For three years, Luis Lopez has lived just a few blocks from the rendering plant. Each day, up to 850,000 pounds of animal products are processed here, according to a company statement.
At times the smell from the plant is so bad Lopez and his kids can't step outside, he said.
"Like dead animals rotting," Lopez told CBS47 through the help of a translator.
The group Concerned Citizens of West Fresno is now filing this lawsuit hoping to force the city to require the plant to obtain a conditional use permit. The group claims the permit granted years before the area was annexed into the City of Fresno back in 1971 is not valid for the type and amount of work done here.
In a statement, the company says its permit was "accepted as valid and legal." Only recently did city leaders start asking questions about the permit's validity, the statement added.
"We don't necessarily want them just to fold up and quit. We want them to relocate where they can do what they want to do and we can have a peaceful neighborhood. That's all we want," said West Fresno resident Mary Curry.
Curry, who lives about three-quarters-of-a-mile away from the plant, says the alleged lack of enforcement is discriminatory because the plant sits near low-income neighborhoods.
Fresno City Attorney Jim Sanchez and Councilmember Oliver Baines say all sides have been involved in a formal mediation process. The two leaders believe the lawsuit filed Monday is premature.
In a statement, Darling International says it meets or exceeds all federal, state, and local health and safety standards and has taken steps to reduce the smell.
"We just want the community to be healthy and we want fairness and equality in our communities," said Arogeanae Brown, a student at Edison High School.
Sanchez says the mediation process has not officially ended. He says the city plans to defend the lawsuit and continue to seek solutions that will make all sides happy.