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Swimming pool or backyard? Cancer patient gets no help with flooding issue on county line

There's one thing St. Charles County and St. Peters agree on: the water is not their problem.

ST. PETERS, Mo. — Caught between two jurisdictions, a St Peters woman battling cancer turned to the I-Team for help.

For three years, Julie Cattoor said water run off from her neighbors property has been destroying her backyard.

But a county line happens to separate her from that neighbor, and she says, that invisible line means no one is stepping in to help her.

"It looks like a creek," Cattoor said. She's talking about the fast moving water run-off that she says is coming from her backyard neighbor.

Cattoor said she's spent tens of thousands of dollars battling rainwater run-off from her neighbor's property.

"It comes out at one spot, and it's rushing water. As it goes down the hill when it gets down the bottom of the hill and starts flowing down around my house, it looks like white water rafting," Cattoor said.

You would think there would be a county ordinance to deal with this, but Cattoor's home is in a complicated spot.

Cattoor lives in St. Peters, but just a few feet away on the other side of her backyard fence, it's technically St Charles county.

There is one thing both St. Charles County and St. Peters have in common:
both of them tell the I-Team: the water is not their problem.

"I have filed several complaints. St.Charles is telling me its a private matter it's a civil matter and to take it to court," Cattoor said.

Cattoor said it's more than that. When the water freezes, the situation becomes dangerous.

"It turned into a three inch sheet of ice. I couldn't open my garage door. I spent three days in my house with a frozen garage door. The street is solid ice," she said.
 
And it's not just dangerous for her.

"Once i got in the street, it was full of ice. My legs got out from underneath me and I was down. Someone is going to get really hurt," Connie Young, an O'Fallon woman who slipped on thick ice in front of Cattoor's home weeks ago said.

After we spoke with Cattoor's neighbor last year, we were optimistic things would get better.

"I'm going to build a wall and just have it run naturally just even flow instead of at one source," John Gantner, the St Charles county property owner behind Cattoor's home said.

It's hard to tell if Gantner kept his word. He wasn't around to answer our new questions.

Both the city of St. Peters and St. Charles County are looking into Cattoor 's complaint again, and sending out inspectors. But they're not making any promises.

A spokesperson for St. Charles County told us, "The County’s Division of Building and Code Enforcement has twice observed no violations of County Ordinances. The issue was twice deemed a civil matter because, per County Ordinance, Building and Code Enforcement can only enforce public nuisance violations if the concern involves multiple properties or public property such as a right-of-way."

Cattoor 's already prepared with a plan b: install costly french drains and hope for the best.

"A lot of his water, the way the grade is, comes to corner of Julie's property. There'd have to be some grade changes," Greg Buerck, of Buerck Wallscape said.

Even if that works, Cattoor said she is ready to take her chance in court as well.

She's had a tough year fighting cancer, all while finding no peace at home.

"I've been through a lot of surgeries in the last several years. The stress is starting to take effect. I was just in the hospital yesterday over it. Stress isn't going away," Cattoor said.

The St. Charles County's director of community development told us they can't spend tax payer funds to fix a water issue between two private citizens.

They are investigating Young's injury claim to determine if the icy road side effect could be considered a public nuisance.





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