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Council approves zoning changes to support ADUs and small‑scale infill; removal of 'usable open space' aims to ease downtown conversions
Summary
The Common Council adopted a six‑part zoning package to ease design and procedural constraints on accessory dwelling units (ADUs), attached garages, porches, small multi‑unit configurations and infill, and to remove the city's ‘usable open space’ requirement where it blocked conversions in transit‑oriented areas.
Madison’s Common Council voted Feb. 25 to adopt a package of zoning amendments aimed at making modest infill and accessory dwelling units easier to build across the city.
The six‑part ordinance, advanced by the Planning Division and recommended unanimously by Plan Commission, adjusts garage façade rules, allows porches to encroach closer to side property lines in some cases, removes a per‑unit “usable open space” requirement that has blocked conversions downtown and in transit districts, and relaxes limits on ADU size and configuration.
Why it matters: Planners said the changes address frequent, small technical barriers—rules that made perfectly ordinary renovations, conversions or small‑scale infill projects infeasible. The package is intended to enable more “missing middle” housing (duplexes, triplexes, small apartment conversions) without wholesale zoning map changes.
Major provi…
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