The St. Louis County Planning Commission heard two petitions at its June 12 public hearing requesting a change in existing zoning to residential zoning due to existing residential structures on the properties.

The first petition heard by the commission was a request from Bani Properties LLC to change C-2 commercial zoning to R-6 residential zoning on a .11 acre tract at the corner of Gravois and Philo avenues. The property is in the 5th County Council District and Bayless School District, and has an existing house on the site.

Sarah Bani, one of the site owners, told the commission that the property has been operating as a residential property for several years and that Bani Properties LLC has rented it to various tenants since July 2018. The petitioner is seeking to convert the zoning to residential for single-family use; they do not lease to more than one family at a time.

Before it was leased as a residential property, the house used to be home to a tarot and psychic business. There is still an existing pole sign on the property advertising tarot card readings. Bani said they do not intend to remove the pole sign and have no plans to make additional changes to the exterior of the structure.

“If you request we could (remove it) but the current sign is just sitting there, it’s obsolete. It’s just history, nobody uses it,” Bani said.

The other petition heard by the commission was a request from the commission itself to change M-3 industrial zoning to R-5 residential zoning on a .6 acre tract on the east side of New Hampshire Avenue, north of Weber Road. According to Planning Department Director Mel Wilson, the property – which has an existing residential house on it – was changed to M-3 zoning in 1998 for a development that never came to fruition. The current owner of the house bought the property in 2004 and would like to add a garage now that his children have grown up and moved out, but is unable to do so because of the current M-3 zoning.

“The house has been used as a single-family residence and when the property was zoned M-3 that single-family residence became non-conforming,” Wilson said. “But what that means is that … that residential use can’t be expanded or altered because it is now legally-nonconforming.”

The commission will vote on the petitions at its executive meeting in July.