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Missouri House passes bill to keep new landfills away from city limits

 A row of homes sit across the street from where a potential landfill is being contemplated in Raymore, Missouri.
Chris Fortune
/
KCUR 89.3
A row of homes sit across the street from where a potential landfill is being contemplated in Raymore, Missouri.

A potential new landfill in southeast Kansas City is on hold after City Council voted earlier this month to oppose it and put a moratorium on landfill permits. Now, a bill headed for the Missouri Senate would add a requirement that surrounding cities approve landfills within a mile of their borders.

The Missouri House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill Wednesday to prevent municipalities from building landfills close to residential areas.

House Bill 909 blocks cities from getting landfill permits if the site is within a mile of another city without their approval. The previous boundary was half a mile.

Pleasant Hill Republican Mike Haffner sponsored the bill, which passed by a vote of 139-16.

Haffner said developers should discuss landfill locations openly with the surrounding communities – not only with lobbyists at the State Capitol.

“There's no consideration for these homeowners and about their health, their welfare, their safety, and you're talking about their welfare,” he said. “They have invested their lives in these homes and there's absolutely no consideration.”

Two Kansas City developers have been planning a landfill in Kansas City that would be affected by the new rule. The developers, Aden and Jennifer Monheiser, visited Jefferson City in January to discuss the landfill with state representatives, who said they believe an application would be coming soon.

KCUR reported earlier this month that a resident living in the potential landfill area received a letter from the developers asking her to sell her house and sign a non-disclosure agreement.

Raymore’s city council passed a resolution against the potential landfill in December and several cities and counties surrounding Kansas City have expressed opposition since.

Rep. Keri Ingle, D-Lee’s Summit, said she has never seen a piece of legislation unify people across the political spectrum more than House Bill 909.

“My voicemail has been filled with Republicans, Democrats, independents, people who've never voted before from all over that region who are begging this body to support this piece of legislation,” she said.

The bill, which spent nearly two months in the House, now heads to the Senate.

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