Landfill proposed for Kansas City metro area

A real estate developer active in the Kansas City, Missouri, area has acknowledged seeking permission to site a landfill in the Missouri portion of the two-state metropolitan area, which includes municipalities in both Missouri and Kansas.

A report by KMBC-TV says the developer has confirmed plans to build a landfill in “south Kansas City near the borders of Raymore, Lee’s Summit and Grandview [Missouri] after months of speculation and deep community concerns about the proposal.”

KMBC-TV says Jennifer Monheiser, now attached to a company called KC Recycling and Waste Solutions, has indicated to a Missouri House of Representative committee that “a company she owns is under contract for or has purchased nearly 500 acres with plans to build a landfill on 270 acres of that property.”

Monheiser or companies with which she is affiliated also own a waste transfer station in Kansas City, Missouri, and reportedly has testified before a Missouri House of Representatives committee it is not cost-effective to ship waste across the state line to an existing Johnson County, Kansas landfill, or to other landfills on the Missouri side of the border.

“The notion that there is no need for a landfill in our region is just not true,” Monheiser tells KMBC-TV.

According to KMBC, the nine-county Kansas City area, straddling both states, has two landfills currently operating. However, the TV station says both are scheduled to close within the next 20-to-30 years, with the station citing the Kansas City, Missouri-based Mid-America Regional Council.

Opponents of a new landfill have declared the situation is not that dire and say KC Recycling and Waste has oversold the notion that a new landfill is needed. “They’ve run a covert cloak-and-dagger-like operation,” Raymore Mayor Pro-Tem Reginald Townsend told the TV station regarding efforts to seek new landfill permits.

According to KMBC-TV, “City leaders from Grandview, Lee’s Summit, Belton, and Peculiar [Missouri] have also unanimously passed resolutions against any potential landfill. Cass County [where Raymore is located] unanimously voted on a resolution against it. Jackson County and Kansas City, Missouri, are also discussing potential formal opposition.”

Monhesier has testified against a Missouri house bill that “could effectively force her to scrap current plans for the landfill in the area,” the TV station says. That bill would increase the distance for any potential landfill site in Missouri to one mile away from any municipality with more than 400,000 people that straddles more than one county.