BLUE SUMMIT, Mo. – A proposal to build a waste and recycling transfer site is causing a major stink among those who live and work in that area. Several of them say they don’t want it, and are pleading with Jackson County legislators to vote it down.
Those pleas came from business owners, haulers, and even a nearby town mayor at a land use committee meeting Friday.
“Reduction and tonage to that landfill is going to impact upon my revenue budget and that’s just not fair,” said Stan Salva, the mayor of the City of Sugar Creek.
Deffenbaugh Industries wants to build a facility that would repackage waste before it’s transferred to a landfill or recycling center.
There are several concerns for those who live and work in that area. They said the facility would create traffic snarls and odor. They also said they’ve worked too hard to improve the area.
But a property owner in the area said efforts have gone no where.
“We’ve got burned out houses out here, vacant houses that are meth houses, we’ve got gang activity back here and nothing gets done,” said Randy Wills.
Wills actually co-owns the land Deffenbaugh wants to use. He says the facility would not only create jobs, but with more traffic, he thinks it might deter crime.
“You have more people more eyes, more movement around here you have people that are gonna be watched and I think that it would deter a lot of the stuff that’s going on around here,” Wills said.
Deffenbaugh said the facility won’t create traffic, according to a MODOT study spokesperson Bradley Scott cited in the meeting. Scott also said they’ve configured the plan to have the building face the southeast to shield any type of smell.
“It’s a good thing to have more outlets to have recyclables as is affirmed by the solid waste district’s report to the MARC and we think it’s an appropriate location for it,” said Scott.
The Jackson County Legislature is expected to take up this issue Monday at 2:30 p.m.
