Clayton Plan Commission — March 2: A boundary adjustment clears the way for a church to sell a Clayton Road lot
The commission unanimously approved a boundary-adjustment plat for St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church, shifting a shared parking lot to the church's parcel before it sells the house lot next door.
What happened
Clayton's Plan Commission met on Monday, March 2 and, in its lead item, approved a boundary-adjustment plat that redraws the property line between two parcels on Clayton Road owned in connection with St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church. The request, made by an applicant on behalf of the church, shifts most of a shared rear parking lot to the church's parcel at 6337 Clayton Road while leaving the adjacent house lot at 6325 — which the church is preparing to sell — with continued access by easement. The commission approved the plat unanimously, with the conditions staff recommended.
What the commission decided
- The Plan Commission took up the applicant's boundary-adjustment plat application, on behalf of owner St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church, for 6325 Clayton Road. Hobie Kropp presented the staff report with a recommendation to approve with conditions. Jim Arsenault moved to approve with those recommendations and Chris Brennan seconded; the motion carried unanimously.
- The board approved the minutes of its February 17 meeting on a motion by Jim Arsenault, seconded by Chris Brennan.
Who was there
With Chair Steve Lichtenfeld absent, Acting Chair Helen DiFate led the meeting, joined by members Jim Arsenault, Chris Brennan, Blair Kweskin and Jeff Morrisey, and by Susan Buse, the board's Aldermanic Representative. Director of Planning and Development Anna Krane, planning technician Hobie Kropp and City Attorney Stephanie Karr staffed the meeting.
What they debated
Staff laid out the geometry of the change. The two parcels sit on the north side of Clayton Road; the western lot, 6337, holds St. Mark's Church, and the eastern lot, 6325, holds a house and the rear parking lot. As Kropp described it, the adjustment would move most of the rear parking lot into the church's parcel while an easement preserves the house lot's access to what remains, and neither lot would fall out of compliance with the M2 and Urban Design District rules. A representative working with the church said it no longer has a use for the house lot and is readying it for sale:
We have three buyers who are interested in the neighboring property, which we feel is a good sign for the change— March 2, 2026 — Meeting Transcript [#qdc3dc97a]
The board's questions were narrow. Members asked exactly where the new line would fall relative to the shared driveway, and heard that the line would run between two of the underlying lots, leaving most of the driveway as the church's responsibility. With no objections from the board or the public, one member summed up the request before the vote:
I think it's a win-win for everyone, and I can understand why the property would be desirable— March 2, 2026 — Meeting Transcript [#q1cead7fc]
Also at the meeting
- The Architectural Review Board took up a request to add a six-foot front-yard fence at 141 North Brentwood Boulevard, a single-family house in the Clayton Gardens Urban Design District, presented by the property owners' architect of Mainline Group Architecture. Members liked the design but worried the tall fence would sit close to the sidewalk, so they voted to continue the item to a future meeting so the applicant could revisit how far it is set back.
- On a residential addition at 224 North Bemiston Avenue in Old Town, the commission heard a site-plan review and then an architectural review. Staff recommended approval of the site plan with conditions on drainage calculations and native-tree plantings, and the board approved the site plan with the staff recommendations. On the design review, after debate over the building's massing and materials, the board approved the addition as submitted. Each motion carried with five votes in favor and one opposed.
In context
A boundary adjustment is among the more routine matters the Plan Commission handles: it does not change zoning or add a building, but redraws a line between existing lots. Here it cleans up a shared arrangement — a church parcel and an adjacent house that had split a rear parking lot — so the church can sell the house lot while keeping the parking it uses. The commission's conditions track that purpose: the plat and easement must be recorded with the St. Louis County Recorder of Deeds within 30 days of the board's approval, with the required city signatures on the survey.
Public comments
The minutes record that no members of the audience elected to participate in the open forum. On the boundary adjustment itself, the only non-staff speakers were the church's representatives, who answered the board's questions before the vote; the chair confirmed no one in the room or online wished to speak on the item.