nausea, headaches, watery eyes and breathing difficulties were numerous.

Mike Slater, president of the homeowners group in the neighborhood, welcomed the settlement news.

“This really was a fine and a penalty for what he did,” he said. “I think the people around the golf course are going to be very pleased that justice was done. We look at it as a victory for the community.”

An additional $80,000 in penalties is also specified in the settlement agreement should the company be cited for a public nuisance at the same golf course any time within the next five years, Kard said.

The manure incident came after residents had convinced the Escondido City Council through a petition drive to declare the golf course open space, thereby thwarting Schlesinger’s plans to build hundreds of homes on the property. Later, Schlesinger was able to get a measure put on the November 2014 ballot, asking voters to overturn the council’s decision. The measure failed by a large margin with residents mounting a successful campaign that depicted Schlesinger as a bully, using the chicken manure incident as a prime example of his methods.

A court later ruled the council discriminated against Schlesinger’s personal property rights with its open space designation. As of now Stuck in the Rough has proposed building 270 homes on the property. The application is in limbo.

The settlement will be paid over a two-year period, Richards said.

“The money is going to be used for improving the air quality in San Diego. Because the money is going to be used for a good purpose and there is absolutely zero admission of wrongdoing by anybody, we felt this was a good way to end this matter and move forward and not backward with the county.”

Richards said the product put on the golf course was a soil enhancer.

“Defendants rarely admit anything and that’s pretty common language in settlement agreements,” Kard said. “We know the manure was put there intentionally. As to why was the big question. We were told it was for golf course maintenance but the golf course had been defunct for several years.”