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City of St. Louis
ZOning UPgrade (ZOUP)
A Modern Code to Meet the Moment
Zoning Section + Planning and Urban Design Agency of St. Louis
FAQ
THE CITY OF ST. LOUIS ZONING UPGRADE
What is the City of St. Louis
Zoning Upgrade (ZOUP)?
The City of St. Louis is proud to announce the launch of a comprehensive process to overhaul the City’s zoning code—the Zoning Upgrade: a modern code to meet the moment—marking the first major rewrite and map update since the mid-twentieth century. This process is spearheaded by the Planning and Urban Design Agency (PDA) and the Zoning Section of the Building Division.
Who is leading the process?
The project is led by the City’s Planning & Urban Design Agency and the Zoning Section of the Building Division, in collaboration with Code Studio (lead consultant), Key Strategic Group and Public Design Bureau (community engagement and outreach), Interboro Partners, WBAE, RKG Associates, and White & Smith.
Why does the City need a zoning update now?
The current zoning code is outdated, confusing, and not well-aligned with community priorities or modern development realities. Our current zoning systems also contribute to inequitable outcomes and lost opportunities. The ZOUP aims to reorganize the code, remove outdated barriers, improve usability, ensure consistent interpretation, and embed best practices—making the zoning system more responsive and practical.
How does this connect to the SLUP?
The ZOUP is the next step in implementing the SLUP, which was adopted in early 2025 following extensive community engagement. The zoning update will implement the SLUP’s vision (e.g., walkability, environmental resilience, streamlined development) into actionable code and maps.
The ZOUP will also help implement adopted neighborhood plans, which complement the SLUP by laying out a detailed, action-oriented vision for community improvement.
ZONING
What is zoning?
Zoning is a set of local rules that determine what can be built, where, and how. Every property in St. Louis is assigned a zoning district that comes with rules about land use and building form.
Zoning shapes the way neighborhoods look, feel, and grow over time — but it doesn’t control everything. It doesn’t determine building safety (that’s the building code), or property upkeep (that’s property maintenance code).
How is it used?
Zoning sets the rules for how land can be used. You can think of zoning as having three parts:
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The Zoning Map divides all land in a city, except for streets, alleys, and sidewalks, into different districts (i.e., zones).
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The Zoning Code lays out the regulations (i.e., rules) in each Zoning District. The zoning rules for each district will lay out what types of uses (e.g., residential, commercial, industrial), sizes (e.g., building height, distance from the front property line, etc.), and building densities (e.g., number of housing units in a given area) are allowed in each district.
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The Zoning Processes describe who makes sure the rules are followed, how zoning can be updated, and how much flexibility is allowed. These processes are laid out in the Zoning Code.
What is the purpose of Zoning?
Why should I care about it?
Zoning helps make sure land is used in a way that supports a community’s social, economic, and environmental goals. For example, when communities need more housing, zoning can make it easier to build a range of housing choices. Zoning can support small businesses by allowing new and different kinds of businesses in a variety of places in the city. Zoning can support health by keeping polluting uses away from housing, so residents don’t have to suffer bad air quality. Zoning can help with walkability, by allowing small businesses like restaurants or grocery stores to open near housing. Zoning is also one important tool for controlling where and how challenging land uses can operate (e.g., gas stations, convenience stores, car repair shops).
Zoning also offers the community some predictability. For example, if you live next to a residentially-zoned property, you can rest assured that a factory won’t open there. Zoning can change, of course, but not without a formal, public process of considering a change.
You can think of zoning as a set of rules quietly shaping how the city changes over time—you may not see it at work every day, but the impacts of zoning are all around us.
What happens when zoning changes?
When the Zoning Map and Zoning Code are updated, it may take awhile before you notice any changes in the city.
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One reason is that new zoning doesn’t force anyone to take advantage of the new flexibility it offers; things only really change when a property owner or developer decides to make a change. For example, just because you can build two housing units on a parcel instead of one, it doesn’t mean everyone will want to do that, or that they’ll have the resources to make it happen. (Sometimes, a city will need to offer incentives or other funding to encourage development that aligns with its priorities.)
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A second reason is that uses allowed under a previous Zoning Code may continue to operate, even if the new rules prohibit them from opening. But every Zoning Code has rules for how these “legal nonconforming uses” are handled. For example, if they close for some period of time (e.g., one year), they must follow the new rules when they reopen.
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For these reasons and more, new zoning typically leads to very incremental change in a city. All the better reason to make the updates now—so we can start to see the benefits sooner!
How is zoning different
from a land use plan?
A land use plan is a vision and policy document that establishes community goals and a vision for the city we want to create. It can be pretty detailed; ours, the Strategic Land Use Plan (SLUP), lays out a high-level vision and set of strategies, and applies “designations” to each parcel in the city. These land use designations—you can think of them as types of places—establish general goals and parameters for what should be encouraged and discouraged. Neighborhood plans add to this with more specific goals and priorities that are unique to different parts of the city.
Zoning, by contrast, lays out the specific, detailed rules for what can be built on every parcel in the city. These regulations are established by ordinance. That means they’re more than advisory; they’re actual law. People can be granted exceptions from regulations, but not without specific legal processes, often involving formal hearings and procedures.
What are some of the problems that our current zoning policies cause now?
Our current code is so outdated that zoning rules are confusing, hard to follow, and simply don’t address a lot of modern ideas and needs. This creates a situation where a LOT of approvals in the city happen through lengthy and confusing processes that allow deviations from the rules.
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Because we so often allow deviations from the rules, our zoning does not offer as much predictability for the community as it should. For community members, this means that it’s hard to know what to expect, and there are often surprises. Sometimes it’s a good surprise: new housing! Sometimes it’s a very bad surprise: a gas station is re-opened where it just shouldn’t be. For developers, this means that the rules of the road aren’t very clear, and things can get confusing, costly, or political to the point that many people think twice about investing in the city (or avoid it altogether).
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There are also topic-specific shortcomings of our code. For example, it doesn’t allow as much housing choice as it could, doesn’t address many modern types of land uses, has no consideration for flood resilience or landscape standards, and doesn’t reliably support pedestrian-friendly building forms.
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Long story short, there is a lot of opportunity for improvement. At the end of the day, we want straightforward rules that people can understand and reasonably follow, and that help create the city we want to be.
Who makes zoning regulations?
Zoning, at the end of the day, is local law. This means that it needs to be approved through the formal legislative process at the Board of Aldermen, and signed into law by the Mayor.
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But zoning is a little unique. Because it’s meant to implement formally adopted planning goals and offer a level of apolitical predictability, Planning & Zoning Commissions play a direct role in recommending the regulations and making sure they match the goals. Trained planners, architects, landscape architects, and lawyers help support Commissioners by researching best practices, engaging community members, and drafting regulations.
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A complete Zoning Upgrade is a big step and the community’s input is key. In the ZOUP process, the City will go way beyond the legally-required public hearings to engage the community early and often in this process.
ZOUP ADVISORY COMMITTEE
& COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
What is the ZOUP Advisory Committee?
The Advisory Committee is a 12‑member body of local residents that will guide the Zoning Upgrade by reviewing materials, offering usability feedback, supporting engagement, and promoting communication with the broader community. This group will provide input and advice to guide the Zoning Upgrade process, and participate in a feedback loop between the City, the Consultant team, and St. Louis residents. While the Committee won’t have formal authority to adopt the Code (see “who makes zoning regulations?”) it will play a key role in shaping the process.
Who can participate in the Advisory Committee?
Any resident of St. Louis who is not an elected official of the City of St. Louis, an employee of the City of St. Louis, or the Saint Louis Development Corporation (SLDC) may apply to be selected for the Advisory Committee.
The Advisory Committee meeting schedule will be determined after the Committee is formed in late September. We expect the first meeting to take place in early October 2025 with a phase one wrap up date anticipated in early 2027. Committee members should plan for approximately 5 to 8 meetings, with optional attendance at additional public meetings.
How is the ZOUP Advisory Committee structured?
The committee will include residents with a variety of experiences and perspectives that intersect with zoning, land use, development, and other related processes. The committee members will include representation from these perspectives:
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Community members
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Members of the SLUP Steering Committee (so we have some continuity from the last process)
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People who Build (e.g., residential and commercial developers, a CDC representative, an architect)
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People who Operate (e.g., a business owner, an industrial user)
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People Who Advocate (e.g., a neighborhood organization representative, a Community Improvement District representative)
What qualifies someone as having “relevant experience”?
Relevant experience may include involvement with real estate, rehabbing, owning rental properties, conditional use, experience moving through city processes, and/or interaction with city departments.
What about perspectives and experiences that are not represented in the Advisory Committee?
The role of the Advisory Committee is critical to the process, but they can’t represent every experience and perspective across St. Louis. To help add depth to the process, there will be Working Groups formed that are more focused on the technical details of the Zoning Code. In addition, there will also be many opportunities for the public to participate in the process.
How and when can I apply?
The application is open on ZOUP‑STL.com (“Get Involved” page). Although applications were originally due on June 20th, the process was paused due to the tornado response. Advisory Committee recruitment is ongoing, and the new deadline for applications to the Advisory Committee is Friday, September 12th at 11:59 PM.
How are ZOUP Advisory Committee members chosen?
Members are selected through an open application and lottery process. Up to two members of the Strategic Land Use Plan Steering Committee may also join the Advisory Committee to provide additional continuity from that effort. Applicants who are City of St. Louis employees or do not reside in the City are excluded from eligibility.
How does the selection ensure diversity and inclusion?
The lottery process will be controlled to ensure diverse geographies, racial backgrounds, different ages, and varying time spent in St. Louis. This will make certain a wide range of valuable perspectives are providing input on the desired future, which will impact generations.
Where can I apply or learn more?
Visit The Get Involved Page to access the application and learn more about the process.
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT & TOOLS
Will there be other ways to get involved?
Yes — the ZOUP process will include:
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A Public Launch event - September 3, 2025 at Forest Park Visitor and Education Center from 5:00 - 7:00 PM CST (RSVP on our Get Involved Page)
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Public “Code Connect” webinars, expert panels, and future public workshops
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Surveys, stakeholder conversations, newsletters, social media, and press outreach
How will the public be informed about the ZOUP process?
Updates are posted on the ZOUP website and Instagram (@ZOUP_stl, formerly @SLUP_stl). Newsletters, press releases, and media outreach will also inform residents.
LOGISTICS & CONTACT INFO
Who should I contact with questions?