Realtors Trying New Solution to Building Code Issues
Date Posted: July 19, 2022
Posted In: Discussion,
From St. Louis Business Journal: No vote, for now.
That’s the new plan from the St. Louis Realtors, an association that last year said it found that the 17,000 pages of building codes across St. Louis County’s 89 local governments are “inconsistent, outdated and wastefully duplicative.” It had wanted voters to weigh in on the issue this fall, with an eye toward reform.
But the trade group has backed off a ballot measure, at least right now. Instead, it’s formed a coalition of 13 organizations and contractors’ groups that continue to analyze how the region can streamline the county’s many codebooks.
The coalition, Safer Simpler St. Louis County, will roll out a website soon to elaborate on the Realtors’ findings that as of last year, the county and its 88 municipalities use at least 42 building codebooks, adding up to 17,000 pages that pile on costs and time to projects. The Realtors originally suggested that voters could require that codes and inspections in cities in St. Louis County follow county code, rather than their own. That remains an option in the future, along with state legislation. The decision to slow down came after talks with municipal officials about how to voluntarily streamline codes.
Even with a deliberately slower approach, the coalition is one of the only efforts underway today to improve regional cooperation in St. Louis in the wake of the failed Better Together city-county merger campaign and the push for a Board of Freeholders, which stalled even before the pandemic, said Charles Hinderliter, director of government affairs for the Realtors.
A representative of area cities has blamed St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones and St. Louis County Executive Sam Page for failing to provide clarity on whether a new Board of Freeholders, which could alter the city and county governments, should kick off. The city has begun discussions about whether to alter its governing document, called its charter, though the first time it could submit proposed changes to voters, under one plan, would be in August 2024 or November 2024.