Kirkwood, MO Building Safety: Elevator Maintenance (2026)

Kirkwood Code of Ordinances § 5-5, Elevator Code, folds county rules directly into city law: it adopts the St. Louis County Building Code and the St. Louis County Mechanical Code, as each is amended, as they pertain to elevators, and makes the incorporated county text 'the Elevator Code of the City of Kirkwood,' with a copy kept on file in the office of the City Clerk. Ownership of an elevator, escalator, dumbwaiter or moving walk therefore comes with two overlapping obligations locally. First, § 5-218(1) lists 'Elevators, escalators, and moving walks' among the mechanical equipment categories requiring a permit before installation, priced under the § 5-103 cost-of-construction method or the Council's adopted unit-price schedule.

Second, § 5-221 separately requires periodic mechanical inspections at the frequency the Mechanical Code sets, listing 'Elevator,' 'Dumbwaiters,' 'Escalators' and 'Moving walks' among the equipment types subject to a recurring inspection fee the Council sets by resolution. Because the substantive safety standard itself is the county's Building and Mechanical Code text rather than a city-drafted rule, a Kirkwood building owner researching cab speed, door interlocks or maintenance intervals has to consult the St. Louis County code that § 5-5 incorporates by reference, while permit issuance and periodic inspection billing stay with the city's own Building Department under the Building Commissioner established in § 5-1.