By Don Bradley
A Kansas City developer’s proposal for a solid-waste landfill near Raymore set off a year-plus fiery debate, still ongoing, about where trash ought to go.
The developer said it has to go somewhere, that her site would serve the purpose and she stressed an urgent need for action. Opponents argued there has to be a better choice than land near residential development, schools and Longview Lake.
A new study from the Mid-America Regional Council didn’t get into the “where” a landfill should go, but it did address the urgency and turns out there isn’t any, according to their study.
At a community meeting last week at the MCC-Longview Campus, MARC officials announced that the Kansas City metro area has 19 to 37 years left before area landfills reach capacity.
And, that number could rise significantly with expansions at current sites, the study said. Even factoring in the years-long permit process required for a new landfill, the need is not imminent, the study said.
“It proves what we’ve been saying all along, that there is no immediate need for a landfill,” Raymore Mayor Kris Turnbow said.
The developer, Jennifer Monheiser, who operates a waste transfer station on 40 Highway, could not be reached for comment.
A year ago, she told a Missouri House committee that she had acquired 500 acres and planned to use 270 of those for a landfill.
The site is south of Missouri 150 between Horridge Road and Peterson Road, north of Raymore’s Creekmoor subdivision, golf course and lake.
Pushback came fast. Raymore, Belton, Lee’s Summit, Peculiar, Grandview, Cass County and area school districts came out against the Monheiser plan while she sought support for it in Jefferson City.
During this time, MARC, a nonprofit association of city and county governments for the bistate Kansas City region, partnered with Burns & McDonnell engineering company to analyze and forecast area landfill needs and capacity.
Julie Davis, an environmental scientist with Burns & McDonnell, told the public meeting last week that her company has a long history of environmental work.
“We know trash,” she said.
The study looked at seven landfills, three in Kansas and four in Missouri, that serve the MARC area and one still in the permit stage.
Conclusion: no urgent or imminent need for another landfill at this time.
“But it does behoove us to begin thinking about future needs,” said Tom Jacobs, MARC’s chief resilience officer and environmental programs director.
The MARC study conflicts with an earlier Kansas City-led study that said the area would reach landfill capacity in 2037. Critics quickly questioned that study’s data and pointed out the involvement of engineers working with Monheiser.
Here are the seven landfills that serve the Kansas City metropolitan area:
- Courtney Ridge in Sugar Creek.
- Show Me Regional in Warrensburg
- Central Missouri in Sedalia
- St. Joseph
- Hamm Waste Services in Lawrence
- Rolling Meadows in Topeka
- Johnson County in Shawnee
The MARC study also factored in the planned Presidio Landfill near Sedalia which is set to open in 2028. It has been approved by the Missouri Geological Survey Program, but still faces legal challenges.
The study used factors of population growth, compaction rates, landfill closure, subsidence, waste diversion through recycling and composting to come up with several scenarios as to when the area hits landfill capacity.
Worst case scenario: 2042.
Best case scenario: 2060.
The study acknowledges possible landfill expansions, either vertically or horizontally, that could extend capacity, and the increased role for transfer stations.
“The community is already transferring waste from populated areas to landfills located further away,” the study said. “Transfer station infrastructure will continue to be important as landfills close.”
The MARC study was well-received in Raymore, which viewed itself as the city most threatened by the Monheiser plan.
Residents there worry about property values and health concerns. City officials and realtors say future development has already been harmed.
Turnbow, the mayor, says the MARC study provides time for more comprehensive analysis of the area’s needs.
“It gives us the opportunity to meet regionally and discuss solid waste options for the metropolitan area,” Turnbow said. “We really hope that Kansas City and the rest of the area will be open to those discussions.”
On a related note, a Missouri Senate committee advanced a bill that would require a city looking to build a landfill to get approval from a neighboring city depending on resident proximity.
Raymore says 4,100 people live within one mile and 19,100 live within two miles of the Monheiser proposed site.
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