Milwaukee housing committee suggests ending single-family-only zoning

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- None of Milwaukee's residential areas should be limited to only single-family developments, according to a report produced by consultants Mayor Cavalier Johnson's administration hired to explore ways the city can attract more residents.

The Growing MKE initiative is tied to Johnson's push for the city to reach one million residents. The Department of City Development (DCD) spearheaded the effort, and to build a set of draft recommendations, it brought in development consultants from PlaceMakers and Miami-based DPZ CoDesign.

Angie Tabrizi was among those who helped come up with the recommendations. Tabrizi, a Milwaukee resident who's in the process of launching the Moxie Development Collective, which will help nonprofits with their development efforts, said the biggest obstacle currently keeping Milwaukee from addressing its housing shortage is a lack of what she called "middle housing."

"If you look at what is being developed now, it is mostly large apartment buildings," she said.

According to a presentation Growing MKE put together over the summer, 80% of the housing units added between 2002 and 2022 were part of developments that included 25 or more units.

Tabrizi said one of the group's key recommendations was adding more units on a smaller scale: duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, rowhouses, townhomes and accessory dwelling units, or ADUs.

The report concluded the city could integrate more of those middle housing developments by lifting restrictions on the 40% of Milwaukee's residential land area that is currently limited to single-family homes.

Specifically, the recommendations include allowing duplexes and triplexes in areas currently zoned for single-family housing, while allowing fourplexes in areas zoned for two-family homes. 

Sam Leichtling, Milwaukee's city planning manager, said Milwaukee had once featured much more dense multifamily development, but since 1980, the focus drifted toward more spread-out types of townhouses and garden apartments.

Milwaukee's population peaked at 741,300 in 1960, according to U.S. Census records, but has steadily declined since, dipping to 576,300 in 2020.

"Across the city, there'd be a wider mix of options [without single-family-only areas], and that would include things like duplexes and accessory dwelling units," Leichtling said. "Things that, again, historically, you've seen throughout Milwaukee neighborhoods but, right now, are limited in certain parts of the city."

Accessory dwelling units are small homes built in the backyard of single-family houses or added as additions to the house. Tabrizi said reintroducing those would provide an option for families to stay closer as parents age or as young adults begin to spread their wings.

"There's a place for grandma to live within your plot, or college students," she said.

Tabrizi added it would also provide an option for young homeowners to rent out ADUs as a means of covering their mortgage or home maintenance costs.

No more parking minimums

Another policy change the report recommends is the elimination of parking minimums tied to the approval of new housing developments.

Currently, developers' plans must include a minimum number of parking spaces depending on how many units they'd be adding. Leichtling said those requirements were at odds with the city's climate and equity plan, which seeks to reduce total vehicle miles traveled in Milwaukee.

"How do we continue to make sure that parking regulations align with our climate and equity goals, our goals for walkable urban neighborhoods," he said. "And we're not requiring excess parking in new developments?"

Tabrizi said, as a Bay View resident, she understands keeping enough parking spots is a legitimate logistic, but she added Growing MKE believes the private sector will still ensure developers don't move ahead with irresponsible plans.

She maintained developers wouldn't get loans if banks reviewed plans and worried a proposed development would worsen congestion in a neighborhood.

"The market and the financial industry is still going to be looking at parking counts," she said. "In terms of how that balances out with the number of units that's being proposed."

What's next?

In order for the recommendations to become policy, the Common Council must sign off on those zoning changes. The next step in that process comes Monday, when the council's Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee will review the report. 

There are also two public open houses scheduled for people to review the recommendations, ask questions and submit feedback to the city:

• Monday, Nov. 27 - Mitchell Street Library, 5:30 p.m.-7 p.m.
• Monday, Dec. 4 - Good Hope Library, 5:30 p.m.-7 p.m.

According to the DCD website, an online survey will be available here later this month.