PORTLAND, Ore. — The Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association (ORLA) is demanding the City of Portland review a “smell” code that allegedly caused a popular Vietnamese pho restaurant to shut down recently.
ORLA states that a complaint about smell by an anonymous neighbor forced Pho Gabo Vietnam Kitchen to shut down operations.
A sign on the restaurant’s door Thursday morning read: “Due to the city’s and the neighborhood’s complaints about the smell of the food that we grill and the foods that we serve customers (…) We are temporarily closing this location.” The sign also noted that Pho Gabo has two other locations in Happy Valley and Hillsboro that are still open and serving.
Pho Gabo’s owner Eddie Dong says he’s done everything he can think of to try and mitigate the smell.
“I tried to cut down the grill, and I had to grill during the day. I grill after 7:30/8:00, I grill at night, so people won’t be outdoors and they’ll be inside,” he explained.
ORLA says the neighbor in question repeatedly complained that they “can’t stand the smell of the grill and the meat” coming from the restaurant, which is located on 7330 N.E. Fremont St.
The association continues that this complaint warranted a citation by the City due to zoning code 33.262.070. This code allows a citation when “…the odor threshold is the point at which an odor may just be detected” by an inspector’s nose.
ORLA alleges that these citations are “targeting small restaurants and their owners, many of whom are people from various racial and ethnic backgrounds.” The release did not name any of these other restaurants.
“It’s come to our attention the City of Portland is issuing citations to certain restaurants for ‘smells’ based on anonymous complaints,” said ORLA President & CEO Jason Brandt in a press release. “For other code violations, such as noise, vibration and even glare, there are measurable, objective standards but surprisingly, the City’s code written for ‘odor’ violations is entirely subjective.”
“If the airport was already there and people move in and live by the airport, would the airport have to close and move out?” Dong asked.
The Bureau of Development Services took part in investigating the claim. Ken Ray, a spokesperson for BDS, said they had an inspector go out and talk to neighbors and other businesses about the smell.
“That inspector also interviewed nearby residents and employees of nearby businesses, contractors that were working on nearby houses, and asked them if they had also noticed odors emanating from the restaurant, and they had,” he explained.
Ray also noted the department only gets less than 10 types of odor complaints a year.
“It’s unbelievable that an anonymous person’s repeated complaints about an odor can shut down an entire restaurant, potentially displacing its workers and causing the operator irreparable financial harm,” said Brandt in the restaurant association’s news release.
ORLA also stated that “suggested solutions” from the City of Portland include installing scrubbers that prevent odors from spreading, but these solutions are both expensive and would only temporarily mitigate the smell.
ORLA says it is “calling for the City of Portland to immediately cease these unfair and subjective citations and review its policies on code violations.”