WOODINVILLE, Wash. - First the neighbors complained of odors from production of French onion soup at StockPot and the Campbell Soup Co. subsidiary was fined $18,000.

Now, with neighboring land the preferred site for a sewage treatment plant, company officials want the county to buy out the lease and help the company relocate after four years in this suburb northeast of Seattle.

"We feel the proposed site of the treatment facility will have a significant and negative impact on our business there," said Michelle Davidson, a spokeswoman for the Camden, N.J.-based firm.

The buyout request, which Davidson would not discuss, was made in January, said Christie True, project manager for the Brightwater sewage project. The lease runs through 2012.

County officials are negotiating with about 16 property owners for 106 acres off Washington 9 north of Woodinville for the Brightwater plant. They say they don't need the 6.7-acre StockPot parcel but are considering the option to provide additional buffer.

According to Snohomish County tax records, the StockPot land and plant are worth about $6 million.

Faced with 230 complaints from neighbors, the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency ordered StockPot last month to cut the stink by summer or face as much as $18,000 in fines. StockPot officials have said a solution could cost close nearly $1 million.

Even so, local officials said they'd be sorry to lose the company and its 250 jobs.

"They are a principal employer in the Woodinville area," said Dan Ramirez, director of the local Chamber of Commerce. "It would be a serious impact to the community, our schools, businesses, retail, parks, everything."

If residents were given a choice, Ramirez added, "it would be a no-brainer. They'd prefer StockPot to a sewage plant."