City of Raymore ‘100 percent opposed’ to idea of KCMO landfill near city limits

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - The City of Raymore told KCTV5 Tuesday afternoon it has learned of plans made to develop a landfill right next to the city’s boundaries.

“It would be on our front porch,” Mayor Kris Turnbow said.

While he said the city is not revealing how it obtained its information in order to protect source, Turnbow indicated he has learned of preliminary discussions between private developers and the City of Kansas City, Missouri, for the landfill development.

UPDATE: The city of Kansas City, Missouri, sent the following statement regarding this topic on Tuesday evening.

Previous coverage continues below.

The proposed location, according to Mayor Turnbow, would be adjacent to the 1,000-acre Creekmoor Golf Course community in Raymore, immediately north of 155th Street, extending to 150 Highway, and from Peterson Road on the west to Horridge Road on the east.

The boundaries would border the city of Raymore, the city of Lee’s Summit and a Lee’s Summit elementary school, and be right next door to the city of Grandview, according to the city.

“We hope we’ve caught this before there’s enough momentum,” Turnbow said. “We’re happy to discuss alternative sites for a landfill, but not at that location.”

The City of Raymore cited the following reasons why it is opposed to that location being a landfill:

• it would negatively impact the health and well-being of thousands of our residents and those of neighboring communities in addition to having a chilling effect on future development.
• it would be located amid hundreds of homes – impacting tens of thousands of area residents – and schools in multiple districts
• there is concern about drainage from the property into neighborhoods in Creekmoor and along North Madison Street and Vogt Street, Creekmoor Lake and Longview Lake.

“We are 100 percent opposed to this location for a landfill, which would produce a number of negative environmental impacts as far as six miles away, including landfill odors and near constant excavation noise for up to 50 years,” a statement from the city read.

UPDATE:

On Wednesday, Turnbow would not specify where his information had come from. However, he said he wanted to be proactive in warning residents about the prospect of a development.

“As close as these homes are, it would create a noise and smell environment that would be completely obnoxious,” he said.

Jeffrey Williams, Kansas City’s Director of Planning and Development, confirmed that his department had not received any notification or had any discussions regarding a landfill project. He said any formal plans would have to go through a rigorous process to get a project of that scale approved.

“Given the scale of what has been suspected and the types of use, I know there would be deep, long discussions on both sides of the line prior to that kind of use being established,” Williams said.

Turnbow acknowledged that no formal steps had been taken toward a landfill. However, he said he would like more information from Kansas City on potential land uses for the property in question.

“If there’s a need for a landfill, let us in on the conversation,” he said.

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