St. Charles County, MO Ordinances (2026)

Boat docks, marinas and piers are a permissive use only in St. Charles County's Riverfront (RF) and Park Recreational (PR) zoning districts along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers…

New homes and additions in unincorporated St. Charles County's mapped Zone A and Zone AE must sit with the lowest floor, including any basement, elevated one foot above base flood…

In the Floodway Fringe Overlay District, new construction and substantial improvements on land mapped Zone A or Zone AE must have the lowest floor elevated one foot above the base…

New subdivisions in unincorporated St. Charles County must install separate storm sewers and, once they disturb an acre or more, treat stormwater for water quality before it leaves the…

St. Charles County requires a land disturbance permit before anyone disturbs 5,000 square feet or more of unincorporated ground for non-agricultural development. The Department of…

Every licensed hauler in unincorporated St. Charles County must offer weekly yard waste pickup from April 1 through November 30 under Code § 240.430(A)(2), delivering it to an approved…

St. Charles County requires every permitted hauler to collect solid waste and recyclables at least once a week, and residents may not set containers at the curb any earlier than dusk…

Any hauler holding a St. Charles County solid waste permit must collect a customer's separated recyclables on request at least once a week, alongside weekly trash pickup, under County…

St. Charles County requires trash and recycling carts to be set out at the curb no earlier than dusk the day before your scheduled collection day, then pulled back in that same day.

County code bars overfilling a mobile/roll-off waste container used for demolition or construction debris, requires full containers be pulled promptly, and mandates wind-secure loads.

Your hauler must collect bulky waste like furniture and white goods from your home at least once every six months, with advance notice of the pickup date.

St. Charles County requires waste go to a licensed landfill, processing facility, or transfer station, and bans dumping solid waste into streams or waterways.

St. Charles County requires every residential and non-residential property to contract with a County-permitted hauler for solid waste collection at least once per week, and to…

Unincorporated St. Charles County treats public urination and defecation as a form of illegal indecent exposure. Section 210.160 bans "excretory functions" performed in any public…

St. Charles County confines skateboarding, roller skating and in-line skating in its parks to paved trails or areas the Parks Director specifically designates and posts, under County…

St. Charles County bans loitering in its parks two ways: § 250.430 forbids sitting or lounging on vehicles without the owner's permission and sleeping or 'protractedly' lounging on…

St. Charles County's Smoke-Free Air Act of 2018 doesn't stop at the doorway: Charter § 10.803.4 bans smoking within 15 feet of any entrance, operable window, or ventilation system of…

St. Charles County criminalizes loud noise that unreasonably and knowingly disturbs or alarms another person under its Peace Disturbance ordinance, Section 375.700: a misdemeanor…

St. Charles County allows drinking in its parks under County Code § 250.190, but bans public intoxication outright, caps individual alcohol containers at one gallon without the Parks…

St. Charles County requires every kitten to be rabies-vaccinated and registered with a numbered tag by four months of age, and a cat found at large without that tag can be impounded as…

Any grooming shop or parlor operating in unincorporated St. Charles County must hold an annual kennel registration from the Division of Humane Services and pass a health inspection…

St. Charles County bans roosters on residential lots under five acres and caps hens at eight per lot, with fenced-enclosure and coop rules for anyone keeping chickens on residentially…

St. Charles County has no county-wide spay/neuter mandate for ordinary pets. Sterilization becomes mandatory only as one of ten control conditions imposed on a dog the Department…

St. Charles County parks ban feeding or baiting deer, geese, raccoons and other wildlife, and the ban reaches anyone who creates or simply allows a condition that keeps drawing animals…

St. Charles County zones veterinary clinics and animal hospitals by district: they're a permissive use in the "C2" General Commercial District as long as the practice sits inside an…

St. Charles County does not ban dogs by breed. Instead, the Health Department declares individual dogs "dangerous" case-by-case based on documented bites, then imposes muzzle…

St. Charles County doesn't ban retail dog and cat sales, but no pet shop, dealer, boarding or breeding kennel, or grooming shop may operate in the unincorporated county without an…

Unincorporated St. Charles County caps most households at four domesticated animals and, separately, four snakes on residentially zoned property, with backyard hens allowed up to eight…

St. Charles County requires a microchip whenever the Division of Humane Services impounds a dog or cat for running at large, holds an animal after a bite investigation, or licenses a…

Backyard beekeeping isn't a listed use in St. Charles County's single-family residential districts. Apiaries appear as a permissive use only in the county's "A" Agricultural and "AT"…

Dogs off their owner's property in St. Charles County must be leashed and controlled; residential-district leashes can't exceed 10 feet, and dangerous dogs need a 4-foot leash plus…

St. Charles County bans owning, selling or harboring wild or exotic/dangerous animals anywhere in the unincorporated county except at a zoo, circus, scientific institution, research…

St. Charles County caps impervious lot coverage at 70 percent in its High Technology Corridor District under Code § 405.165(A)(5), counting every building and every square foot of…

Homes in unincorporated St. Charles County's RR through R1E single-family districts cap out at forty feet unless the Board of Zoning Adjustment grants a variance. Church spires can go…

St. Charles County's Agricultural District requires 50-foot front and rear yard setbacks and a 40-foot side yard setback for standard 5-acre lots.

St. Charles County requires the person in charge of every food establishment to be a certified food protection manager who has passed a Department-approved test and to post a current…

St. Charles County food establishments must display notice stickers at every public entrance and drive-up or walk-up window telling customers the site is subject to Department of…

St. Charles County law does not tell residents how to throw out used needles at home; instead, County Code § 240.365 makes anyone who dispenses sharps to non-medical patients…

Pawnbrokers in unincorporated St. Charles County must give every borrower a written receipt under § 255.030 disclosing the loan amount, service charge, total redemption cost and…

Every secondhand dealer, pawnbroker, gun dealer, auction house, antiques dealer, coin dealer or jewelry dealer in unincorporated St. Charles County must log each item bought or pawned…

St. Charles County requires every towing business to hold a Chief of Police license issued through the Registrar before operating a tow truck anywhere in the county.

St. Charles County allows sexually oriented businesses only in I1 Light Industrial and I2 Heavy Industrial districts, and never within 500 feet of a church, school, park, residential…

St. Charles County requires anyone performing tattooing or body piercing in the unincorporated county to hold both an operator license and an establishment license from the Department…

Running an automobile, truck or vehicle repair shop out of a home is flatly prohibited in unincorporated St. Charles County. Code § 405.495(C)(1) names vehicle repair first among ten…

St. Charles County confines fireworks sales to a permitted, two-week window each summer and limits discharge to a handful of hours around July 4th and New Year's. Certain aerial…

St. Charles County's Fire Code caps liquefied petroleum gas storage under Section 6104.2: no single installation in the unincorporated county may hold more than 2,000 gallons of water…

St. Charles County bans burn barrels and ground burning of solid waste outright, but allows permitted residential yard-waste burning under state air rules.

In St. Charles County, pulling a permit for an alteration, repair or addition to a one- or two-family home brings the whole dwelling up to new-construction smoke alarm placement, with…

St. Charles County lets a home-based day care serve up to eight children without triggering commercial building code review: Building Code Section 305.2.3 classifies any dwelling-unit…

St. Charles County doesn't mandate residential fire sprinklers, but Section 503.010 forces builders to give buyers a choice: anyone building a single-family home or a residence with…

St. Charles County requires a building permit for nearly all construction, alteration, and repair work on a home or structure; only a short list of minor jobs, small accessory sheds…

St. Charles County adopts the 2020 National Electrical Code (NFPA 70) as its Electric Code under Code Section 500.260, with local amendments on GFCI, AFCI and tamper-resistant…

St. Charles County requires a permit before any plumbing installation, alteration, or repair, charging $60 for residential work and $80 for commercial work under the adopted 2021…

St. Charles County requires carbon monoxide alarms in dwellings, tying the mandate to the county's Fire Code and Residential Code alarm-placement rules.

Political yard signs in unincorporated St. Charles County need no permit but are capped by size. Code § 405.480(C)(6) limits each sign to four square feet, with total political-sign…

Electronic off-premise billboards are legal only on designated highways and must hold static images for at least 10 seconds with no motion or flashing.

St. Charles County's exterior lighting standards regulate glare and light spillover from residential and commercial properties, but temporary outdoor lighting used during customary…

St. Charles County limits garage sale signs to one 4-square-foot sign per residence, posted no more than a day early and removed within 24 hours after the sale ends.

St. Charles County caps on-premise window, sidewalk and business sale signs and banners at 32 square feet in Commercial and Industrial Districts, and limits businesses to two temporary…

St. Charles County has not opted out of hosting marijuana facilities: it taxes adult-use sales at 3% under § 140.100 and instead zones them through a permit process. Every Facility…

St. Charles County keeps medical marijuana facilities a minimum of 1,000 feet from churches, schools, residential zoning districts, and agriculturally-zoned parcels that have a house…

Unincorporated St. Charles County bars anyone under seventeen from public places between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. Sunday through Thursday, and midnight to 5 a.m. Friday and Saturday, unless…

Every St. Charles County park posts its own opening and closing hours set by the Parks Director, quiet hours run 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., and being in a closed park is a Class A…

A St. Charles County Notice of Unsafe Structure declares the building a public nuisance, orders it vacated by the 15th day after service, and requires substantial repair work to begin…

St. Charles County enforces on-street stopping, standing, and parking rules through Missouri's Model Traffic Ordinance, adopted by reference for all unincorporated roads, with…

St. Charles County bans keeping unlicensed, unregistered, disassembled, or dismantled vehicles on any premises; the county can declare the vehicle a nuisance and order it towed off…

St. Charles County requires driveways and parking areas to be paved, with a narrow all-weather-surface exception for small lots in agricultural and residential districts.

In St. Charles County's residential and agricultural districts, most commercial vehicles must be garaged or carported: parking one in the driveway or on the street is against the…

St. Charles County caps residential lots to one RV, trailer, or boat outdoors, requires side/rear-yard storage, and limits driveway parking to 48 hours.

St. Charles County requires off-street loading spaces of at least 600 square feet, measuring 12 feet wide by 50 feet deep with 14 feet of vertical clearance, located inside the main…

St. Charles County has no blanket overnight parking curfew. Instead, the County Council designates specific roads as posted no-parking zones, and some of those carry overnight hour…

Section 405.421 of the St. Charles County Unified Development Ordinance stops an exterior lighting fixture, or the transparent shield on it, from being aimed at an adjacent property in…

St. Charles County caps exterior lighting at 0.50 foot-candles measured at the property line, bans fixtures aimed into neighboring residential lots, and holds pole lights to 20 feet or…

Door-to-door peddlers and solicitors in unincorporated St. Charles County must get a Chief of Police license before knocking on a single door.

In unincorporated St. Charles County, a weatherproof "No Solicitors Invited" card posted near your front door legally bars every peddler and solicitor, licensed by the County or not…

St. Charles County caps weeds and grass on developed lots at 10 inches, with noxious weeds banned outright regardless of height.

St. Charles County lets residents compost yard waste on their own property without a permit, but Code § 240.1401 sets real conditions: piles must sit at least three feet behind the…

New residential subdivisions in unincorporated St. Charles County must preserve a set share of existing trees and woodlands before any clearing or grading begins.

St. Charles County lets residents run one home occupation per household in any residential zoning district, but caps it at 25% of the home's floor area, 500 square feet, and two…

A home-based business in unincorporated St. Charles County may advertise itself with only a small, unlit sign attached to the house. Section 405.495(A)(4) ties home-occupation signage…

Running a preschool or daycare in unincorporated St. Charles County's single-family districts needs a conditional use permit, not a simple business license. County code lists…

St. Charles County limits how many customers a home-based business can host at once. Code § 405.495(A)(2) caps in-home client visits at two people at a time, with a special carve-out…

St. Charles County caps total accessory-structure square footage by lot size, starting at 1,200 square feet on parcels under an acre, and requires a 50-foot front setback plus 7-foot…

St. Charles County requires every motor vehicle to run a properly attached muffler and bans cutouts, prohibiting excessive or unnecessary noise from a vehicle's machinery, motor, or…

County code sets numeric decibel ceilings by zone, with industrial and light-industrial properties allowed louder sound than residential or commercial areas, measured at the property…

St. Charles County caps musical instruments and amplified sound equipment in county parks at 75 decibels for ten minutes measured 50 feet away, unless the Parks Director issues written…

St. Charles County sets a stricter noise standard between 10:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. than during the day, making loud amplified sound, PA systems, radios, loudspeakers, boom boxes, that…

St. Charles County bans keeping a habitually barking dog or noisy animal, defined by set time thresholds for incessant or intermittent noise.

St. Charles County requires written authorization from the Parks and Recreation Director before anyone sponsors or holds a parade, festival, race, or similar public event on County…

A St. Charles County festival running one to four days under one sponsoring organization can cover all of its sellers with the sponsor's single itinerant vendor license, but only if…

Reserving a shelter, field, or holding a group event in a St. Charles County park requires written authorization from the Parks Director, plus payment of any fee, before the date.

St. Charles County requires written authorization from the Parks and Recreation Director before flying a drone, model rocket, or other remotely controlled aircraft in any county park…

St. Charles County parks are closed to remotely controlled aircraft except in areas the Parks Director designates, and even there you need written authorization from the Director…

St. Charles County parks are closed to drones by default. You may fly only in an area the Parks Director has designated for it, and only after the Director issues written…

St. Charles County requires a permit before placing a newsrack on any public street, sidewalk, or right-of-way, under Section 220.040 of the county code.

St. Charles County puts sidewalk maintenance on the adjoining property, not the county, once a subdivision sidewalk is built.

St. Charles County bans newsracks that block a public sidewalk, parkway, or street, or that impede pedestrian or vehicular traffic, and requires a permit before one is placed in the…

Building an above-ground or in-ground swimming pool in unincorporated St. Charles County requires a building permit under the Building Code, Section 500.100, before work begins. The…

St. Charles County requires any private pool, hot tub, or spa deeper than 24 inches to be fully enclosed by a self-closing, self-latching fence or barrier at least 48 inches tall under…

Renting rooms in your home to overnight guests in unincorporated St. Charles County falls under the 'bed and breakfast residence' use, which needs a Conditional Use Permit approved by…

St. Charles County requires an itinerant vendor license and Planning and Zoning use-review approval before vending outside a permanent structure, and bars vending in residential zones…

A St. Charles County food truck holds a Mobile Food Vehicle permit at $145.00, with a $100.00 follow-up fee if a reinspection is needed, and that permit doubles as clearance for…

St. Charles County confines temporary outdoor food-vending stands to C1, C2, I1, and I2 zoning districts, and requires a temporary sales permit plus a single-site zoning confirmation…

St. Charles County zones unincorporated farmland "A" Agricultural, protecting it with a five-acre minimum lot size meant to support farming and rural home sites. Farming, dairying…

St. Charles County exempts retaining walls up to four feet from a building permit under Residential Code Section R105.2, measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall…

St. Charles County exempts fences up to seven feet from a building permit, but taller fences need one, and all fences must still meet zoning setback and height limits under the Unified…

Side and rear yard fences in unincorporated St. Charles County's residential districts cap at six feet with no openness requirement. Front yard fences are barred outright except on…

St. Charles County bans barbed wire and above-ground electrical fencing in the yards of R Districts outright. Every other residential fence must use the same or harmonious material…

A fence can sit right on the side or rear property line, but it can't cross onto the neighbor's land, and the owner who puts it up stays on the hook for maintaining it.

St. Charles County's subdivision code leaves private restrictive covenants alone; the county doesn't enforce your HOA's CC&Rs, but its own subdivision standards still control wherever…

St. Charles County's adopted residential energy code requires builders to post a permanent certificate at final inspection, and homes with on-site photovoltaic systems must have array…

Landlords in St. Charles County must supply heat to keep rented dwelling units at 68 degrees from January through December, under the county's Property Maintenance Code.

St. Charles County has no dedicated sit-lie law, but its peace disturbance ordinance makes it a misdemeanor to purposely block pedestrian or vehicle traffic, or the entrance and exit…

St. Charles County classifies businesses as either a "merchant" (any seller of goods, wares or merchandise) or a "manufacturer" (any business adding value to property through…

A single residence in unincorporated St. Charles County can hold no more than four personal property sales a year, and each one is capped at the daylight hours of two days within the…