Zoning panel backs rezoning for long‑range landfill plan despite neighborhood objections

The Zoning Advisory Commission voted to recommend rezoning roughly 103 acres near Airborne Road from agricultural to heavy industrial to allow the Dubuque Metropolitan Area Solid Waste Agency (DMASWA) to seek permits for long‑range landfill expansion.

The rezoning recommendation passed after a public hearing in which DMASWA staff described a phased plan that the agency says would provide roughly 190 years of landfill capacity across the agency’s property. Ken Miller, Solid Waste Agency administrator, told the commission, “The goal is to be as transparent as possible with our property out there and to provide that long range plan so that everyone knows what the site will be developed to.”

Neighbors objected, saying a private deed restriction negotiated when parts of the former Jennings Farm were sold promised the parcel would not be used for landfill activities. Steve Inglesby, who said his home borders the parcel, told the commission the agreement was a reason his neighborhood bought…