Commission approves elevator addition at L’Arche Saint Louis building to improve accessibility

The Planning and Zoning Commission on June 11 approved an amendment to an earlier conditional-use permit to allow L’Arche Saint Louis to add a two-story elevator at 9445 Litzinger Road.

Paula Kilcoyne, L’Arche Saint Louis director, told the commission the building’s floors are not internally accessible and that families and program participants had requested easier access to second-floor rooms. "The types of families that we support are telling us that their individuals could not access those rooms on the Second Floor without an elevator," Kilcoyne said. The proposed elevator would be a brick-clad shaft placed in an existing green-space corner of the property near mechanical units; staff said the addition would not change parking, would be clad to match the building and would only rise slightly above the existing flat roofline.

Staff recommended the amendment because the elevator improves accessibility and does not materially change site coverage or parking. Commissioners asked about mechanical-unit relocation and saw photo simulations; staff and the applicant explained existing HVAC units would be relocated within the same functional area. The commission voted unanimously to recommend approval of the amendment; the recommendation will be forwarded to the Board of Aldermen as required by process.

The addition is intended to reduce unnecessary circulation across grade and to provide accessible vertical circulation between program spaces for residents and visitors. Staff noted the elevator is a site-specific, low-impact modification that does not affect the previously approved site-plan conditions beyond minor exterior work and equipment relocation.