Forest Park planners recommend rezoning at 5116 Sargent Street to allow duplex use

The Forest Park Planning Commission voted to recommend approval of a rezoning request for 5116 Sargent Street, asking the mayor and city council to consider changing the parcel from single-family residential (RS) to two-family residential (RT) at a May 2025 meeting.

Staff told the commission the property, a roughly 0.208-acre lot in Ward 3, had been renovated and passed building inspections but was discovered during final inspections to be in use as a two-family dwelling — a use not permitted in the RS district. Planning staff recommended that the mayor and council weigh the request carefully and, if they approve it, attach conditions including limits on future conversions, required permits and licensing, urban design review, tax-record updates and parking and setback compliance.

The rezoning request would reconcile the building’s current use with the city’s zoning map. Planning staff noted the site is surrounded on all sides by RS-zoned single-family homes and said rezoning a single parcel could constitute “spot zoning” that is inconsistent with the long-term land-use vision. The staff report described a permitting history in which a March 2024 plan submission initially described deck work only; a…