Always get ozone smell through basement windows, why?

We have a finished basement. The floor of the basement is about 5 feet below the outside ground level. The bottom of the windows is about 6 inches from the ground level and each measure 2′ x 1′ egress-style. The windows face due east.

If we leave one or both windows open for any period of time it smells like ozone comes in and settles in our living area. Other windows in the house don’t do this … and they are higher off the ground. Each time I Google ground-level ozone they are talking about general troposphere presence as a pollutant but nothing about the density maybe being higher than air.

We are about to install an ERV and it is convenient to draw air in from that side of the house. Now we are wondering if we should elevate the intake higher off the ground (and by how much) to avoid drawing in this smell.

EDIT: ERV is Energy Recovery Ventilator

We do fertilize with nitrogen but haven’t applied anything to the yard for 4 months or more. We live near a busy highway and retail businesses:

Anyone have experience with this or subject matter experts out there? Your help is appreciated!

EDIT: As was suggested we are getting our VOC levels checked in the basement on Friday.

EDIT: Here are the TVOC and HCHO readings from in the house!