Kirkwood, MO Business Licensing & Operations: Auto Repair on Residential Property (2026)

Kirkwood's off-street parking rules sit in Zoning and Subdivision Code Article IX, and § 25-64(h) spells out what a vehicular use area, meaning a driveway, parking pad, or lot, can and cannot be used for. Subsection (h)(1) limits every off-street vehicular use area to parking, loading, unloading, or queuing of operable vehicles belonging to a property's patrons, occupants, or employees. " Read together, that means a resident can change their own oil or wash their own car in the driveway, but running any kind of repair shop, mobile mechanic operation, or paid detailing business out of a home driveway is not a permitted use of that space.

The same subsection reinforces the point elsewhere: (h)(3) bars using parking areas to store or display vehicles for sale unless the business itself is a licensed vehicle dealer or the vehicle is the lot owner's own, and (h)(4) bars storing wrecked, junked, or inoperable vehicles in any parking, waiting, or loading space unless that storage is part of an approved motor vehicle repair shop use. A business wanting to operate an auto-repair use anywhere in Kirkwood, including from a home-based property, needs the applicable nonresidential zoning and, per § 25-63(a), a special use permit or site plan review before the Director of Public Services will treat the parking-area use as compliant.