The developers of a Hartsburg subdivision are being sued by the attorney general for allegedly violating Missouri’s Clean Water Law by allowing erosion and sediment to pollute a nearby stream.

Lora Wegman graphic

Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon on Thursday filed a petition for penalties and a court order against Dana and Elizabeth Austin of Ashland and Hart Creek Development Inc., developers of the 121-acre Ridge at Hart Creek. The suit in Boone County Circuit Court alleges that for the past three years the Austins have not done enough to stop sediment from spilling off the building site and onto a nearby road. That sediment then polluted a nearby tributary to Hart Creek.

Six years ago, the Austins planned to put 125 homes on a 250-acre tract along Christian School Road west of Highway 63. It would have been the largest development in Hartsburg and could have more than doubled the population of the tiny town. But the proposal later sputtered when the developers ran out of money, Boone County Southern District Commissioner Karen Miller said.

Since then, the Austins have sold some of the land and rezoned it to allow for larger lot sizes. Only one or two homes were completed, Boone County Planning Director Stan Shawver said.

"It was never properly funded," said Miller, who contacted the Missouri Department of Natural Resources several months ago after becoming worried that sediment from the site was coating Christian School Road and causing a driving hazard. "What they were going to do was a great idea, but it turned out they couldn’t afford to do what they wanted to do, and they tried to do it halfway."

The Austins face a maximum penalty of $10,000 per day for each of several alleged state clean water law violations. A call to the developers this morning was not returned.

Lance Dorsey, an environmental specialist with DNR, said he drove by the property on June 26 and found the slope at the base of the development was covered with weeds but that it was "not stabilized."

He said the Austins merely had to plant grass along the slope of their property near Christian School Road and Hart Ridge Drive to absorb some of the runoff.

"It’s a relatively simple matter if it would have been resolved earlier," Dorsey said. "If they would have responded and stabilized the site," it wouldn’t be going to court, he said.

Dorsey said he began writing letters to the Austins about a year ago and has never received a response or any indication of compliance.

Shawver, who said he has received a number of complaints from neighbors, is confident the legal action will prompt the developers to fix the matter.

"I think the state will get their attention," he said.

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