KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City, Missouri, City Council voted Thursday to oppose any proposed future solid waste or demolition material landfill until the city manager's office completes a report on the city's landfill needs.
The council vote was 11-2 in favor of the moratorium.
No landfill proposal has been filed with the city for permission to build a new landfill for solid waste or demolition material or any transfer station for those materials.
The vote came after city leaders and residents of cities just south of KCMO voiced strong opposition to any proposed landfill.
According to a statement on the City of Raymore's website, "On Oct. 25, 2022, the City of Raymore issued a press release announcing opposition to the potential development of a landfill directly abutting Raymore’s northern border along 155th Street. The location that stretches from 155th Street north to 150 Highway, and from Horridge Road on the west to Peterson Road on the east, and is located within the city limits of Kansas City, Missouri."
Cities in Cass and Jackson counties near the possible landfill location enlisted state legislators to help in their fight.
Missouri state statute allows an adjoining city the legal right to approve or reject a landfill within one half mile of their municipal boundaries, according to the news release from the city of Raymore.
Bills have been introduced in the Missouri House and Senate that would extend that half-mile buffer to a one mile between landfills and adjoining municipalities.
The KCMO City Council gave the city manager six months to complete a report on the city's solid waste needs.
KCMO Mayor Quinton Lucas told the council the report could take up to 18 months and involve experts from the Mid-America Regional Council.
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