Grandview Mayor Leonard Jones Jr. discusses recent controversies over mixed income housing and waste transfer station

By Tyler Schneider

When Leonard Jones Jr. was first elected as Grandview’s mayor in a 2014 special election, he said he immediately set out to overhaul the city’s Parks and Recreation Department.

He said his efforts to complete what he described as his “first project,” have “revitalized, revamped, and updated” every park in the city.

“We’re fortunate because we actually went to the public with a bond package, and part of the goal of that package was to make sure that we upgraded the parks. It passed with more than 70 percent, which has allowed us to do a lot of good things in our parks and recreational systems,” Jones said. 

Jones has been reelected twice since 2014. In that span, Grandview’s population grew for the first time since the 1990 census and recently surpassed 25,000 residents. Now in his seventh year at the helm, Jones would like to see that number grow to more than 30,000 strong.

To get there, he said, he’s led the city through a variety of recent efforts to bolster Grandview’s infrastructure, public services and affordable housing stock. 

The most recent step forward came on August 17, when Jones oversaw the official groundbreaking of a project to convert the outer roads along I-49 from a one-way system to the two-way system that was in place prior to 1980. The project cost $15 million, with all but $3 million coming from outside of the city budget through a combination of MoDOT and federal grants. 

“All the access roads are going to be phenomenal by themselves to help to bring more businesses and people to our city. It’s also been fantastic to see Truman Marketplace be revitalized, and it’s only going to grow more once that’s finished,” Jones said. 

Following a 2018 housing study that found that Grandview had “concentrations of obsolete housing,” “a lack of new housing construction,” and challenges with “absentee landlords and poor maintenance,” Jones’ administration placed an even greater emphasis on attracting more developers to the city.

That effort hit a roadblock last month when the Libertad housing development project was struck down by the Board of Aldermen in a 5-2 vote. Jones said he believes the project is still viable, however.

“We are going to go back to both the state and the federal government to see if there are any changes that they can make to push it through with additional tax incentives,” Jones said. “The project was expected to cost $14 million, so we need to find a way to make that work for all sides. As long as we can have a project that’s beneficial to both the city of Grandview and to the developers who choose to build here, that, to me, is called success.”

As the city continues to pursue these and other developments, Jones says he continues to emphasize transparency in the process through the Grandview website. 

“I try to make sure that everybody from residents, to non-residents and businesses know that — from our budget, to the housing study, to meeting minutes — everything is put online intentionally,” he said. “People can go there at their own leisure to determine what they need to see. Even if they need to renew their driver’s license or license plate, you can go online, you can sign up and get that accomplished.” 

A new waste-transfer station, situated directly across 71 Hwy from the Truman’s Marketplace, has been the most recent development to draw criticism from residents. However, Jones believes that the location will benefit the city, which has yet to establish an in-house, city wide waste-management department.

“I am so pleased with what they have done in the way they have situated that transfer station behind the trees. If you drive by, you don’t even know it’s there. The way they have that set up is going to be very encouraging for the surrounding areas,” Jones said, adding that he shares residents’ concerns.

“Right now, my trash guy has to go almost two hours away to deliver. Now, he can be much quicker by bringing trash to the transfer station and going right back out into the neighborhoods,” Jones added.

In the future, among other efforts to bolster the city’s business, transportation, and affordable housing availability, Jones noted that he’s working on additional solutions to the city’s waste-management issue. He admitted it was an area where the city has drawn complaints from citizens for decades now.   

“We as a board have batted ideas around. We haven’t landed on anything concrete yet, but a city wide pickup is definitely something that we’ve discussed on a number of occasions and will continue to look at solving in the next few years,” Jones said.