LIBERTY, Mo. — The Clay County Planning and Zoning Commission posted a public notice sign in rural Liberty that has neighbors questioning their health and safety.
“Then it went like wildfire. People started talking,” said Neil Wilkerson, who lives in the neighborhood. “[A neighbor] knocked on my door — Hey, are you aware this is going on? This is mind blowing.”
The Clay County Sheriff’s Office is in the final stages of creating its own training facility and shooting range, likely placed at the site of a closed landfill.
"We moved out here in the country for what you hear right now — birds,” Wilkerson said. “No noise, this is why we are here."
In 2014, KSHB41 reported on a waste facility on the same plot of land, owned by BFI Waste Systems.
A family living on the land next to facility sued BFI for what the family claimed was toxic trash that caused them to have various illnesses, including cancer. The case was later dismissed.
The Clay County Sheriff's Office said the proposed site is the best piece of land they've found for a training facility and shooting range.
It's a 63-acre plot of land that the county is leasing from BFI for just $1,000 over the course of 30 years.
Clay County Sheriff Will Akin said his office has been trying to find a viable site for years.
"Look, I'm not naïve to why people move to the county and quite frankly if I owned property out there, I would probably oppose it as well,” Akin said. “But as Sheriff, I still have a responsibility to the people of Clay County to make sure that our employees are trained to the highest level possible."
Akin said his deputies routinely travel out of the county and across the state to get their required training.
This site would allow the office to host training in house and lease the space to other departments in the Kansas City area.
“And of course, no one ever wants a range or a training facility or a jail in their backyard,” Akin said. “But if we don’t find a place to do it in, then we are just going to fall farther and farther behind when it comes to training standards.”
When asked about concerns over public notice, Akin added his office put their plans for the facility in its annual report more than a year ago and discussed them at county meetings.
The Missouri Department of Natural Resources Waste Management Program told KSHB 41 the practice of placing shooting rages near former landfills isn’t uncommon in the state.
The program has not received use change paperwork from the county, but does anticipate a filing if the county passes the conditional use permit up for discussion in Tuesday’s meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the Administration Building.
Akin said years of testing proved the proposed site is safe to build on.
“There are no reasons or indicators that say that it would be unsafe, because if it was, we would not be operating," Akin said. "We would not even have considered that site as a potential site for a training facility."
Neighbors plan to attend Tuesday’s meeting to voice their concerns to the commission.
"I think once they hear our concerns, they'll see this is not the right fit for it.” Wilkerson said. “It should be open for discussion. I don't know what else to say, you know."
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