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ST. CHARLES — They say that fences make for good neighbors.

But what about sandbags?

That’s what you see as you drive on South Second Street in downtown St. Charles, heading north from Boone’s Lick Road. Starting on the side of a home owned by Cynthia and Jeffrey Silver, white sandbags run several feet along the property line to the north — where Roy and Denah Harris have built a new home.

It’s a lovely home, with a swimming pool in the backyard. But from the Silvers’ front yard, it rises high into the sky. And, according to Cynthia, the new home has created flooding problems for neighbors when there is heavy rain.

The tale started a year ago, when the Silvers, who split their time between Missouri and Las Vegas, bought the house on Second Street. Cynthia was born in Union and grew up in Webster Groves. Jeffrey is a retired attorney known for his work in Nevada cleaning up the casino industry. In 2000, he was elected into the . The couple’s daughter works in the Metro East.

The Silvers wanted a house in the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ region, and in a neighborhood where they could walk to restaurants and activities. They’re just up the hill from historic Main Street.

“We had every inspection known to man,� Cynthia says of the home purchase last year. “Everything was fine.�

At the time, the Harris house was under construction. The couple had torn down an older home on the property and were building a much larger one. At one point, Cynthia says, she and Jeffrey noticed the construction company destroyed some of the terraced land on their property. And as the home rose higher, they wondered whether it was up to code.

After discussions with their new neighbors deteriorated, Cynthia started filing Sunshine Law requests with the city of St. Charles and asked inspectors to examine the site. Those plans say the basement is supposed to be below grade, but it isn’t. The house’s large, sloped roof seems higher than city ordinances allow in the area.

When heavy rains came in the spring, water started flowing onto the Silver property and creating erosion.

Cynthia has videos of water pouring from the Harris’ property onto theirs, creating a stream from the backyard into Blanchette Creek. After a big storm in May, when the Silvers say they had water damage in their basement, they installed the sandbags. Cynthia says talks with the Harris family didn’t go well. In emails, city officials told her it was a civil matter.

“They refused to come out over and over again,� she told me.

Earlier this year, the Silvers sued the Harrises and the construction company, alleging property damage and multiple city ordinance violations. They hired an attorney, Stephen Martin, who has extensive real estate experience. But after a while, Cynthia says, they had a hard time getting calls returned. That’s when she did a little extra research. It turns out Martin is the chairman of the city’s , which had approved the initial plans for the Harris house.

The Silvers have since hired a second attorney, Joe Jacobson, to press their case.

The attorney for the Harrises, Brian Shank, has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. “My clients are in compliance with all city of St. Charles requirements, and we strongly deny that the new construction is the cause of the Silvers’ water issues,� Shank told me in an email.

Cynthia isn’t about to give up. Her latest Sunshine Law request — for updated plans on the neighbors’ house, which have deviated from the plans that were originally approved — was denied by the city. The lawsuit alleges that the city hasn’t approved the new plans.

So the house towers above them, with the sandbags offering a bit of protection, if not an aesthetic reminder of the neighborhood’s historic nature. While the lawsuit is between neighbors, Silver’s bigger concern is why a city that is spending public money to address storm-water flooding doesn’t seem concerned about what she alleges are clear code violations.

“Why isn’t the city doing anything to protect its residents?� she asks. “It makes no sense to me.�