City Proposes to Rezone One- and Two-Family “PD” Zoning to Standard Zoning Districts on October 19th and 20th

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Summary of PD Rezoning in District 3

Those who watch my blog posts may remember that the City is undergoing the process of rezoning one- and two-family homes currently in Planned Development (PD) zoning to standard residential zoning districts. District 3 includes a great many PD properties included in this project, all in the North Star neighborhood.

Following a monthslong period of informational meetings and neighborhood presentations (including a Zoning staff to the North Star neighborhood's April resident meeting at Twisted Grounds), the city-wide rezoning proposals will be reviewed and voted on at the Plan Commission on Monday, October 19th and at the Common Council on Tuesday, October 20th.

New zoning districts were determined based on the consistency of those zoning district rules with existing density and building forms. Residents with Planned Development-zoned homes, and those living nearby, have recently or will soon receive the legal notice postcard for these rezoning hearings in the mail.

This City webpage about PD rezoning provides a ton of useful information about this project. 

Why do we have Planned Development zoning and why is the City considering rezoning to standard zoning districts?

My thanks to my colleague, District 19 Alder John Guequierre, for answering these questions in this informative blog post he shared on July 7th, 2026:

“Prior to the 2013 zoning ordinance update, it was difficult for developers and city planners to design the kinds of neighborhoods they thought would be attractive to homebuyers. Their solution was to create a PD, establishing details such as lot sizes, minimum home sizes, setbacks, street layouts, and all other aspects of the built environment that require a building permit. These aspects of the PD became a special zone unique to the neighborhood. In many cases declarations of covenants were also filed with the County Recorder that contained rules beyond those involved in a building permit and zoning regulations. For example, covenants might regulate maximum fence height, details of landscaping, and storage of vehicles, among others. PD's were common in Madison between the 1970's and early 2000's. Since the zoning update, they are rarely used because the updated code provides the clarity and flexibility developers need and homebuyers want.

There are two primary reasons for the rezoning initiative.

  • PD's are an efficiency burden on the building inspection permitting staff, which has to do considerably more research on the PD details, as well as an obstacle to homeowners wishing to do something as simple as adding or replacing a deck or adding a small addition. Madison is laser-focused on finding efficiencies that reduce the need to add employees as the city grows. Similarly, homeowners in PD's may wish to have the same rights as homeowners in conventional zones.
  • Except for arduous pathways to amend them, PD's are locked in the past. Homeowners in PD's cannot take advantage of the various amendments to Madison's conventional single-family and duplex zones such as those permitting auxiliary dwelling units (“ADU's" or “granny flats") or the conversion of single-family homes to duplexes. Across the US, these kinds of developments are referred to as “gentle density". Covenants will survive the rezoning and may still prevent homeowners taking advantage of those rights. Of course, a neighborhood may feel that they and their neighbors benefit from those restrictions and they have every right to preserve the restrictions. New subdivisions and multifamily developments are the playground for large developers. The kind of low-impact development possible under this rezoning is an opportunity for local small developers and even homeowners themselves.

The current initiative is limited to single-family and duplex PD's. Madison may look at multi-family and commercial PD's in the future, but that will be very complicated. In the current initiative all 4,000 residences in PD's (in all but four of our 20 alder districts) will be converted to one of the conventional single-family and duplex zones."

The City prepared this Frequently Asked Questions document with more information about PD zoning, how the permitting process is much more cumbersome for PD properties, and how this change interacts with Homeowners Associations and private covenants that apply to properties. 

Where in District 3 would this rezoning apply and what zoning districts are proposed? 

Map showing areas of District 3 with PD zoning and proposed to be rezoned to standard districts
Image credit: City Zoning

District 3's Planned Development properties are all in the North Star neighborhood because those areas were subdivided and platted during the time period when the City relied on PD zoning for new neighborhoods. 

If you live in the orange area of this map, also shown to the right, your property is zoned PD and is proposed to be rezoned to a standard residential zoning district. There are four areas of PD properties proposed to be rezoned, with a list of affected addresses on the second page:

If you want to dig into the zoning rules for these zoning districts, here are some links to the relevant section of Madison General Ordinance (MGO):

Still Have Questions?

You may have enjoyed this post if you're a nerd like me. 

If the above leaves you with detailed or technical zoning questions, I encourage you to contact City Zoning staff at zoning@cityofmadison.com or call 608-266-4551 (extension 3).

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