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Tami Courtney has been playing investigator for weeks trying to figure out who owns the 40 acres of land behind her property and what they are doing with it.
“Why can’t anybody tell us what’s going on? Why do I have to call all these people and go running around trying to find out what’s happening literally in my backyard?” Courtney said.
Courtney and several of her neighbors were shocked to see construction break ground without any notification from the owners or the county.
It is still unclear what is being built on the land, but enough has happened around the area to raise concerns.
Workers are digging a water well, and Courtney was asked if a utility pole could go up at the end of her property to help power a commercial egg production plant.
“I’m not saying don’t build your farm, I'm not saying don’t make a living, I'm saying tell us what you are doing,” Courtney said. “We’re not sure what they are doing with the sewage, with the air conditions, with the permitting, because our understanding is they are just below all of the regulation levels.”
A quick online search reveals that Johnson County, Missouri, does not have planning and zoning regulations, building codes, building permits, inspections or occupancy certificates for unincorporated areas. This excludes properties located within the Whiteman Air Force Base Zoning Area.
Presiding Commissioner Troy Matthews and Eastern Commissioner Rusty Sproat sent a joint statement to KSHB 41 News.
“Johnson County, Missouri, does not have countywide planning and zoning regulations, and the county commission has no specific authority to dictate how private property is used. Voters have rejected proposals to establish countywide planning and zoning on at least two occasions. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has historically notified affected property owners after a CAFO application is submitted; however, the county has not received notification regarding the property near SW 500th Road and SW 831st Road,” the commissioners said.
The Missouri Department of Natural Resources confirmed a construction land disturbance permit was issued in late July for this project. But as far as a permit for the operation itself, DNR maintains that if the operation does not exceed a certain threshold, they do not need to apply for a permit.
“Just because you only have 60,000 birds instead of 82,001 birds, doesn’t mean that there shouldn’t be some kind of oversight on it,” Courtney said. “There is absolutely zero oversight over this until they do something wrong after it’s constructed.”
Courtney is mostly concerned about noise and impacts to pollution and wildlife. She also worries the property value of their legacy family farm will plummet. Her and her husband bought this land 25 years ago to keep it in the family.
“In the event we decided we wanted to sell this, we have to disclose that it’s there,” Courtney said. “It’s an emotional thing, and I get it, people don’t stop construction over emotion, they stop it over other things.”
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