Missouri lawmakers approve bill to lay waste to controversial KC landfill proposal

Missouri lawmakers on Tuesday sent to Gov. Mike Parson’s desk a bill designed to lay waste to a controversial landfill proposed in south Kansas City.

The bill, if signed by Parson, would bar the Missouri Department of Natural Resources from issuing permits to a landfill serving Kansas City without the approval of cities within one mile. The current buffer is half a mile, giving surrounding communities little input over the divisive landfill.

The House approved the bill, filed by Sen. Mike Cierpiot, a Lee’s Summit Republican, on Tuesday in a vote of 121 to 25. The Senate voted 24 to 7 to pass the legislation last week.

“Earlier in the session, I think there were a lot of doubts that we could get this done,” said House Majority Leader Jonathan Patterson, a Lee’s Summit Republican. “I am very pleased that we were able to get a resolution for the landowners, for the city of Raymore and the city of Lee’s Summit.”

The proposed landfill had divided the Missouri Capitol for the past two sessions amid an intense lobbying effort between the developers of the project and nearby residents.

Residents in nearby Raymore, Grandview, Belton and Lee’s Summit argued it posed risks to their health and property values. Critics created a political action committee and hired several lobbyists to encourage Missouri lawmakers to pass the bill.

Tuesday’s passage comes a week after Raymore approved a settlement agreement that would send more than $3 million to the developers of the landfill to kill the project. That deal was contingent on Missouri lawmakers passing the legislation.

“This measure ensures our community is protected from a threat that would have had negative impacts for generations,” Raymore Mayor Kris Turnbow said in a statement on Tuesday.

The landfill project was spearheaded by Jennifer Monheiser, a local businesswoman with KC Recycle & Waste Solutions, which hired 19 lobbyists since last year to oppose the legislation.

The landfill’s proposed site would have been near the high-end Creekmoor golf course community, bordering 147th Street to the north, Horridge Road to the east, 155th Street to the south and Peterson Road to the west.

Rep. Mike Haffner, a Pleasant Hill Republican who handled the bill in the House, said on Tuesday that the legislation was “a great opportunity to protect property rights.” He called on Parson to sign the bill into law.

The deal struck in Raymore appeared to ease concerns from a slew of Missouri senators who had spent the past two sessions blocking the legislation from coming to a vote. The senators, who were from outside the Kansas City-area, argued the bill infringed on the developers’ property rights.

Per the settlement agreement approved in Raymore, the city would send $3.3 million to the developers of the project. The developers would also agree to sell a piece of the property to Raymore for $440,000 so the city can develop it into a northern access point into the city.

In turn, the city will place restrictive covenants on the site of the proposed landfill, preventing the land from being developed into a landfill.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Haffner said there needs to be a statewide plan to address where landfills can be placed in the future.

“We need to have a statewide solid waste disposal plan,” he said. “Bring it down to the individual solid waste districts and then include the regional planning authorities in order to decide where that is best.”