ST. CHARLES COUNTY — Two longtime St. Charles County Council incumbents withstood challenges from a pair of O'Fallon City Councilmembers in Tuesday's primary.Â
The winners — Joe Brazil and Dave Hammond — will be joined by fellow new council member Patti York, who defeated Missy Palitzsch in the race to replace retiring County Councilwoman Nancy Schneider on the seven-member council. Brazil, Hammond and York, all Republicans, are all unopposed in November's general election.Â
Brazil, the longest-serving member of the current St. Charles County Council, was first elected in 2000. He has become one of the council's most outspoken members, often verbally sparring with other elected officials over election issues. He's also become a vocal opponent of large-scale dense residential developments in western St. Charles County and was one of the sponsors of a highly controversial non-binding resolution opposing the possible resettlement of Latin American refugees in the metro St. ÑÇÖÞÎÞÂë region.Â
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That track record, Brazil said, is part of the reason that he believes voters overwhelmingly backed him over O'Fallon City Councilman Nathan Bibb. Bibb was labeled by Brazil's supporters as being allied with the developers pushing large-scale developments, including the controversial Highlands development along Highway DD in rural St. Charles and a pair of massive developments: Harvest at Hopewell, an 896 homes project, and The Villages at Post Farms, a 335-home project near O'Fallon.Â
Brazil received 69% of the vote compared to Bibb's 31%.
"My opponent did not understand this district," Brazil said. "The people of this district do not want all of this high-density housing, all of these apartments. They want to maintain the rural feel of this area, and they feel like development is out of control out here."Â
"I think this race was entirely about development, and not letting development run rampant," Brazil said.Â
Brazil said he now wants to help draft the county's next master plan, which will help guide residential and commercial development for several years. He said he also wants to adopt policies to make St. Charles County's new equestrian park more affordable. And he supports the creation of a mounted police patrol unit in St. Charles County.
Hammond won his own race against O'Fallon City Councilwoman Debbie Cook by a razor-thin 14 votes. Cook was endorsed by O'Fallon Mayor Bill Hennessy, St. Peters Mayor Len Pagano and the St. Charles County Association of Realtors.Â
Hammond has served on the council since 2012.Â
York received 54% of the vote compared to Palitzsch's 46%. She served 12 years as St. Charles mayor and had the backing of the city's police and firefighters unions. York also had touted her experience as a mayor and former city council member, and her work helping draft the first St. Charles County Charter.Â