House passes legislation to kill proposed landfill in KC area
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Missouri House of Representatives passed legislation on Tuesday morning that killed plans to build a landfill in Raymore, Missouri.
The landfill debate has been a controversial issue for more than a year in both Raymore and Jefferson City, Missouri.
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The compromise solidified a $3.7 million settlement from the Raymore City Council, that was approved on Monday, April 15, and contingent on Tuesday’s passing of the legislation, to acquire 270 acres from developers.
Jennifer Monheiser, one of the developers, owns 92 of those acres. This settlement allows Raymore to buy 12 acres outside of the city for a possible future corridor into the city for $440,000. The city will then pay the developer $3.29 million to restrict what can be done to the rest of the land, including building a landfill.
The bill was passed out of the Missouri House earlier this session. It aimed to impose stricter regulations on waste disposal facility developments near and around the Kansas City Border.
One specific regulation required landfill developers, who have plans to build on the Kansas City-Raymore border, to seek approval from nearby municipalities within a one-mile radius, instead of the original half-mile.
According to the release, pollution and property devaluation were concerns of local legislators, homeowners, schools and businesses in and around the Creekmoor golf course community. This is added to the fact that eight other landfills are already in the Kansas City area.
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Currently, the bill is heading to Governor Mike Parson for his approval.
“The legislature has worked on this policy issue for two years, and I am proud of the hard work of my colleagues on this matter,” John Patterson, R-Lee’s Summit, said.
“It is important that we carefully weigh and consider the environmental concerns and community interests in any decisions regarding landfill development.”
“Primacy of property rights, determining how land will be used and owned,” said Rep. Mike Haffner, R-Pleasant Hill. “I go back to the founding documents of our country, where our founding fathers talked about this concept of what they called the primacy of property rights, because they understood that property represented economic opportunity. That is the case here.”
