KC urban farm takes fight to City Hall to keep composting after neighbor complaints
An appeal hearing before Kansas City’s Board of Zoning Adjustment next week could deliver a fatal blow to the curbside composting service Compost Collective KC, as well as other operations at Urbavore Urban Farm on Kansas City’s East Side.
The farm, which for nearly a year has been the subject of nuisance complaints from neighbors, faces four code violations, including one asserting it is not adequately permitted to run its composting operation. The others are related to permitting for the farm’s online storefront, unpaved driveways and a shipping container used for storing farm equipment.
Farmers Brooke Salvaggio and Dan Heryer, who own and operate the farm and its on-site composting facility, argue that the four code violations are inaccurate and are an attack on the farm’s sustainability mission by a small disgruntled group in the neighborhood. They’ve rallied the support of their customers and local environmentalists to push back.
“The violations also threaten the broader urban farming community by setting a negative precedent for community composting and urban farm stands at-large,” Heryer and Salvaggio wrote on SaveUrbavore.com, a website created for their campaign to have the code violations dismissed.
The fight over Urbavore’s future has grown to include dozens of neighbors, hundreds of Compost Collective customers, sustainability groups, the city manager’s office, City Council and other officials. As of Tuesday, the farmers say over 300 of their supporters have submitted notarized letters to the zoning board in opposition to the code violations, while over 1,100 have contacted City Council about their case.
Assistant City Manager Melissa Kozakiewicz told The Star that she is interested in helping the farm survive while also addressing neighbors’ concerns. She said she sees the case as a blueprint for how the city will accommodate other community composters.
“It’s been a little bit challenging, just because the permitting process isn’t necessarily designed for this type of thing,” she said. “We’re going to need to figure out how to make this work for other small-scale composting operations in the future.”
Neighbors complain, code violations follow
Several of Urbavore’s neighbors along East 55th Terrace have complained since the spring of disturbances like vehicle traffic along their cul-de-sac, bright lights at nighttime and odors and pests that they believe stem from the farm’s composting operation.
“They’re using (East 55th Terrace) as a city street, but it is a dead end. We have no safety there,” said neighbor Bernice Norbert at the Board of Zoning Adjustment’s meeting on Dec. 12. “Our children can’t go out and play.”
Heryer said that neighborhood services inspectors from the city have been stopping by the farm since early 2023 to look into nuisance complaints, but have found no evidence of odors, pests or other hazards. He and Savlaggio see the code violations as the latest attempt by these neighbors to shut the farm down entirely.
“I think that when they were not able to get any nuisance violations (levied against us,) that our neighbors were advised to contact City Planning and see if they could get code violations,” Heryer said. “They are just wanting the farm to go away, largely, and trying to seek any avenue that they can.”
Several neighbors told The Star in May that their complaints are not with the farm itself, just with the traffic it causes. At December’s zoning hearing, some had stronger words. Neighbor Deborah Nabors called the farm’s activities “illegal” and “nefarious,” while neighbor Leah Suttington spoke only about the traffic issue.
It’s unclear how addressing the city’s four code violations would change the flow of traffic around the farm. If Compost Collective KC is shut down, the operation’s curbside collection pickup trucks may lie idle — but the farm’s customers, which account for the majority of its traffic, could continue stopping by to pick up vegetables and other goods.
A new entrance to the farm off Bennington Avenue could offer a potential solution. It’s an idea that the city and the farmers support — but it would require new permitting and expensive construction, and wouldn’t resolve the existing code violations.
“I do think it would be helpful to have that access created. And we do want to move forward with that,” Heryer said. “But we have to resolve the zoning issue first.”
In order to do so, the farmers are inviting supporters to attend their hearing on Tuesday morning at City Hall for what they see as a symbolic battle for the future of sustainability in Kansas City.
“Many young folks I mentor are already telling me how scared they are to start an urban farm or green business in KC,” Salvaggio wrote in an Instagram post last month. “This case is symbolic and has the power to spawn progressive legislation and a slew of positive outcomes…but only if we win!”
If the zoning board upholds the code violations, the farmers will need to bring their property into compliance — and may need to shut down some farm operations. If the board disagrees with city inspectors about the violations, the farm will be deemed in compliance with city zoning codes.
Do you have more questions about zoning or development in Kansas City? Ask the Service Journalism team at kcq@kcstar.com.
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