Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Environment topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Resident urges disclosure of Prospect Village environmental assessments
Summary
An environmental researcher told the council the Prospect Village redevelopment site includes two former hazardous waste land farm parcels and urged the city to require that Phase 1 and Phase 2 environmental site assessments be made public; the developer and city staff were reported as saying the ESAs were not required to be released to the public.
At the public comment portion of the Joplin City Council meeting, environmental researcher Kaylin Lorraine urged the council to request that the developer of the Prospect Village redevelopment make Phase 1 and Phase 2 environmental site assessments (ESAs) publicly available.
Lorraine said she reviewed publicly available records and learned the redevelopment parcels host two former hazardous-waste land farms. She said she submitted public-records requests and a sunshine request to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources but was told by an assistant city manager that the city did not require ESAs to be part of the redevelopment record; Lorraine said the project owner told her the ESAs would not be made available to the public.
"Positive development can only occur if the public is informed on how the soil beneath their children's feet is going to be remediated," Lorraine told the council, and she asked the city to require that the developer make the ESA documents available as a timely and responsible path forward.
Council members asked clarifying questions and one council member said he would follow up with staff. No immediate council action to compel release of the documents was recorded in the meeting minutes; Lorraine said she had also filed a sunshine request with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.
