A reworked plan to modernize Milwaukee’s zoning code cleared its last major hurdle Tuesday, gaining approval from the Common Council 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 diversify the city’s housing stock and relieve some of the city’s affordability challenges.
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 earlier this year with scaled-back recommendations and a new name, “Milwaukee’s Comprehensive Plan: Housing Element.”
The initiative marks the first update to the city’s zoning code since 2001.
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 “slumlords” 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,” city staff has said.
The Housing Element doesn’t change any zoning regulations or land sale policies, and none of the plan’s recommendations are automatically being applied to any properties. Those will all require separate processes.
City staff has described the Housing Element's purpose as creating a "vision" for housing development and policy in the city.
"Home ownership is a goal that so many of us have for our constituents," said Ald. JoCasta Zamarripa. "I know how passionate my colleagues are on this, and home ownership is a dream that so many of my constituents have for themselves and their families. I know and I want them for them too, but I am here today to also represent for the over 50% of Milwaukeeans who rent their housing like I and I can tell you that rent is skyrocketing here in Milwaukee, we need to address the housing crisis, and updating our city's comprehensive plan with the housing element to increase the diversity of housing options."
A sticking point for some alders has been the allowance of ADUs throughout the city under the Housing Elements guidance. Also on Tuesday, the council
approved a separate ordinance that establishes a more streamlined process to build ADUs throughout the city by not requiring approval from the Board of Zoning Appeals to build one.
Ald.
Scott Spiker, who represents the lower-density far south side, said the ADU ordinance and Housing Element ADU guidance effectively eliminates single family zoning in Milwaukee by allowing an additional internal, attached or external housing unit on a single family lot.
Ultimately, the Housing Element passed with 13 votes in support, one abstention and one alder excused. The separate ordinance to streamline ADU approval passed with eight votes in support and seven against.
