St. Louis County, MO Sidewalk & Pedestrian Rules: Obstruction Rules (2026)

140 of the St. Louis County Code makes it unlawful for any person or entity to place personal property, including belongings removed during an eviction, on the sidewalk, roadway, or any part of the public right-of-way of a county roadway. The ordinance, adopted by Ordinance No. 22489 on October 11, 2005, carves out exactly two situations where placement is allowed. First, items may sit at the curb for trash collection, but only through the end of the following day; anything left longer than that falls outside the exception and becomes an unlawful obstruction.

Second, when a tenant is evicted and belongings are set out in the right-of-way, the person or entity holding the right to possession of that property gets a 24-hour window to remove it. Once that 24-hour period expires, the code deems the property abandoned, and removal responsibility falls back on the person or entity who placed it there in the first place, not the county. 130's ban on basketball hoops and play equipment on roadways and sidewalks, which the Director of Highways and Traffic or a county police officer may remove directly.

Read together, these sections reflect a chapter-wide policy of keeping county rights-of-way clear of anything that is not moving traffic, official signage, or short-term trash staging. Property owners, landlords, and moving or eviction crews operating in unincorporated St. Louis County need to plan pickup and hauling around these two narrow windows rather than assuming curbside storage is open-ended.