A reworked plan to modernize Milwaukee’s zoning code has cleared its first major hurdle, gaining unanimous approval from the city’s Plan Commission after a year of revisions and public debate.
Originally known as the Growing MKE plan, the initiative was launched in 2023 by the city’s Department of City Development (DCD), aiming to overhaul the city’s zoning code in an effort to boost and diversity the city's housing stock.
Last summer, the plan faced significant opposition from some residents and waning political support from Common Council members, resulting in more community engagement and a new draft plan released last month with scaled back recommendations and a new name, "Milwaukee’s Comprehensive Plan: Housing Element.”
The new plan was up for its first review Monday afternoon and won unanimous approval from the Milwaukee Plan Commission.
What's in the plan
The Housing Element retains several key ideas from the original proposal:
- Allowing townhomes on all residential parcels;
- Permitting accessory dwelling units (ADUs) throughout the city;
- Supporting cottage courts, or clusters of small homes around a shared courtyard;
- Reducing technical zoning barriers, such as minimum lot sizes, to enable more housing development.
However, the more ambitious elements of the original plan—such as legalizing two- and three-family homes citywide or permitting fourplexes in specific areas—were removed. A proposal to allow small apartment buildings near transit corridors was also dropped months ago, although the Common Council separately approved a new RT5 zoning designation last month for apartment buildings between five and eight units.
Public comments in
opposition to the Growing MKE plan last summer generally centered around the city’s public engagement efforts, gentrification, displacement, change of neighborhood character and creating more opportunities for “slum-lords” to buy up housing in the city.
In response to that, a "benefit and harm analysis” was also prepared to document the potential impacts of the plan’s strategies, ways to track impacts and methods to mitigate unintended consequences.
Further, the city's existing anti-displacement plan and affordable housing strategic plan would both be added to the comprehensive plan as part of the Housing Element, which city staff said would give those plans "more teeth."
Public comment
The Plan Commission heard lengthy public comment on the plan Monday, much of which was in support.
Last summer, two of the plan's most vocal opponents were
Metcalfe Park Community Bridges and
Midtown Neighborhood Alliance, both of which now support the plan and applauded DCD's community engagement and subsequent revisions.
Several residents and leaders of community organizations from throughout the city spoke in support of the Housing Element, saying it would help alleviate the city's affordability challenges.
"We support missing middle housing, specifically housing that looks like the size of a single dwelling, but many houses like duplexes, triplexes that can accommodate people of all ages, physical abilities and life stages," said
Amber Miller with
AARP Wisconsin.
Still, not all supporters were fully satisfied. Some voiced frustration that the plan had backed away from broader density reforms. Some residents, particularly in historic or predominantly single-family neighborhoods, remained concerned about changes to zoning rules for ADUs and potential impacts on neighborhood character.
"This is maybe a great plan for the city as a whole, but it's a disaster for this neighborhood (Historic Water Tower neighborhood)," said Mark Foley, who opposed the plan's ADU recommendations.
The revised plan has also secured the backing of some Common Council members, including
JoCasta Zamarripa,
Sharlen Moore, and
Mark Chambers, who all spoke in support of the plan Monday.
"I signed on this project because we need to do something different," Chambers said. "We have over 3,000 vacant lots in this city that we can do some real good on. We can start with zoning."
The plan will next go before the Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee, followed by a vote from the full Common Council.
