The Jefferson County Council has approved changes to the county’s stormwater management and land disturbance codes in an effort to provide more protection for property owners.
Council members voted 6-0 on Oct. 15 to tighten code restrictions, with Scott Seek (District 5, Festus) absent from the meeting.
Councilwoman Lori Arons (District 3, Imperial) said she strongly favored the changes after hearing “countless stories” from her constituents about poor choices home developers made years ago that now impact their home values.
At the meeting, Arons told the story of Amanda Stamer of Imperial who began seeing massive amounts of stormwater runoff in her backyard after a neighbor built two unsanctioned culverts.
“(Stamer) lives in an older development, and her home was built before the county had stormwater codes . . . and there is nothing that the county can do for her. The new code could prevent situations like this from happening in the future,” Arons said.
Among the new changes to the code are requirements for stormwater detention and retention basins to allow for a larger volume of water so the water would be released at a slower rate during storms, reducing the chance for flooding, according to the amendment.
Another change to the code will 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 previous code, any builder who intended to develop or disturb more than 1 acre of land was required to apply for a permit.
During a Sept. 23 public hearing, Public Works Director Jason Jonas said one of the department’s largest areas of concern is with people dumping materials on land that fell outside the 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. 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.”
The prices for acquiring a permit have increased under the updated code.
Arons said the changes were needed to address problems some Jefferson Countians have been facing, such as “flooding, excessive water running off where there’s no place for the water to go, pollution and health impacts.”
Councilman Charles Groeteke (District 4, Barnhart) thanked county staff for their work on the code changes.
“It’s been greatly needed, and a lot of citizens will benefit in the future from these changes in the code,” Groeteke said. “Although I’m not one who likes a lot of codes and ordinances, these are very much necessary to protect our citizens in this county.”