Call to Action: Support Growing MKE

Mitchell Henke, Anna Bailliekova, Marybeth McGinnis

Jul 18, 2024 — 1 min read

The City of Milwaukee's Growing MKE plan was discussed in our last newsletter, and the final draft has been published. A provision that would have allowed multi-family apartments in RT3 and RT4 zoning districts was removed, unnecessarily weakening the plan. The City Plan Commission will be hearing testimony on the plan on Monday, July 29th at 1:30PM in City Hall, Room 301-B. Opposition is expected to be strong, so we are sending this out to encourage people to send in their support. The City Plan Commission is expected to allow the public to speak both in-person and virtually (instructions are here).

If you are unable to make the meeting, a written comment can be sent to the City Plan Commission here, but it must be sent before Thursday, July 25th.

A short statement expressing support would be beyond wonderful, but I've included a copy of my longer comment below if it is helpful in writing your own.

I strongly support the plan. It is an important step in providing more housing options for people at all stages of their life. Expanding housing options is also critical to making it easier for people to live closer to their desired destinations, making it easier for them to walk, bike, or take transit.

Zoning improvements are only one part of solving housing issues in Milwaukee, but it is an important one to increase the amount of missing middle housing in high demand areas and expanding the tax base so Milwaukee can fund and expand services.

I am very disappointed that the recommendation to allow small multi-family buildings in RT3 and RT4 districts has been removed and think it should be restored. I have appreciated the work that went into this plan by the Department of City Development, and was glad to be able to attend both virtual and nearby meetings at the library to better understand it.

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