Burnsville approves plan to raise landfill height more than 200 feet

BURNSVILLE, Minn. (FOX 9) - City leaders in Burnsville, Minnesota unanimously approved the early stages of a plan to raise the height of the city’s sanitary landfill more than 250 feet.

Officials say there are many steps that have to happen before the concept becomes a reality and it could take about three years to develop.

“We still have a lot of work and we have to get a lot of feedback from agencies, and that’s when we make all the decisions,” said Mayor Elizabeth Kautz.

In Tuesday’s meeting, it was literal trash talk over the proposed Burnsville sanitary landfill expansion.

“We do not need a new huge landfill,” resident Jake Swaggert said.

The neighboring city of Bloomington posted video renderings on YouTube claiming to show how the landfill could look from their community. City leaders also emailed Burnsville officials expressing environmental concerns including potential odors, appearance issues and water pollution.

“At its peak it would be higher than any point in Bloomington,” said Glen Markegard with the City of Bloomington.

City records show the proposal would reduce the footprint of the 216 acre landfill by 12 acres.

But, if approved, the landfill’s maximum height would be raised from 104 feet to 372 feet. The increase would allow 26-million cubic yards of more solid waste.

A quick Google search shows that height increase is nearly the equivalent of putting Target Field on top of the current landfill.

Waste management, who city leaders say owns the landfill, gave a statement saying in part, “by engaging the Burnsville City Council and the public early on in the process, we are being open and transparent in providing information and gathering feedback.”

“This is a concept; this is going to go before a lot of different state agencies and a lot of the concerns will be addressed thoroughly,” said Burnsville City Councilman Vince Workman.

City leaders say the expansion benefits include protecting the city’s water by moving trash from the dump next to Burnsville drinking water supply area over to the Burnsville sanitary landfill.