Changes To Milwaukee’s Zoning Code Would Encourage More Development

Construction of The Fitz apartments. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

A proposal from the Department of City Development (DCD) would make it easier, faster and possibly cheaper to build more housing in Milwaukee. It would also help expand the number of housing types available in Milwaukee.

Components of the effort, known as Growing MKE, would be enacted over the next two years and would include zoning code changes to allow more housing to be developed without public meetings and multi-step approval processes.

The proposal supports Mayor Cavalier Johnson‘s vision of growing Milwaukee to one million residents, a 400,000-resident increase. It also aims to make the city’s neighborhoods more vibrant and walkable. Growing MKE follows a national effort to make zoning codes less of an obstacle to developing new housing, particularly “missing middle” housing like townhomes.

A key component of the plan calls for expanding the number and types of buildings that can be constructed without legislative approval, instead allowing code-conforming projects to advance through what is commonly called “by right” development.

The proposal calls for modifications to the zoning code that would allow for by-right development of accessory dwelling units (ADUs), commonly called “granny flats” or “coach houses,” duplexes and triplexes on every residentially zoned lot and for a wider range of higher density buildings to be constructed on properties in commercial corridors or transit routes. Currently, 40% of the city’s residential properties only allow single-family homes and 40% of the approximately 20,000 new housing units built in the past 20 years have required a lengthy “detailed planned development” zoning approval process.

“We think that the types of proposed changes will result in gradual, over time increases in the styles we see throughout city neighborhoods,” said DCD planning manager Sam Leichtling in a briefing Monday. “We don’t anticipate significant changes to neighborhoods overnight.”

The conceptual plan had its first public review Monday afternoon before the City Plan Commission.

Growing MKE does not call for any changes to the zoning map, which governs how individual parcels can be developed, but instead calls for modifying components of the zoning code that regulate how density limits are calculated and what requires discretionary approvals. The zoning code would maintain standards for building height, setbacks and other facade components such as window size. Additional design standards could be added to break up the massing of large buildings to create a more visually attractive and pedestrian-friendly environment. At the recommendation of a consulting team, the zoning code could also be modified to explicitly endorse more housing types in certain districts, eliminating ambiguity.

The conceptual changes would eliminate formula-based density limits. Such standards have required developers of buildings, such as The East Sider building at N. Oakland Avenue and E. Locust Street and a new apartment building on N. Hackett Avenue, to navigate a months-long, multi-meeting process to secure a zoning change or variance because the number of units exceeds the calculated density limit while the proposal otherwise meets the zoning code.

“We do think this will help address our housing efforts, but we don’t pretend that ADUs are also going to be a magic solution,” said Leichtling in describing one of the components. “By legalizing them, it doesn’t mean they are going to be built.” Wauwatosa previously fully legalized ADUs, but has seen only a handful constructed. Milwaukee currently allows ADUs, but requires a use variance from the Board of Zoning Appeals and they are rarely built, while hundreds of historic examples continue to exist.

Formally, Growing MKE will be executed in two phases. The first phase calls for updating the citywide policy plan, which was last updated in 2010. The policy plan helps guide land use decisions and the 14 underlying area plans that contain more specific recommendations at the neighborhood level. The second phase, which could come in late 2024, would involve actual updates to the zoning code. Leichtling said the department would like to institute the changes as a one-time package versus approving them incrementally.

The city has received consulting support on the project from Delaware-based PlaceMakers and Miami-based DPZ CoDesign, a national consulting firm connected to the creation of new urbanism and the development of Seaside, Florida. The partner firms have been involved in several code modifications or rewrites across the country. Walnut Way Conservation Corp. has supported a community engagement effort, and a technical advisory committee of citizens and other city departments. A national request for proposals was issued to select the consulting team.

“All of this is, of course, grounded in economics,” said Susan Henderson, principal at PlaceMakers and a board member with Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), to the plan commission. “It gives greater opportunities across every demographic group to choose the place and type of housing that works best for your family and your budget.” She said allowing for more housing types in neighborhoods would avoid people being displaced by aging or changing family sizes.

A new report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum found that falling household sizes are driving demand for different housing types, with the number of one-bedroom households in Milwaukee outnumbering the number of one-bedroom homes.

Henderson said the city’s zoning code, which was last overhauled in 2002 under then-mayor and future CNU CEO John Norquist, does many things right.

“There are many things that are fabulous when it comes to the Milwaukee code, but there are still other things where there is room for improvement,” said Henderson. Showing an image of the 2300 block of N. Weil Street in Riverwest, which contains single-family homes, duplexes, two apartment buildings and at least one ADU, Henderson said the city has examples of several different housing types working together on the same block, but that the city’s code makes it difficult to recreate that condition today.

She praised the city’s prior removal of parking minimums Downtown, but called for removing minimums along transit corridors. “If it’s a financed building or program, the banks will require a certain amount of parking already,” she said, noting the market regulates the issue. Spaces in structures can cost upwards of $50,000 each, which raises the cost of new buildings because direct leases of the spaces often don’t recover the full cost of construction and maintenance. Leichtling said DCD would work with the Common Council on the potential full elimination of the minimums or other changes that could be made, including the review of commercial zoning parking requirements.

Additionally, the consulting team is recommending the development of visual charts and other components to make it easier for individuals to understand the zoning code. She said such changes would make it easier for new developers and outsiders to understand the code, avoiding the need to always hire real estate attorneys and improving equity in the system. Henderson, based in Albuquerque, said Milwaukee is already a leader in supporting emerging developers.

The initiative, locally, is being led by Leichtling and project manager and senior planner Amy Oeth. DCD has held 12 listening sessions at libraries, three open houses and approximately a dozen up sessions at farmers markets and senior centers to solicit feedback. It also received 750 responses to an online survey.

Oeth and Leichtling said the feedback has informed the recommendations, and additional meetings after Monday’s public presentation would guide further revisions and prioritization.

Feedback has included a desire to support the ability of housing and small businesses or home-based businesses to mingle. “There is broad support from the community overall to bring those small businesses back into neighborhoods,” said Oeth.

Another consideration under review is eliminating the need for hearings before both the City Plan Commission and Common Council for “minor modifications” to previously approved detailed plan developments. One example heard Monday by the plan commission was a larger than originally contemplated sign for a business at the Park Place business park. That proposal will need to also go before the full council despite drawing no debate.

A proposal from the consulting team also calls for the city to explore creating plan review positions that would examine just zoning components of a proposal, avoiding a more extensive building code review that can induce delays during a conceptual review.

The commission took no formal action Monday. The Common Council’s Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee will review the conceptual plan next week.

“There is a lot here,” said City Plan Commission chair Stephanie Bloomingdale. She said it was important the proposal help create more pathways to home ownership.

“I think that the ADUs is a fabulous no-brainer to allow throughout the city,” said commissioner and architect Allyson Nemec. “Where it does exist [today] doesn’t cause any problems.”

There is one element excluded from the proposal – explicit affordable housing requirements. State statutes prevent inclusionary zoning requirements, such as requiring new buildings constructed in targeted areas to include 20% of the apartments at affordable rates.

The Common Council will need to approve both the policy plan changes and any zoning code changes. The planning effort was first authorized in July 2022.

Related Legislation: File 23094