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Webster Groves weighs rewriting front‑facing garage rules to reduce variances and tighten design standards
Summary
City planning staff proposed removing a 40% block requirement that has forced homeowners to seek variances, adding an architectural‑continuity rule for projecting garages, and removing an ARB pathway for oversized garages; council asked staff for a redline ordinance and data on past variances before any vote.
Elliot Leipson, director of planning and development for Webster Groves, presented proposed changes to the city's zoning rules on front‑facing garages at the council's July 1 work session, asking the council whether it wants those three provisions included in a redline ordinance for formal consideration.
Leipson said the staff proposals would remove a long‑standing 40% block rule that currently requires either that 40% of houses on a block have front‑entry garages or that a homeowner seek a variance from the board of adjustment before building a front‑facing garage. He told the council, “As you just saw, we've had 21 variances granted for this same issue over the last 20 years, and that just strikes me as saying, okay. This is something that if the city doesn't really have an issue with, so I'm proposing that just take it out altogether.”
The draft changes include three elements: eliminate the 40% block threshold that often triggers a variance; add a new…
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