City of Madison Proposes Transition from Planned Development Zoning | The Locally Times
The Department of Planning and Community and Economic Development is moving to rezone approximately 4,000 residential properties to conventional districts.
As of June 17, 2026, the City of Madison is working to convert various single-family and two-family Planned Development (PD) zones into conventional residential zoning districts. This effort impacts roughly 4,000 properties across the city that were previously governed by site-specific rules established before the 2013 zoning code update. Many of these PD zones, which gained popularity in the 1980s, currently require property owners to seek approval from non-governmental architectural check boards for minor modifications, such as installing a deck or an egress window. The city notes that these boards may reject changes that would otherwise be permissible under standard regulations. To provide information on this process, the city has scheduled 2 virtual public meetings. The first meeting is set for June 22, 2026, at 6:00pm, and the second is scheduled for June 25, 2026, at 6:00pm. City staff indicated that conventional zoning will provide more transparency, as current PD regulations often require staff to manually search through files that can exceed 100 pages to answer resident inquiries. Additionally, properties in PD zones are often excluded from recent updates to the city's zoning code, such as the Housing Forward changes implemented over the past 3 years. Residents can use the Assessor's Office Property Lookup tool to determine if their home is currently in a PD zone. A list of properties slated for rezoning, sorted by street name, is available on the city's website to help owners identify their proposed new zoning designation. The city has attempted to select conventional districts that align with existing lot sizes and building setbacks to ensure consistency with the current neighborhood character. ## Key Questions 1. How can I determine if my property is currently in a Planned Development zone? Residents can use the Property Lookup tool provided by the Assessor's Office, which lists the zoning district under the Property Information section. 2. Where can I find the proposed zoning changes for my specific respond to? The City of Madison has posted a list of affected properties, sorted alphabetically by street name, on the project webpage to allow residents to view their proposed new zoning classification.