Megan Baxa lives with her husband and two young children in a townhouse near the Veolia waste transfer station in the 1600 block of Church Street. (Brian L. Cox / Special to the Tribune)

A stink is brewing between Evanston and a garbage collection company that recently filed a civil lawsuit alleging the city is trying to force its waste transfer station out of the north suburb.

The lawsuit, filed in January by Veolia Solid Waste Midwest in Cook County Circuit Court, alleges that Evanston is imposing illegal fees and harassing the company through unfair inspections, among other things.

The waste hauler opened the $3.5 million transfer station at 1711 Church Street in July 2000. Throughout the day, garbage trucks bring waste to the station where it is unloaded, then loaded into tractor-trailers and taken away for disposal.

According to the 43-page lawsuit, a pattern of harassment by the city began four years ago, after the Church Street Village townhomes were built in the 1600 block of Church Street and residents began complaining about the smell. Some of those neighbors said in interviews that the odor can get ripe.

“I think it’s pretty awful,” said Megan Baxa, who lives in one of the Church Street Village townhomes with her husband and two young children.

Baxa said she has complained to the city about the smell. According to the lawsuit, in response to complaints, the city sent out inspectors and fined the company.

“I don’t think it’s something that belongs in a residential neighborhood to the extent that it operates today,” Baxa said. “I would be happiest if it completely left.”

Karen Erickson, who has lived in the Church Street Village development for four years, said that the smell from the transfer station can be unpleasant at times. But she said she’s not surprised — because it was there when she moved in.

“I can’t say I’m tremendously opposed to their presence,” she said. “I think they’ve tried to work with the homeowners association.”

“In the summer it’s certainly worse,” she added. “I can’t say I open my windows to let the air go through. It’s air conditioned and I don’t have to open my windows if the smell is unpleasant, and it is sometimes.”

The lawsuit alleges that the harassment by the city got worse after a real estate developer showed interest in remodeling a nearby office-condominium building.

Evanston spokesman Eric Palmer declined to comment on the lawsuit because the litigation is pending. The city has until Feb. 23 to respond in court to the allegations.

The lawsuit also alleges that the city hired a full-time employee to act as an “environmental health inspector,” whose main job is to police the station.

In July a city inspector issue a municipal code violation against the company, according to the lawsuit. The inspector wrote that she “sensed an unwholesome odor of rotten garbage” while standing in the backyard of one of the townhomes in the 1600 block of Church Street.

The lawsuit says that in 2010 the city implemented a $2 per ton “road-impact fee” targeting only Veolia, which has cost the company at least $300,000.

“It’s not a valid fee and we’ve asked the city to reimburse the fees that have been paid thus far and have the court to declare the fee ordinance is not valid,” said attorney Jerry Callaghan, with the Chicago law firm of Freeborn & Peters.

He said the suit also says that the city has tried to require that Veolia to disclose its confidential customer list so it could contact Veolia’s customers and pressure them to stop doing business with the waste hauler.

“There’s no reason they need to know who Veolia’s customers are,” he said

Callaghan also said the company believes the stink over the waste transfer station was started by nearby residents who are pressuring city council to take action to ensure the company moves.

“A lot of people who live adjacent to the property are pressing to have the transfer station closed,” he said. “Certainly many of the people living adjacent to the transfer station have been in contact with the city and have urged the city to try and get this transfer station closed.

“There have been comments made by city council members that they want Veolia to close down and leave,” he added.

He said the company planted 50 blue spruce trees on a berm on the station’s east side, as a way to appease neighbors. It also installed a new “misting system” to decrease offensive odors.

Baxa said the misting system is not much help.

“Instead of a true garbage smell you have a garbage cherry smell,” she said. “Not much of an improvement, I think.”