Land-use disputes sometimes foul the air with accusations of dirty politics.
Take the case of the estimated 5 tons of chicken manure that the owner of the defunct Escondido Golf Course dumped on several fairways in 2014 — smack in the middle of a dispute with surrounding homeowners about plans to build homes on the site.
The homeowners thought the chicken manure was olfactory retaliation. The owner insisted it was just fertilizer to keep the grass from dying.
The issue has roiled local politics ever since.
Voters and the Escondido City Council turned down the housing proposal.