Commission asks staff for ADU and duplex review; staff to return with examples and analysis in August

Plan Commission members asked planning staff to return with more information about accessory dwelling units (ADUs) and duplex criteria, including examples from Milwaukee, Wauwatosa and other Wisconsin communities, and signaled tentative support for staff returning in August with more detailed analysis.

Planning staff noted Milwaukee recently adopted ADU regulations and said staff would examine Milwaukee’s legislation, Wauwatosa’s rules and local examples to report back. Staff clarified ADUs are generally smaller than primary units and often capped by a percentage of the primary structure or a fixed square-foot cap; detached structures without a kitchen or other minimum features would not qualify as an ADU. Commissioner Flynn Post and others questioned whether ADU programs in other jurisdictions yielded many new units and whether staff time would be well spent on modest unit increases; staff said the drafting effort itself is not technically complex but that community discussion would determine uptake.

Separately, staff proposed an initial, incremental focus on the R-6 district, a 1- and 2-family district that currently does not allow new duplexes, and suggested the Plan Commission consider whether that district should again allow two-family development. Commissioners asked staff to include duplex conversion and development criteria in the review. The commission did not take formal action but gave staff direction to return with draft language and comparative data in August.