The Jefferson County Department of Public Works plans to tighten restrictions on land development in the coming weeks, which it hopes will prevent mounting problems, like soil erosion, illegal dumping and flash flooding.
The County Council held a Sept. 23 public hearing about proposed amendments to the county’s land disturbance and stormwater management codes.
Among the proposed changes would be to require any person or business intending to develop or disturb more than 5,000 square feet of land in unincorporated areas of the county to apply to Public Works for a disturbance permit. Under the current code, any builder who intends to develop or disturb more than an acre of land would be required to apply for a permit.
Another proposed amendment would change the requirements for stormwater detention/retention basins to allow for a larger volume of water. During major storms, the water would be released at a slower rate, according to the proposed amendment, leading to a smaller chance of flash flooding.
The council voted 6-0 to preliminarily approve the changes to the code. The proposed ordinance still needs to be perfected and finally passed at a future council meeting before going into effect.
Public Works Director Jason Jonas said the proposed changes will help his department hold developers accountable.
One of the department’s largest areas of concern is with people dumping materials on land that falls outside the department’s permitting range.
“The county is filled with people who bring 10 loads, 20 loads, 1,000 loads – but it doesn’t equal an acre of disturbance,” Jonas said. “They’re bringing in broken-up concrete, rebar, and all kinds of things that are deleterious materials that are not allowed in fills. They just dump it. All the neighboring properties complain to us that their property values have fallen and that these people are not putting up erosion control protection devices so that this stuff doesn’t run off into the streams.
“We can’t monitor this stuff unless it’s permitted.”
Concerns about changes
Dan Govero, owner of Govero Land Services in Imperial and a professional surveyor, said county engineers have several concerns about the proposed changes, adding that he thinks at least some of the amendments would inhibit growth in the county.
Govero estimated that with the changes for stormwater management, developers who have more than 5,000 square feet of land, especially in rural areas, would need to spend “about $10,000 for each house” to adhere to the ordinance.
“We think that the way (the proposed amendments are) written, there are a lot of problems here,” he said. “We would like to make sure that we’re not overdoing the thing and killing the building market. We sure don’t need that. We want to keep the county moving forward so we get more people and more taxes.”
Jonas said the proposed changes mimic code requirements in St. Louis, St. Louis County and St. Charles County.
“Regionally, we’re in line with what everyone else in the region is doing,” he said.
Govero said that instead of amending the existing ordinance, the county needs to enforce the laws already in place to prevent some of the county’s current issues.
Councilman Bob Tullock (District 7, House Springs) questioned the increase in the department’s fees for requesting a permit under the proposed ordinance.
County staff said the increase is needed because the county has trouble collecting all the fees it should be paid.
“I was told this afternoon that we are only collecting about 10 percent of what the actual cost to collect these fees are,” Tullock said. “It costs the department about $400,000 a year, and we actually collect about $40,000 a year in fees for that.”
Councilman Charles Groeteke (District 4, Barnhart) said the council has discussed making changes to the land disturbance and stormwater management code for nearly two years.
“The staff has worked on this diligently to come up with solutions to some of the problems that we all face in each of our districts,” he said. “I’m very much in support of these changes.”