Zoning Regulations in Milwaukee (Layman's Version)

Zoning regulation is increasingly in the limelight across the country with more acknowledgment of its role in segregation, housing costs, and environmental damage through sprawl and inefficient land use. Most notably, Nolan Gray’s Arbitrary Lines ties many of those themes together, and I’d highly recommend picking it up. I wanted to share a bit of my understanding of zoning since Milwaukee is currently working on a small rezoning for the Hackett Avenue project, area plans for Downtown and Bay View, and recently approved a study to improve the zoning code.

A brief caveat: I am not a lawyer, planner, or real estate developer, this is only my understanding and interpretation, it is not advice! Corrections are welcome.

Zoning?

Briefly, zoning districts are intended to separate land uses and regulate density. Zoning in Milwaukee is quite complex. Found in Chapter 295 of the Milwaukee Code of Ordinances, the zoning code is about 320 pages long. I primarily think of it in two categories: land use and design limits. The former controls whether things like a restaurant are allowed to operate in a given location while the latter controls the shape, placement and design of the structures.

Each parcel of land in the city is assigned one of the about 50 districts and new buildings have to comply with the regulations for that zone. There are avenues to receive specific exceptions via the Board of Zoning Appeals, and a property can have its zoning district changed by the Common Council. Existing buildings and uses are generally grandfathered in when regulations change.

Zoning Districts

There are 5 broad categories of zoning districts in Milwaukee: residential, commercial, industrial, downtown, and special. Each of these has a number of subdistricts and sometimes even sub-subdistricts that have different constraints on use and design. The Special category includes things like parks, “institutional” uses like campuses, and planned developments. Downtown is a unique category that is notably only applied to the downtown area and the baseball stadium. The zoning map below (interactive version available here) shows that much of the city is zoned for residential and most of the commercial is located along corridors.

© MapBox © OpenStreetMap contributors

Residential Districts

Residential zoning has four subcategories, and each has at least two sub-subcategories:

• Single-family (RS1 through RS6)

• Two-family (RT1 through RT4)

• Multi-family (RM1-RM7)

• Residential and Office (RO1 and RO2)

As the number increases within a subcategory, the zoning typically allows for greater density and are intended for more urban character. The RO district allows some commercial uses, but the other residential districts prohibit nearly anything but residential uses.

Milwaukee is relatively unique in that much of its residential zoning is two-family though it still has a significant amount of single-family.

 zoning | count
--------+-------
 RT4    | 32,523
 RS6    | 30,995
 RT3    | 19,304
 RT2    | 17,712
 RS5    | 15,116
 RS4    |  7,836
 RM1    |  4,673
 RS3    |  3,479
 RT1    |  1,525
 RM7    |  1,011
 RS2    |    898
 RM2    |    851
 RM4    |    610
 RM6    |    528
 RM3    |    365
 RO2    |    300
 RS1    |    278
 RM5    |    268
 RO1    |     41

Commercial Districts

Commercial zoning has four subcategories, and I’ve included a portion of the City’s description for each:

• Neighborhood Shopping (NS1-NS2)

These districts provide for residential uses as well as commercial uses that serve the neighborhood. Such commercial uses are necessary to satisfy basic shopping and service needs that occur frequently and must, therefore, be located close to residential areas.

• Local Business (LB1-LB3)

These districts provide a wide range of goods and services to a large consumer population coming from an extensive area. Within these districts, motor-vehicle-related activities are of major significance. Good access by motor vehicle or public transit is important to local business districts, which are often located adjacent to intersections of major thoroughfares and in close proximity to bus transfer locations.

• Regional Business (RB1-RB2)

These districts provide areas where regional or city-wide shopping, employment or high-density residential uses may occur. These districts allow large-scale and tall buildings. They also have a high intensity of land use and may contain nodes of development that can be effectively served by public transportation.

• Commercial Service (CS)

This district is intended to provide areas where businesses and personal service establishments can be accommodated, but where extensive retail activities are not warranted by city plans.

LB1 and LB2 make up around 90% of commercially zoned parcels, which initially strikes me as a kind of surprising mix. Milwaukee’s commercial districts are typically more permissive in terms of land use, but they make up a relatively small amount of the land area.

 zoning | count
--------+-------
 LB2    |  6,179
 LB1    |  1,062
 CS     |    401
 NS2    |    174
 RB1    |     79
 NS1    |     71
 LB3    |     55
 RB2    |     27

Land Use Regulations

Land use regulations limit what uses are allowed in a given district, and the City specifies around 150 land uses. Some uses require that the property also include other uses (things like automobile or bicycle parking minimums). A typical page of the land use code is a table with each land use, zoning district, and whether it’s allowed. The table below is from the Residential section.

Sample Residential Districts Use Table

“Special Use” requires an approved application from the Board of Zoning Appeals. “Limited Use” means it is not allowed unless certain conditions are met. If for instance you had a building in an RT4 district and wanted to use it as an Artist Studio, you would need to fit the following:

j-1. In the RS6, RT3, RT4 and RM3 to RM7 districts, the structure to be occupied was constructed prior to October 1, 2002, was originally designed and intended to be occupied in whole or in part by a non-residential use, and has been occupied by such non-residential use within the past 12 months. If the structure meets the first 2 of these standards, but not the third, the use shall be classified as a special use. If the structure does not meet either the first or second of these standards, the use shall be classified as a prohibited use. Any enlargement of the structure or area devoted to the non-residential use shall require special use
approval by the board.

There may be other limitations as well.

Design Regulations

Design regulations limit the size, shape and other elements of buildings in each district. It includes things like how far the building must be from the property line (“setbacks”), how much of the lot can be covered by buildings, minimum/maximum number of stories, and the amount of windows (“glazed area”). The below is a sample table from the Residential section.

Sample Residential Districts Building Design Standards Table

Next Steps

Milwaukee will be undergoing a review to make zoning changes with the goal of encouraging more growth, but they haven’t revealed much as far as what might be changing. I am curious whether they will be focusing on changes that would affect high-demand neighborhoods more or whether it will be a bit broader.

I think it’d be neat to consider simplifying or merging some of the similar districts, making it easier to operate home-based businesses, legalizing accessory dwelling units (ADUs), and relaxing some of the density constraints (lot area per dwelling unit in particular). Dropping single-family zoning and parking minimums are good ideas that are popular amongst urbanists, but I suspect there are more impactful changes that don’t bring the same political cost. The folks at the Department of City Development are smart and have a much better idea of where the zoning regulations might be hurting growth, so I’m very much looking forward to the proposed changes.

Upcoming Events

National Avenue Reconstruction Project Public Meetings

• Saturday, September 17, 2022 from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm
  Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, 1818 West National Avenue

• Thursday, September 22, 2022 from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm
  Bradley Technology and Trade School, 700 South 4th Street

• If you are unable to attend the in-person meetings, watch a recording of the presentation at engagemke.com/national-avenue, which will be available by September 16th. 

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