Planning Commission reviews zoning-text amendments tied to comprehensive plan; staff to send ordinances to Council Oct. 28
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Summary
City staff reviewed proposed zoning-code text amendments that implement the comprehensive plan, addressing commission comments on density types (including semi‑detached homes), parking minimums, cottage courts, ADUs and parameters for PUD amendments. The commission expressed general support and asked staff to proceed to the Council public hearing.
Wauwatosa planning staff presented proposed zoning-code text amendments intended to implement the recently adopted comprehensive plan and described how the staff revised draft language in response to planning commission comments and a letter from the Housing Coalition.
Staff outlined multiple topic areas: residential standards, cottage court rules, accessory dwelling units (ADUs), parking minimums, live‑work employee limits, and rules for final planned unit developments (PUDs) and minor PUD amendments. Key changes staff described include a five‑foot reduction in front-yard setback requirements across residential zones; keeping duplexes permitted by right while adding allowance for semi‑detached houses (two attached units on separate lots) in residential zones; retaining the 1,800‑square‑foot maximum unit size for cottage courts but allowing larger units if affordable; and removing maximum building height language for cottage courts so building height would instead be governed by the base zoning district.
On parking, staff said the draft removes parking minimums for nonresidential uses and will monitor street‑parking complaints if the change is adopted; the parking requirement for elderly residential units was reduced from 1.0 to 0.5 spaces per unit in response to commission concerns. For PUDs, staff tightened language to ensure a zoning administrator may approve final PUDs only when they match the preliminary PUD and added quantitative thresholds to define minor amendments (changes of 10% or less in floor area or residential unit count, among other limits).
Staff also summarized the Housing Coalition’s comments, noting the coalition’s request to allow semi‑detached housing, to clean ambiguous language that suggested two‑unit homes were only allowed “in a limited manner,” and to consider designating larger East‑side areas as mixed‑residential. Staff said rezoning large areas would require a zoning map amendment — a separate, more involved process that requires analysis, owner outreach and formal notifications (including 300‑foot notices). Staff and the commission emphasized the comprehensive plan is a 20‑year roadmap and that rezoning large areas is not part of this round of text amendments but could be pursued later.
Anne Heitkamp of the Housing Coalition commended staff for the clarifications and raised a specific inconsistency between the MR district definition and the use table; staff said the use table governs permitted uses and that the definition will be cleaned up. Ursula Twombly asked about public outreach; staff and the mayor said the project is being posted on the city website and in newsletters and that the Council public hearing on the ordinance is planned for Oct. 28, with a return to the commission in November for final review and a November Council adoption target.
Commissioners expressed appreciation for the Housing Coalition’s detailed review and for staff’s revisions. No formal vote was taken on the text amendments at the meeting; staff requested satisfaction with the proposal so the city can place the ordinance language on the Oct. 28 Common Council agenda for a public hearing and then return to the commission in November.