St. Charles County council members spent the bulk of a Nov. 24 budget work session debating whether to move $650,000 currently budgeted for the Lake Saint Louis Boulevard extension to a noise-mitigation project in Councilman Tim Baker’s district.

Baker asked that the $650,000 — listed in the recommended budget as $100,000 for engineering and $550,000 for construction — be shifted to pay for a sound wall on Norwood Court. County staff said the meeting was a work session only and that formal amendments must wait until the budget bill is introduced next Monday and then pass the required readings before final adoption in December.

Administration staff and a road-board representative outlined the tradeoffs. County engineering staff cited a MoDOT estimate that extending Highway N to Guthrie Road could cost $80 million to $100 million and noted the county might be expected to contribute roughly half of that in some scenarios. Staff also identified a package of projects that could be delayed or reprioritized to free roughly $68.6 million in county share across multiple projects.

Technical testimony explained why sound walls are often infeasible in low-density areas: federal and MoDOT guidance sets a noise threshold and a feasibility test (the speaker cited a modeled threshold near 71 decibels and a benefits-per-square-foot test), and engineering estimates in this setting suggest a wall would likely reduce measured levels to roughly 60 dB rather than into the low-50s. Staff said the wall would provide relief but could create noise impacts for adjacent properties that had not previously had them.

Council members voiced competing priorities: some argued that local residents who report significant sleep and quality-of-life impacts deserve targeted mitigation, while others warned that using general-fund or transportation-tax dollars to cover projects that may be MoDOT responsibilities risks creating expectations that the county fund mitigation elsewhere. Several council members also raised fairness concerns — that building a wall in one place could create pressure to fund many similar walls.

Public comment strongly favored delaying or removing the Lake Saint Louis Boulevard extension and redirecting funds. Multiple residents said the road would harm wetlands, archaeological sites and hiking trails, that the local right-of-way is unresolved, and that a prior location study is outdated or flawed. Speakers who live beside Highway 364 urged council to fund sound walls for neighborhoods already experiencing high noise levels.

Next steps: the recommended budget is due to be introduced as a bill at the council’s Dec. 1 meeting; any amendment reallocating funds would be made in the formal amendment process that follows introduction and requires the statutory readings before a final vote in mid-December.