ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — People living in St. Pete’s Childs Park Neighborhood have been complaining about a smell there for years.

Two brand new air quality monitors on loan from the Environmental Protection Agency are now in Childs Park, located just feet away from the large industrial park and nearby homes.

The monitors are part of the Fenceline Sensor Loan Program for improved screening and characterization of volatile organic compound emissions. The monitors are still being set up by county employees.

According to the EPA, the new monitors don’t detect all volatile organic compounds, but they can detect many VOCs that are commonly emitted by commercial and industrial sources of air pollution.

In a meeting late last month with U.S. and local leaders, the EPA listened as Childs Park Neighborhood Association President Jabaar Edmond discussed their concerns.

“Kathy Castor was there, EPA, Pinellas County Air Quality, council member Mohammad, staff members, city of St. Pete administration around the air quality sensors that’s gonna be put up,” Edmond said. “It shows that advocacy does work. It shows community members that even though they feel their concerns aren’t being heard, sometimes the machine runs slow. I actually felt good being able to tell our members at our neighborhood association meeting that hey, there’s some steps being taken. Your voices are being heard.”

The neighborhood is buzzing now that the new monitors are installed. One resident, Karen Jordan, says it gives her hope.

She is hoping the monitors will bring them steps closer to eliminating the smell.

“It smells like gas, oil and then it has a foul smell, so it’s different,” she said.

Jordan has lived in her Childs Park home across the street from the industrial complex for four years. She said her experience over the years has been concerning.

“Well, we started getting smut, like this black smut, in our homes," she said. "And that’s when we found out about this plant over here."

There are five companies in the industrial complex that have air permits from the county. There’s a concrete plant, a chrome plating company and the city’s water reclamation facility operating as a bio energy company. The other two handle oil or gas.

Howco Environmental Services recycles used oil and removes hazardous waste, and JKT Petroleum is a fuel storage and transfer company. 

Eckerd College chemistry professor Polina Maciejczyk said she spotted the new sensor Thursday, too. She’s been monitoring volatile organic compounds in this area for more than a year.

“I’m very excited about this new technology," she said. "They installed the volatile organic carbon monitors. It is one of the sensors we have right now for measuring. Ours is mobile monitors so I’m not as stationary so I can catch different wind directions.

"So, my contribution here is we can walk around and be mobile in this neighborhood and collect different data than the county.”

With an environmental concern like the one in Childs Park, data is the name of the game, and experts say the more, the better.

Several people said the smell isn’t an issue as often as it was before. Some say it’s more prevalent at night, while others say it’s happening on the weekend. Of course, the county wants to know about it all. People who smell any suspicious smells can report them.