Farmers Branch and Carrollton share a border, a school district and tens of millions of dollars in cooperative projects, but they are divided on a proposed landfill expansion.
Farmers Branch owns the Camelot Landfill in Lewisville, which is located just north of Hebron Parkway and subdivisions in Carrollton.
Farmers Branch is designing plans for potential expansion because its landfill will be at capacity in 18 years.
"With the amount of household waste that generated in a major metropolitan area like DFW, expansion is something the city wants to look at in order to serve the citizens of Farmers Branch as well as other client cities," city spokesman Tom Bryson said.
The trash is also a treasure, generating Farmers Branch about $2 million per year. The city also harvests and converts methane gas from the landfill and converts it into energy.
If it is expanded, the landfill could reach a height of 725 feet above sea level. But Bryson said the landfill would remain difficult to see even at the new height.
But the DFW Landfill, which is adjacent to Camelot, is visible from neighboring homes.
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Carrollton homeowners say they can smell it, especially in the heat, and can't imagine a landfill expansion.
"In the afternoon, especially around 4 or 5 o'clock, the wind will take the smell over your house," Pablo Rivera said.
He said he worries a larger landfill next to the DFW Landfill will lower property values in his neighborhood -- to say nothing of the smell.
"Of course I'd be opposed," he said. "I don't even like the smell as it is right now."
Carrollton Mayor Matthew Marchant said city leaders will back homeowners in opposing an expansion. He called the landfill unsightly and said it is an environmental hazard incompatible with a residential neighborhood.
"There are hearings and administrative proceedings, and we intend to be vocal at all of those," he said.
Farmers Branch said environmental inspectors have repeatedly checked Camelot for odor and never cited it.
Farmers Branch also said that the adjacent DFW Landfill, which services Carrollton, will be at capacity in 10 years.
Some Farmers Branch city leaders say they wonder where their neighbor will haul its waste once the DFW Landfill is full.
Any expansion is still years from happening. Farmers Branch is trying to get a design together but has yet to even apply for expansion.
