Common Council OKs zoning code changes to bolster housing creation

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The city of Madison’s Common Council voted Tuesday to approve a set of changes to the zoning code designed to support the creation of more types of housing.

The approved changes include: 

  • Allowing for more options in the placement of an attached garage in residential districts;

  • Allowing open porches to be in a part of a lot’s required side yard setback;

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  • Making the side yard setback the same for single-story buildings and buildings that are more than one story;

  • Increasing the allowable interior size for an attached accessory dwelling unit (ADU) to be up to 1,000 square feet;

  • Increasing the allowable footprint for a detached ADU to be up to 1,000 square feet, consistent with the requirements for other types of accessory buildings in residential and mixed-use districts;

  • Eliminating the limit on the number of bedrooms in an ADU;

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  • Allowing for more flexibility in how units are arranged within two- and three-unit buildings;

  • Removing the Usable Open Space requirement while still maintaining existing stormwater management and landscaping requirements; and

  • Allowing demolition requests of properties deemed not to be historic after a Landmarks Commission review to bypass Plan Commission consideration and proceed directly to the demolition permitting process.

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