Raymore approves settlement to stop landfill near its border with Kansas City

The Raymore City Council unanimously approved an agreement Monday evening, which is the first step in stopping a developer from building a landfill within Kansas City’s limits just north of the Kansas City-Raymore border.

The agreement, parts of which became public last week , between Raymore and the landfill developers is contingent on Gov. Mike Parson signing a new law into effect.

Senate Bill 739 or House Bill 1751 would include cities within one mile of a proposed landfill in the approval process. Current law only includes cities within a half mile in the process.

Neither bill has been sent to Parson’s desk.

The agreement calls for Raymore to pay the developers, South KC Acquisitions and Kansas City Recycle & Waste Solutions, $3.29 million. In return, the developers will stop plans for a landfill on the land and impose restrictions on the future development of the land they own.

Those restrictions limit the land to agriculture, residential and light commercial uses.

Raymore has the option to purchase roughly 12 acres of land from the developers for $440,000 to build an extension of Madison Street. The extension would connect Raymore’s Creekmoor neighborhood directly with Highway 150.

The proposed landfill site is south of Missouri Highway 150 between Peterson and Horridge roads. 155th Street is the southern border of the project site.

Raymore Mayor Kris Turnbow called the settlement “worthwhile.” He said the settlement payment will come from what is essentially the city’s savings account and will not impact city services.

“We feel like this particular resolution is fair to all concerned and is reasonable and saves generations of people in our community from the angst of living next to a landfill,” Turnbow said.

People living in the area agree with Turnbow. Many have placed “Kill the Fill" signs in their yards.

Residents called Monday’s deal an answer to their prayers.

“We’ve been praying a lot about it, and I just know God works in mysterious ways,” said Jake Pace, who lives across the street from the proposed landfill. “If that’s one of them, that’s awesome; we’ll take it.”

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