KANSAS CITY, Mo. — An urban farm operating a composting facility in Kansas City, Missouri, is challenging four code violations a city inspector issued in May.
Urbavore Urban Farm and Composting Collective KC operate on 13 acres at 5500 Bennington Avenue. Co-owners Brooke Salvaggio and Dan Heryer collect food scraps through a curbside service, compost the materials, then use the finished product as fertilizer on fruits and vegetables they grow on site.
“We’re seeing things die and be reborn and cycle endlessly. It’s wonderful,” Salvaggio said. “It makes me seem connected to the earth.”
More than 100 families have community supported agriculture subscriptions with Urbavore. Once a week, they come to the facility to collect a box of produce, eggs, and other items.
Some people living alongside Urbavore said the operation is getting too big for its location.
“The problem is it doesn’t stay on the farm, it invades our outdoor spaces as well,” said Debra Nabors.
Her backyard abuts Urbavore. She described the composting facility as a “landfill” which smells and creates a nuisance.
Nabors and her next door neighbor have a host of other complaints about Urbavore, including causing too much traffic on their dead-end, residential road of East 55th Terrace. They also believe the farm attracts pests and snakes which find their way to their homes. Those issues haven’t amounted to a code violation.
Urbavore faces four pending violations.
The first pending violation states the composting operation is prohibited.
Salvaggio provided KSHB 41 News with a letter from the city dated 2021 allowing composting at the site as an “accessory use.”
The second violation said part of a driveway on the premises should be paved, not gravel. Urbavore said the property is grandfathered in under regulations that do not require paving.
Another violation said Urbavore must stop selling products from other businesses on the premises.
Urbavore replied it simply distributes products during weekly CSA pickups, but all sales occur online.
The final violation accuses Urbavore of illegally storing a shipping container on the site. Urbavore said the container is an allowable accessory structure.
The city’s Board of Zoning Adjustment will hear from both sides and make a ruling on the violations. The matter should appear on the January 9, 2024 docket.
Supporters of Urbavore have signed on online petition.
Salvaggio said even some neighbors are on Urbavore’s side.
At a December 12 BZA meeting, the city manager’s office asked BZA board members to delay any action so the office could work with Urbavore on a master plan development which might solve some of the complaints by building a privacy fence and new road accessing the property.
Assistant City Manager Melissa Kozakiewicz gave the following statement to he BZA board:
"I am requesting a continuance on behalf of the City Manager while we work in good faith to find solutions and create an opportunity for safe and healthy composting operations that minimize disruptions to neighbors."
"We believe that responsible waste management inclusive of organic waste is critical to Kansas City’s sustainability efforts and we look forward to a solution here that can be replicated in the future on properties across the City."
Nabors said she’s O.K. with a vegetable garden on the property, but believes the composting should take place somewhere else.
Salvaggio hopes people understand the impact the composting has on climate change.
“I recognize everybody has the right to feel the way they feel. I hope at the end of the day, everybody can see the bigger mission at play here and see the importance of what we do,” Salvaggio said.
