Complaint About Stinky Potato Chip Factory Wafts toward Court in New Brunswick
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A group of residents in Woodstock, New Brunswick, say life near a popular potato chip factory has become unbearable, and now they are preparing to take legal action.
Seventeen residents have filed applications with New Brunswick’s Farm Practices Review Board, claiming the new Covered Bridge Potato Chips facility has caused ongoing disruption in their neighbourhood. Their concerns include noise, increased traffic, and a strong foul odour.
The factory opened in Woodstock last September after a fire destroyed Covered Bridge’s original plant in nearby Waterville. While residents initially believed the new location might be temporary, they say the facility has instead become a permanent fixture in the Woodstock Industrial Park, which sits beside a residential neighbourhood.
In a statement released through lawyer Basile Chiasson, resident Robert Harrison said “The Covered Bridge Potato Chip Ltd. plant is simply in the wrong place,”
The case has not yet gone directly to court. Because Covered Bridge operates in a sector overseen by farm practice rules, residents first had to notify the Farm Practices Review Board. The board will determine whether it has jurisdiction or whether the matter should proceed to the Court of King’s Bench.
The dispute has been building for months. Residents formed an advocacy group called Our Town, Our Voice and brought their concerns to Woodstock town council, arguing the chip factory is too large and disruptive for an area they believe should be limited to light manufacturing.
The town’s chief administrator previously said the company fits the definition of light manufacturing. Woodstock council also amended a zoning bylaw last August to allow food processing on the property, and in 2025 the town granted Covered Bridge a building permit expansion.
In an April memo to council, the town said Covered Bridge was arranging fencing and landscaping for the buffer area.
Woodstock-area MLA Bill Hogan said he had met with residents last year and hoped the homeowners, the company, and the town would be able to find a compromise.
“It’s unfortunate that they weren’t able to work out a compromise so that they didn’t have to take this route,” Hogan said.
He added that he does not expect Covered Bridge to leave Woodstock, given the investment already made in the facility.
The potato chip maker employs about 50 people at the Woodstock plant and pays roughly $15,500 in combined municipal and provincial property taxes, according to a town memo.
Covered Bridge Potato Chips did not respond to a request for comment, and the Town of Woodstock said it could not comment on a matter currently before the court.
For now, the dispute leaves Woodstock in an oddly Canadian standoff: a beloved local snack company on one side, frustrated neighbours on the other, and somewhere in the middle, the smell of old grease.
This story is covered in this week’s Keep Canada Weird news roundup.
