Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Zoning Garages topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Plan Commission keeps 40% rule, adds design standard and removes ARB size-exception for front-facing garages
Summary
The commission recommended to council to keep the 40% threshold for allowing front-entry garages, add an architectural-integration requirement for offset garage elements, and remove an ARB exception that previously allowed the ARB to approve larger garage sizes under a 40% test; the committee votes were 9–0 (keep 40%), unanimous for the architectural addition, and 8–1 to remove the ARB size-exception (Grace opposed).
The Webster Groves Plan Commission reviewed a proposed zoning text amendment to section 53.203 governing front-facing garages and made three separate recommendations to city council.
Staff framed three possible changes: retain the existing 40% rule that allows front-entry garages where 40% or more of dwellings on both sides of a block have front-entry garages; add a requirement that offset garage elements match the primary materials and architectural character; and eliminate a size exception that allowed the Architectural Review Board (ARB) to approve garages larger than the numeric size limits when a 40% threshold was met. Planning staff recommended keeping the 40% rule, adding the architectural-integration language and removing the size exception.
Historic Preservation Commission members and ARB representatives testified that the 40% rule has protected historic districts for decades and that removing it could undermine historic-district protections and programs. Angela Thompson, who said she lives on South Rock Hill Road and attended as a citizen (and identified herself as chair of the Historic Preservation Commission), warned that “removing the 40% rule removes it from the historic districts as well” and could jeopardize tax-credit eligibility and the certified-local-government (CLG) obligations to protect historic resources.
Commission debate centered on two tensions: whether the ARB should retain discretion to approve larger garages as a design judgment, and whether larger garages should instead be subject to Board of Adjustment review under a legal hardship standard. Supporters of preserving ARB discretion argued it allows aesthetic, case-by-case solutions; others said the ARB would be making quasi-variance decisions without a prescribed hardship standard.
After discussion the commission voted on each requested action. First, it voted to keep the 40% rule as written. Second, it approved adding the architectural-integration subsection to require matching materials on offset garage faces. Third, the commission voted 8–1 to remove the ARB’s ability to grant a size exception for larger garages under the 40% rule (Commissioner Grace cast the lone no). The commission will forward those recommendations to city council for ordinance revision.
