St. Peters man's sunflower dispute with city goes to trial

ST. PETERS, Mo. – A St. Peters man’s years-long battle with city officials over the sunflowers in his front yard is once again headed to trial.

For four summers, Chris Bank has grown rows of sunflowers outside his home, drawing the attention of city officials who argue the flowers violate local ordinances. In 2022, he was cited under a rule requiring at least 50% grass coverage. Since then, St. Peters has repeatedly revised its code, first saying that the grass coverage was up to their interpretation rather than measurement, then this year reclassified sunflowers as a “crop” meaning they can only cover 10% of a front yard. 

Bank has fought back each time, and on Tuesday, he entered another not guilty plea in municipal court, setting up a trial for Oct. 14. 

The last time Bank’s case reached trial, the city abruptly dropped it while he was already sitting in the courtroom ready to go. Whether history repeats itself next month remains to be seen.

As he continues the battle, Bank insists he won’t back down. 

“I’m not going to quit this fight until this gets settled — at least settled the correct way,” he said.