[Ord. No. 99-80 §1, 5-26-1999; Ord. No. 03-142 §1(151), 10-1-2003; Ord. No. 06-041 §2, 3-28-2006; Ord. No. 07-044 §1, 3-27-2007]
Acceptance of streets, storm sewers and related easements meeting public standards pursuant to Chapter 410 of the Unified Development Ordinance and having a plan approved by the Director of the Division of Development Review, as required by that Chapter, may be accomplished on the consent agenda of the County Council where the St. Charles County Highway Department or, in the case of improvements built as Neighborhood Improvement District projects, the St. Charles County Department of Community Development provides a written recommendation to the Council recommending such acceptance and certifying that the improvements recommended for acceptance have been built and meet the standards of the County.
[Ord. No. 05-152 §1, 10-25-2005; Ord. No. 11-026 §7, 5-2-2011; Ord. No. 11-037 §1, 6-14-2011]
A. 
Definitions. In this Section, the following words and terms are defined as provided below.
DAY
A calendar day.
DETENTION BASIN
See definition in Section 405.060 of the Unified Development Ordinance of St. Charles County, Missouri.
DIRECTOR
The Director of the Division of Development Review or his or her designee.
ST. CHARLES COUNTY
The unincorporated part of St. Charles County, Missouri.
STORM WATER MANAGEMENT FACILITY
See definition in Section 405.060 of the Unified Development Ordinance of St. Charles County, Missouri.
[Ord. No. 20-098, 12-21-2020]
UNIFIED DEVELOPMENT ORDINANCE
The Unified Development Ordinance of St. Charles County, Missouri, Chapters 405 and 410 and 412 of the Ordinances of St. Charles County, Missouri.
B. 
Inspection Program. The Director shall inspect all storm water management facilities in St. Charles County as provided below.
1. 
Inspection schedule. Except as provided in Subsection (E), the Director shall inspect each detention basin and may inspect any other storm water management facility in St. Charles County as provided below.
a. 
The Director shall inspect each detention basin every five (5) years. The first (1st) inspection of any detention basin built and approved after the effective date of this provision shall be no sooner than one (1) year after the basin's initial inspection and approval under the applicable provisions of the Unified Development Ordinance. Later inspections shall take place at least every five (5) years.
b. 
The Director may inspect any other storm water management facility as necessary to ensure that it continues to perform as designed.
2. 
Consent to inspections. Property owners or their successors in interest shall be deemed to have consented to continued inspections under this provision by submission to and approval by St. Charles County of plans for detention basins and/or other stormwater management facilities and (as applicable their maintenance pursuant to the provisions in the Unified Development Ordinance for approval of site plans or improvement plans.
[Ord. No. 20-098, 12-21-2020]
3. 
Inspection standards. In all inspections conducted under this provision, the Director shall determine whether the detention basin and/or other storm water management facility under inspection is maintained to the following standards:
a. 
The site plan or improvement plan for the detention basin and/or other storm water management facility approved by St. Charles County pursuant to the Unified Development Ordinance or previously adopted ordinances or orders or regulations; and
b. 
The Property Maintenance Code of St. Charles County; and
c. 
The performance and inspection criteria for detention basins and/or other storm water management facilities duly promulgated by the Director; and
d. 
The inspection and maintenance plan attached to the agreement and restrictions for the storm water management facility as authorized by ordinance or the inspection and maintenance program included in subdivision plats or indentures.
C. 
Promulgation Of Performance And Inspection Criteria. The Director shall develop and distribute to owners of detention basins and/or other storm water management facilities performance and inspection criteria required above.
D. 
Entry For Purposes Of Inspection, Notice. Except where consent to inspection is deemed granted as provided in Subsection (B) above, the Director may inspect any detention basin and/or storm water management facility in St. Charles County only after ten (10) days' written notice. Such notice shall be by U.S. mail to owners of storm water management facilities serving properties that are under single ownership. In all other cases, such notice shall be posted as follows. In the case of a basin and/or other facility serving several properties or a subdivision, notices shall be posted:
1. 
At all entrances to the subdivision;
2. 
On the right-of-way closest to the basin and/or other facility;
3. 
At the entrance to any easement of access to that basin and/or other facility; and
4. 
At the basin's and/or other facility's site if accessible.
In addition, if a subdivisions' trustees are reasonably identifiable, or if an owner has designated a registered agent as provided by applicable law, the Director shall give those persons ten (10) days' written notice by U.S. mail.
E. 
Violations And Corrections. If upon inspection the Director finds that a detention basin and/or other storm water management facility violates any of the inspection standards set out above, the Director shall take one (1) of the following actions.
1. 
If, based on inspections and review of County records, the Director finds that a detention basin that was approved for installation before August 1, 1986, no longer exists as of January 1, 2011, and further finds that the basin's absence causes no or minimal harm to storm water management and to surrounding or affected properties in the basin's watershed, the Director may in his/her discretion notify the basin's owner of the violation and of that determination. The notice shall further provide that no corrective action is required of the non-existent basin's owner and that the Director is removing the non-existent basin from the requirements of Section 420.020, OSCCMo.
2. 
If, based on inspections and on a consideration of surrounding or affected properties in any basin's or facility's watershed, the Director determines that a violation in the condition of an existing basin or facility causes no or minimal harm to storm water management and to surrounding or affected properties in the basin's watershed, the Director may in his/her discretion notify the facility's owner of the violation and of that determination. The notice shall state, however, that the basin or facility may be inspected as often as every one (1) year so long as the violation persists, and that the Director may order correction of the violation in the future if it is later found to result in adverse effects to storm water management.
3. 
If the Director cannot make a determination of no or minimal harm under paragraphs (1) and (2), above, the Director shall send the owner or owners by first class mail a written notice detailing those violations and requiring submission of a corrective action plan with deadlines for abating those violations within no more than twenty (20) days of the date of the notice. For good cause shown, and provided there is no immediate harm to the public welfare, the Director may grant the owner or owners a reasonable extension for submitting that corrective action plan. The Director may approve the plan as submitted or require its amendment within no more than fourteen (14) days. The notice shall also state that the detention basin or storm water management facility will be inspected every one (1) year until inspections reveal no violations and may be inspected thereafter at the discretion of the Director but at least every five (5) years.
F. 
Abatement Or Legal Action By The Director. If the owner or owners fail to secure approval of a corrective action plan or fail to comply with an approved plan or in any other way fail to correct the violations of which the Director notified them, the Director shall take one (1) of the following actions.
1. 
The Director, after reasonable notice and an opportunity for hearing given to the owner or owners of the detention basin and/or other storm water management facility, shall order the same done and the costs assessed against the property of the owners as a special tax lien. In the case of detention basins and/or other storm water management facilities within common ground in subdivisions, such assessments shall be imposed upon all lots within the subdivision in question.
2. 
Alternatively, the Director may request the County Counselor to institute an appropriate action for fines and/or injunctive relief against the owners or persons responsible for the detention basin and/or other storm water management facility in violation. Any person responsible for a violation of this Section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and liable for a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) a day. Every day that such violation is ongoing shall constitute a separate violation.
[Ord. No. 07-045 §§1—3, 3-27-2007]
A. 
In any neighborhood improvement district created by the Governing Body of St. Charles County, the costs associated with the exercise of eminent domain to acquire an easement on a particular parcel within the district and which is receiving a benefit from the improvements shall be assessed solely against that parcel.
B. 
As provided in St. Charles County Ordinance 99-75 and herein, the proposed method of assessment of benefits under Section 67.459, RSMo., for any Sanitary Sewer Neighborhood Improvement District formed hereafter shall be as follows:
1. 
The total cost of the proposed improvements will be divided and assessed over a period of twenty (20) years by the St. Charles County Council against each parcel of property or lot located within the district based on a determination of the total number of lots benefitted and apportioning the cost equally to each lot, regardless of whether such parcel of real property is developed or undeveloped land at the time of such initial assessment; provided, however, that the following adjustments shall be made:
a. 
All costs related to demolition of existing septic tank systems and construction of lateral lines and related improvements shall be apportioned solely against the parcels of property or lots within the district which currently have a structure with a septic tank system or other sewage disposal system;
b. 
All costs associated with the exercise of eminent domain to acquire an easement for the project on a parcel or lot within the district shall be apportioned solely against that particular parcel or lot;
c. 
In the case of property on which a single residence is situated on two (2) or more parcels or lots at the time of such initial assessment in such a manner as to prevent the issuance of permits for additional residences thereon without the demolition of the existing residence, such parcels or lots shall be treated as if it were a single parcel or lot;
d. 
In the case of two (2) or more parcels of real property or lots treated as a single parcel or lot in accordance with Subparagraph (c) above, upon the issuance of any building permit which would allow more than one (1) commercial or residential structure to be located thereon, a sewer connection fee shall be payable to the neighborhood improvement district for each such additional structure; and
e. 
In the case of property which is undeveloped at the time of such initial assessment, upon the issuance of any building permit which would allow more than one (1) commercial or residential structure to be located thereon, a sewer connection fee shall be payable to the neighborhood improvement district for each such additional structure.
C. 
The proposed method of assessment of benefits under Section 67.459, RSMo, for any Road Neighborhood Improvement District formed hereafter shall be as follows:
The total cost of the proposed improvement will be divided and assessed over a period of ten (10) to twenty (20) years by the St. Charles County Council equally per front foot or per square foot against property within the district or by any other reasonable assessment plan determined by the Governing Body of St. Charles County, including assessment against each parcel of property or lot located within the district and apportioning the cost equally to each lot, regardless of whether such parcel of real property is developed or undeveloped land at the time of such initial assessment; provided, however, that in the case of property on which a single residence is situated on two (2) or more parcels or lots at the time of such initial assessment in such a manner as to prevent the issuance of additional residences thereon without the demolition of the existing residence, such parcels or lots shall be treated as if it were a single parcel or lot.
[Ord. No. 08-033 §1, 4-4-2008]
A. 
It shall be the duty of all owners of land in unincorporated St. Charles County:
1. 
To control and eradicate Johnson grass and to prevent its regrowth and reinfestation on all lands, rights-of-way and easements owned, occupied or controlled by them;
2. 
To employ methods of control and eradication and for the prevention of the regrowth and reinfestation of Johnson grass as directed by the State of Missouri's Director of Agriculture or by St. Charles County's Weed Control Board; and
3. 
To comply with all orders rules and regulations promulgated by the State of Missouri's Director of Agriculture pursuant to the provisions of Sections 263.255 to 263.267, RSMo.
B. 
In case of violations of Subsection (A) above, the Director of Building and Code Enforcement shall:
[Ord. No. 16-054 §11, 7-25-2016]
1. 
Give written notice to the owner or occupant of the violation's site that St. Charles County is a "Johnson Grass Extermination Area" pursuant to Sections 263.255, et seq., RSMo., and that Johnson grass is growing on that site; and
2. 
Direct the owner to take steps, using methods recommended by Missouri's College of Agriculture, Missouri's Director of Agriculture or St. Charles County's Weed Control Board toward controlling and eradicating Johnson grass on the owner's land within seven (7) days of the date of the notice.
C. 
Failure to comply with the Director's notice shall constitute a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) or by imprisonment in the St. Charles County Jail for a term not to exceed one (1) year, or by both fine and imprisonment. A separate offense shall be deemed committed on each day a violation occurs or continues. Enforcement of this Section shall be the responsibility of the County Counselor.
D. 
Nothing in this Section impairs the powers, rights and duties vested in individuals or officials of the State of Missouri or of St. Charles County by Sections 263.255 through 263.267, RSMo. Nor, in appropriate cases where legal action fails to abate the public nuisance of the existence or growth of Johnson Grass, is the County Counselor barred from pursuing abatement under Subsection (E) of this Section or from bringing an action in the Circuit Court of St. Charles County to enjoin that nuisance in the same manner as the prosecuting attorney may bring such an action under Section 263.262, RSMo.
E. 
Notwithstanding any other provision of this Section, upon finding Johnson grass on any property, the Director of Building and Code Enforcement may serve a notice on the owners of the property and on any other person responsible for it that St. Charles County is a "Johnson Grass Extermination Area" pursuant to Sections 263.255, et seq., RSMo., and that Johnson grass is growing on that property. That notice may be served personally, or by mail, or by posting on the property. Unless the Director of Building and Code Enforcement finds that an emergency exists justifying a shorter time, that notice shall order a hearing by the Director in at least seven (7) days and that the owners of or persons responsible for the property take appropriate steps for controlling and eradicating Johnson grass by the time of that hearing. If such steps are not taken by the time of the hearing, the Director of Building and Code Enforcement may find and declare at that hearing that the Johnson grass growing on the property is a nuisance and order appropriate steps for controlling and eradicating it within seven (7) days or a shorter time if an emergency exists. If such steps are not taken within that time, the Director of Building and Code Enforcement shall cause such steps to be taken and certify the costs thereof and of all necessary inspections to the St. Charles County Director of Finance. The St. Charles County Director of Finance shall prepare a special tax bill against the property for those costs, to be collected by the St. Charles County Collector of Revenue with other taxes assessed against the property. From the date of its issuance, the tax bill shall be a first (1st) lien on the property until paid and shall be prima facie evidence of the recitals therein and of its validity, and no mere clerical error or informality in the tax bill or the proceedings leading up to its issuance shall be a defense thereto. The St. Charles County Director of Finance shall deliver each special tax bill to the St. Charles County Collector of Revenue on or before the first (1st) day of June of each year to be collected with property taxes as provided above.
[Ord. No. 16-054 §11, 7-25-2016]
[1]
State Law Reference—See §263.261, RSMo.