Shutdown Clause in Pact : Tortilla Company Fined $3,400 for Noise, Smell

Mission Foods Corp. was ordered Thursday to pay $3,400 for noise and odor violations under a plea agreement that could temporarily close the Canoga Park plant if more problems occur.

At its sentencing in Los Angeles Municipal Court, Mission, a Mexican food producer, was fined $850--or half the maximum--for each of the four misdemeanor counts to which it pleaded no contest last month, according to Deputy City Atty. Vincent B. Sato.

Sato said the sentence included a 36-month probation order in which Mission agreed that the court can shut the plant for 30 days if any of the terms are violated.

Neighbors of the plant at 7920 Deering Ave. had complained about noisy machinery, the smell of burning tortillas and flour dustings occasionally so heavy that “it looked like snow in August,” as one resident put it.

Mission had been charged with nine misdemeanor violations of city noise and state odor regulations, stemming from episodes occurring January to July, 1987.

Sato said the probation incorporates an odor abatement order issued last fall by the South Coast Air Quality Management District. Among other provisions, the order required Mission officials to reduce operating hours and meet each month with its neighbors.

The probation also requires Mission to carry out recommendations of its noise-control consultant--including the installation of new machinery and noise-reduction equipment--and to make regular progress reports to the court.

Sato said Mission is still in violation of noise regulations, generating 59 decibels, 4 decibels above the limit for daytime operations. He said the company should be meeting the limits within a few months.

Sato said the probation is unusual in specifying a possible plant shutdown because “very few businesses will stipulate to that.” He said Mission agreed “because I’m giving them time to come into compliance” with noise restrictions.

Mission officials could not be reached for comment.