Milwaukee City Plan Commission Meeting - March 9, 2026: Official Map Amendment, Certified Survey Map, Bylaws, and 2025 Year in Review
Milwaukee City Plan Commission Meeting - March 9, 2026
The City Plan Commission met on Monday, March 9, 2026 at 1:31 PM in hybrid format to consider four agenda items and receive an annual review. The meeting was chaired by Vice-Chair Allyson Nemec (standing in for Chair Bloomingdale, who was excused) and concluded at 2:05 PM. All votes were 5-0, with Commissioners Bloomingdale and Smith excused.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of January 26, 2026 Meeting Minutes: Approved without objection via roll call vote (5-0).
Discussion Items
- File 251808 – Amendment of the Official Map: Dessalegn Bekele (DPW) presented the annual update reflecting mostly alley vacations and a quitclaim deed near Washington Park (a sliver of land from county to state to widen Lloyd Street). Commissioners asked about triggers; Mr. Bekele noted that most vacations are requested by adjacent property owners. The ordinance was recommended for passage to the Public Works Committee.
- File 250724 – Certified Survey Map (Bobolink Ave): Jonny Latsko (DCD) presented a CSM to divide one large residential L-shaped parcel into two lots and dedicate existing road right-of-way. A clerical correction was noted (change “122nd Street” to “121st Street”). Taylor Jones, newly hired associate planner, was introduced as the future contact for CSMs. The resolution was recommended for adoption to the Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee.
- File 251717 – Bylaws Amendment: Tanya Fonseca presented two changes: updating the Wisconsin Statute citation (19.85) for open meetings exemptions in Article IV, and deleting the written notice requirements for zoning map hearings from Article V (now codified in zoning code §295-307-3-d-2, expanding notice radius from 200 to 250 feet). Commissioners expressed support for the standardization. The resolution was approved.
- File 251718 – 2025 Year in Review: Tanya Fonseca presented a comprehensive review of 2025 activity: 50 items heard covering 13 of 15 aldermanic districts; approval of over 425 new housing units (including ~270 affordable), ~106,000 sq ft commercial, 6,000 sq ft office, and 100,000 sq ft industrial space; zoning code text changes legalizing accessory dwelling units and creating the RT5 “missing middle” district; adoption of the Housing Element for the comprehensive plan (with over 2,000 residents and 9,000+ online engagements); and updates on major projects (Deer District block five with 269 affordable units, MATC field house, Downer Avenue 65-unit building, Brady Corp expansion, community garden at Kilbourn/Van Buren, Restaurant Depot at Timmerman Plaza, Holy Cathedral Church, Monterey Market, MMSD West Basin stormwater basin, and more). The communication was ordered on file.
Key Outcomes
- File 251808: Recommended for passage to the Public Works Committee (5-0).
- File 250724: Recommended for adoption to the Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee (5-0).
- File 251717: Plan Commission Resolution approved (5-0).
- File 251718: Ordered on file (no vote required).
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon. I am Alison Emmick and I am uh chairing today's uh City Plan Commission meeting um on Monday, March 9th, 2026. Um I would like to start with uh brief roll call. Um Commissioner Katrina Crane present commissioner Tariq Moody present commissioner Jesus Gonzalez present, Commissioner Ranel Washington present and joining us virtually I'm going to turn it over to Tanya who will introduce a little bit more our virtual presentation guidelines. Okay, great. Today's city plan commission meeting will be carried out in a hybrid format, which means we are accepting public testimony both in person at 809 North Broadway and online in GoToWebinar. If you're joining via GoToWebinar, please keep yourself on mute until you are called. If you would like to provide testimony during any of the public hearings, please click the raise hand function. You can see that on the screen right now. During your agenda item of interest, click the raise hand function, and our staff assistant Chris Lee will call on you during the public testimony portion of the item. If anyone is watching on channel 25 and would like to participate in the hearing, you will need to log in to the GoToWebinar platform to do so. You can do this by going to city.gov slash cpc again in your internet browser. It's city.mwaukee.gov slash cpc. From this web page, you can log into go to webinar and provide testimony during any of the public comment items. Whether you're providing public testimony in person or remotely, please state your name, address, and affiliation with the item for your testimony. Thank you for your participation. Thank you so much. Um, and with that, is there our first order of business is our meeting minutes from our last meeting on January 26, 2026? Uh can I have a motion for approval? Motion to approve the minutes from our last meeting. Can I have a second? I'll second that motion. As we have someone virtual, I will um do a roll call vote. Uh Commissioner Crane. Approve. Commissioner Tariq Moody. Commissioner Jesus Gonzalez. Approve. Commissioner Rennell Washington. Approve. Okay. Um item number two, which is uh file number two five one eight zero eight, an ordinance relating to the amendment of the official map for the city of Milwaukee. Okay, great. We have staff from DPW today who will be presenting these items too. Hello, my name is Bessalin Bukela from Central Drafting and Records. Um, it's my first time being here, so I'm welcome. I'm really sorry to have a probably don't know what to say here. So um we update the open city of Milwaukee's official maps every year throughout the year. Is there anything we should be aware of uh as plan commissioners? Uh no, it's mostly just eile vacations and a couple of uh quick claim deeds, and that's about it. Okay. Right. Is there any questions for the salon? Can we have slides if you want to briefly summarize what they are? Yeah, sure. Uh huh. It's very hard to see, but uh yeah, this one's near Washington Park. Washington Park, that's uh one of those uh quit claimed deed uh from uh for land from uh county to state just a very sliver of land that widened uh Lloyd Street, I think. Okay, yeah, okay. Thank you.
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