Public invited to review fair housing study

St. Charles County will hold a public review meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 5, at the Spencer Road Library, to provide an opportunity for county residents to learn about and comment on the findings of a draft fair housing study known as an “Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice.” The hour-long meeting will start at 4 p.m. in Room 259.

The study is required by HUD as a condition of the county’s receipt of grant funds through the Community Development Block Grant Program and identifies barriers to equal access to housing options and proposes strategies to overcome those impediments. The process is heavily influenced by the opinions and perceptions of local residents, whose feedback is solicited through the public review meeting and a 30-day public comment period.

Copies of the draft analysis will be available at the meeting and also may be downloaded beginning Dec. 5 from the Community Development Department’s webpage at http://cd.sccmo.org/CommunityDevelopment/ or may be viewed in the department’s office located at 201 N. Second Street, St. Charles. The public comment period begins Dec. 5 and concludes Jan. 4. The county will receive written comments until 5 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 4. Comments regarding the Analysis of Impediments may be emailed to development@sccmo.org or may be mailed to Wayne Anthony, Community Development Director, 201 N.Second Street,St. Charles,Mo.,63301.

Beginning in 2011,St. Charles County, together with the jurisdictions of Cottleville, Dardenne Prairie, Lake Saint Louis, St. Paul, St. Peters, Weldon Spring and Wentzville qualified as an “urban county” and became eligible to receive an annual allocation of Community Development Block Grant funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The “urban county” is managed by St. Charles County’s Community Development Department and was allocated $627,095 in grant funds in 2012.