The Streator City Council has rejected a proposal to rezone 110 W. Morrell St. to allow a duplex, officially siding with the Streator Plan Commission and nearby residents who opposed the change.

During their meeting Wednesday night, council members voted down the request from Baltazar Rentals LLC in Aurora, which sought to rezone the property from single-family to multifamily use in order to restore its former duplex setup.

During its meeting last week, the Plan Commission unanimously recommended denial, noting that the property is no longer legally allowed as a multi-unit residence since it was converted to a single-family home in 2004.

City staff warned that rezoning the property could create a “spot zone,” as all surrounding homes are zoned for single-family use.

Several neighbors objected to the proposal at the commission’s public hearing, submitting a petition with 13 signatures and citing concerns about parking congestion across from Streator High School and about absentee ownership.

“I don’t want to wake up and find a halfway house or boarding house across the street one day,” nearby resident Gayle Biroschik told commission members last week, adding that neighbors feared a zoning change could open the door to other high-density or special-use facilities.

The council denied the request without discussion. With the council’s vote, the property will maintain its single-family zoning, limiting multi-unit development on Morrell Street in the future.