The Forest Park Planning Commission on Oct. 16 approved a suite of variances requested by Mid South Roofing Systems to enable renovation and adaptive reuse of a commercial site at 564 Main Street in Ward 2.

Planning staff presented the case (VAR2025-15), saying the applicant, April Ingram, sought relief from multiple Downtown Main Street District development standards to accommodate an existing, nonconforming building and constrained site layout. Staff said the variances were intended to allow reuse of the parcel while meeting public-realm improvements and stormwater management goals.

Staff described six specific requests: replacing required low screening walls adjacent to residential frontages with dense vegetative buffers and bioswales; removing the requirement for continuous low walls or vegetation adjacent to sidewalks in favor of natural landscaping; reducing parallel parking dimensions from 10 by 24 feet to 8 by 20 feet; retaining existing reduced side and front yard setbacks (2.2 feet and 7.5 feet in places) where 10 feet is required; allowing existing building setbacks along Main Street, Puckett Street, North Avenue and Hendricks Drive to remain where the code calls for a zero setback line; and allowing an increase in the maximum floor area for a single commercial tenant from 30,000 square feet to 47,127 square feet to permit consolidation of operations.

Planning staff said the requested alternatives — notably bioswales and dense landscaping — advance contemporary sustainability and stormwater-management objectives while acknowledging the site’s legacy conditions that predate current Downtown Main Street standards. Staff recommended approval with conditions, including engineered bioswale review, use of native or drought-tolerant plantings to provide year-round screening, marked parking consistent with the approved site plan, and a restriction that the variance applies only to the proposed reuse of the existing structure.

Architect Audrey Plummer, representing the applicant, said the project will use bioswales and additional underground detention to manage stormwater on-site. "We will be doing the bioswales ... and we've proposed some additional underground detention just to help make sure that we're not flooding the streets, the neighbors," Plummer said.

Commissioner Lois Wright asked whether the site would bring heavy truck traffic. Planning staff and the applicant clarified the application is principally for office, training and administrative uses; Mr. Jeff Mitchell of Mid South Roofing said most trucking and heavy operations would remain at the firm’s other location. The applicant also plans on‑street parking improvements to serve employees.

After discussion, a motion to approve VAR2025-15 with the staff conditions carried. The record shows the planning commission approved the variances with the following key conditions: a minimum 8-foot landscape buffer with dense plantings and bioswales along North Avenue and Puckett Street; bioswale design approval by the city engineer; clearly marked parking with ADA-compliant spaces; and acknowledgement that the approval applies only to the current adaptive reuse (future demolition or redevelopment may require full compliance with the zoning ordinance).

The approval formalizes alternative compliance measures for a site that staff described as large, constrained and historically nonconforming to the Downtown Main Street urban form standards.