Civic Issues
Topics getting the most attention in Milwaukee public meetings, ranked by how frequently they are discussed.
11 issues in zoning with low priority
Historic plaque program visibility on Brady Street
A Brady Street homeowner got the district's rare historic plaque and urged the city to advertise the plaque program more — she thinks there may be only one plaque on the whole street.
Bay View mixed-use rezone on Howell Avenue
A vacant Bay View building gets new life: rezoning to NS2 lets the owners lease ground-floor space to a café, shop, or studio.
National Register nominations: Greyhound Terminal and County Welfare building
The commission backed National Register nominations for two mid-century landmarks — the 1965 Greyhound Terminal downtown and the former Schuster's/County Welfare building on Vliet Street, which is being converted to affordable housing. The listings recognize transportation and social-welfare history rather than architecture.
Barclay Street corridor assembly hall deviation
The former Foamation cheesehead building's owner wants to keep running a 400-person event space in a light-industrial maker corridor. The commission gave her one more year to keep events going while she fills the rest of the building with artists and maker tenants and finally installs promised murals.
Zoning correction at 1993 S. Muskego Ave.
A 2018 city land sale merged two parcels with different zoning, creating a mixed-zoning error. The commission recommended a fix assigning LB2 to the combined property, home to a bar adding a commercial kitchen.
HPC by-laws amendment on rear landscaping
The commission restored a policy it accidentally deleted, confirming it won't review planting beds in back yards of mid-block lots that aren't visible from the street.
Layton Avenue gas station expansion rezone
A small rezoning lets a long-time gas station add a pump by combining two parcels, with landscaping commitments in the Garden District.
Kane Commons Phase 1 exterior modifications
The last piece of the 20-year-old Kane Commons development gets a facelift: new siding, resized windows, code-compliant doors, and a new porch and deck on the courtyard side of an East Kane Place duplex.
Short-term rental state legislative package
A substitute resolution tweaking the city's state lobbying agenda on short-term rentals was held to the call of the chair rather than moving forward.
Kane Commons duplex exterior upgrades
New owners of the last Kane Commons duplex can now fix up its exterior — new siding, windows, porch and deck — with small future tweaks handled by staff instead of a months-long review.
Additional signage for Riverwest Food Accelerator
FoodRight Inc., a nonprofit running culinary nutrition programs with Milwaukee Public Schools, will get an additional wall sign on the Riverwest Apartments building so neighbors can find its Food Accelerator space. The change is a minor modification to the building's planned development zoning.