A sewage lagoon within the Byrnes Mill Farms mobile home park was found in violation of water pollution laws.
According to a Feb. 6 Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) report obtained by the Leader, officials found the lagoon polluted a tributary of the Big River and violated water quality standards.
In a letter addressed to the property owners, YES Byrnes Mill LLC, a subsidiary of YES Communities, the department stated the facility was in “significant noncompliance” with the Missouri Clean Water Law and Missouri Clean Water Commission regulations.
According to the report, Christopher Maher, an environmental program supervisor from the St. Louis regional office, collected water samples from the lagoon on Jan. 8 and sent them to the department’s lab in Jefferson City.
While in the area, Maher said, he observed “…grey, turbid water in the downstream portion of the receiving stream, with white biological growth indicative of poor wastewater treatment.”
Maher also said the upstream portion of the receiving stream had clear water with low flow.
“…Compared to the downstream sample, the dissolved oxygen result was significantly higher, indicating the discharge from Outfall #001 was negatively impacting the stream,” he said.
Byrnes Mill Farms operates the sewage pond, which has an outflow of 125,000 gallons per day.
The report also states YES Byrnes Mill LLC’s state operating permit for the wastewater lagoon expired Aug. 31, 2022. Maher noted in his report that the park’s owner had applied for a permit renewal.
The inspection of the lagoon was performed after several residents complained to the city in January about a foul odor from the lagoon. Residents said the lagoon’s aerators, which produce oxygen to reduce odor and pollution in wastewater, had not been working for several months.
Maher said YES Byrnes Mill LLC had until March 9 to respond to the violations outlined in his investigation.
In a March 9 letter obtained by the Leader, Jonathan Fribis, president of ECO Inc., a wastewater contractor based in Jefferson County, responded to the DNR’s findings.
“Byrnes Mill Mobile Home Park has had ongoing problems with their surface aerators for several years. During that time, our company and others have attempted to make repairs to the mechanical and electrical equipment to keep them in operating order. Recently those repairs had become increasingly difficult to do as the units became degraded. Over the 2025 operational year, a number of repairs had been made to the components, providing inconsistent operation that was unsustainable. In late 2025, a decision was made by the owner, Yes! Communities, to purchase two replacement units. Unfortunately, direct replacement units were unavailable due to supply issues and extremely long lead times. Our company met with several other vendors and engineers and provided Yes! Communities with a recommended alternate replacement. The owner approved the quote in late 2025 and the supplier began production immediately on two new units specifically for Byrnes Mill Mobile Home Park.
“As of the date of this letter, both of those units have been delivered and installed and are in operation. We would like to give the new equipment an opportunity to perform before we take first quarter samples, so we intend to do so at the end of this month,” he said.
Maher said he received an email from the contract operator for YES Byrnes Mill LLC on Feb. 23, informing the department that new aerators had been installed, replacing the broken ones.
Maher said he also spoke with Byrnes Mill Farms community manager Marleen Brooks about the issue, who reiterated the new aerators had been installed and were functioning.
Brooks did not respond to the Leader’s request for comment.
Representatives from YES Communities did not respond to the Leader’s request for comment.
Background
This is not the first time the lagoon has been the subject of legal trouble.
In January 2020, Missouri Confluence Waterkeeper, a St. Louis nonprofit organization filed a lawsuit under the Clean Water Act against Mobile Home Park Investments Inc., the former owner of the 80-acre mobile home park.
The lawsuit alleged excess amounts of pollutants, such as ammonia and E. coli bacteria, were discharged from the lagoon into the Big River and its tributaries between August 2015 and January 2020.
The two parties reached a settlement agreement in March 2020, with the former owner donating $5,000 to the nonprofit Open Space Council of St. Louis organization and paying $4,474 in legal fees for Missouri Confluence Waterkeeper.
The lawsuit was then dismissed by the Eastern District Court of Missouri with prejudice in June of that year.
Then, in September 2022, the DNR issued Yes Byrnes Mill LLC an abatement order because of violations of the Missouri Clean Water Law.
According to the DNR’s most recent inquiry, the last investigation into the lagoon took place in November 2024 with an inspection performed by Andrew Collett. From those findings, a letter of warning was sent to the property owners the following month.
Douglas Bjornstad, Jefferson County Public Sewer District (JCPSD) manager and engineer, said on Jan. 20 the department has been working with the mobile home park owners to facilitate a transition away from the private lagoon to the public sewer system.
He also said the ongoing sewer extension project will establish the necessary public sewer main and interconnection point in the area.
On April 13, Bjornstad said he sent the alternative bid plan developed for the ongoing Lower Big River Regionalization Project to Byrnes Mill Farms and has not received a reply.