Hazelwood Meth Labs Revealed

Hazelwood City Council passed an amended ordinance in December that now requires the property owner to pay to have formal remediation testing completed on a former meth home before it can be sold or occupied.

At a November Hazelwood City Council meeting when the measure was first introduced Patrick McSheehy, Hazelwood's code administrator stated to council that in 2012, there have been at least six homes in the City of Hazelwood declared unfit to be sold, or for occupancy, due to in-home methamphetamine (meth) manufacturing.

Following an article Hazelwood Patch published regarding the City of Hazelwood's efforts to strengthen remediation regulations, many readers had additional questions about the process.

Reader Reaction

Readers emailed wanting to know the exact locations of the properties declared meth labs, as well as how the city contacts neighbors to inform them of the production. 

Hazelwood Patch reached out to Hazelwood communications coordinator Tim Davidson and McSheehy to get some answers. 

Davidson said throughout the past several years, the following five residences and one hotel room have been declared “unfit” due to the manufacture or use of meth. The locations include:

• Holiday Avenue (house)
• Holly River (house)
• Rose Blossom (house)
• Missouri Bottom Road (house)
• Budget Host Inn (resulted in two arrests for meth production)
• Audesville (house)

Property Testing

All but two of the properties have been tested for proper cleanup removal. The two that haven't include a house on Missouri Bottom Road that was deemed unfit on three seperate occasions; and a house on Audesville, according to Davidson.

"As Code Enforcement learned the danger of the residual effects of the manufacture and/or use of meth on a property, testing of the properties became a requirement for re-occupancy," Davidson said. "The properties on Missouri Bottom Road and on Auresville preceded the testing requirement."

Davidson also said testing was done out of concern for the welfare of future occupants living in these structures.  

"It was more of a health concern rather than a legal matter," he said.

All of the homes listed above were declared unfit for occupancy and remain vacant except the Holiday Aveue house, Davidson said.

Neighbor Notification

Davidson said the city doesn’t notify neighbors when properties are declared unfit.  

"They usually find out about it through word of mouth with other neighbors," he said.

For more on crime and other police new in Hazelwood see:

• Hazelwood Strengthens Law On Cleaning Up Meth Contaminated Housing
• Hazelwood Man Charged with Making Meth in St. Charles
• Man Arrested for Growing Marijuana in Hazelwood