The silence, and what it means

A full-text search of the adopted Substitute 6 for “covenant,” “deed restrict,” “homeowners association” and “condominium” returns zero matches. The ordinance neither overrides private covenants nor preserves them expressly. It simply does not address them.

That silence is the operative fact, because zoning permission and private restriction are separate layers in Wisconsin and neither displaces the other. A municipality deciding a use is permitted does not make a recorded covenant forbidding it unenforceable.

Wisconsin's Legislature was asked to change that and declined. 2025 Assembly Bill 365 would have created Wis. Stat. § 710.26, providing that “[a]ny covenant, restriction, or condition contained in a deed or other instrument affecting real property that prohibits or unreasonably restricts the construction, maintenance, or use of an accessory dwelling unit… is void and unenforceable,” along with § 710.18(8) barring a residential planned community association from adopting or enforcing such a rule — both applying retroactively to instruments recorded before the effective date. AB 365 died on March 23, 2026 without a hearing or a vote.

The rival bill that got furthest, AB 449, created only the three zoning sections and contained no covenant or association language at all. It never passed a house either.

The ordinance's own restriction that does bind

Standard (c) is worth isolating. It requires that, at the time of the building permit application for an ADU accessory to an existing dwelling, at least one owner occupy the principal dwelling as their principal residence. That is an owner-occupancy condition written into Milwaukee's zoning code, and it is checked at permit application rather than continuously.

The design standards — floor area, building height, setbacks, pedestrian connections to the street, balconies and decks — vary by whether the unit is internal, attached or detached.

Our Wisconsin ADUs and modifications page covers how the two layers interact, and architectural review covers the approval a covenanted owner still goes through.

The politics in the file

The Legistar sponsor list for File 240999 is Ald. Pérez (lead), Bauman, Zamarripa and Burgelis. The Substitute 6 document itself carries the sponsor line “ALD. SPIKER” — Ald. Spiker moved a proposed alternative substitute and then voted No on final passage.

The record carries roughly 25 opposition letters and petitions, including from the Midtown Neighborhood Alliance, Metcalfe Park Community Bridges and the 5 Points Neighborhood Association, alongside supporting material from AARP Wisconsin and the Together for Homes Coalition. It also contains a copy of a preliminary state ADU draft circulated by Senator Kelda Roys and Representative Francesca Hong — the state-level precursor to the 2025 bills.

The same day, Milwaukee adopted the Housing Element of its Comprehensive Plan after removing duplexes and triplexes in single-family zones and dropping the “Growing MKE” branding; townhouses, cottage courts and ADUs in single-family districts were retained.

What is happening in the suburbs

Wauwatosa adopted an ADU ordinance in 2019 and in 2025 offered up to $25,000 in assistance to the first four applicants filing complete, buildable permit applications; roughly 35 homeowners met with staff and two permits were issued. South Milwaukee adopted an ADU ordinance in 2025 with no owner-occupancy requirement. Oconomowoc changed its zoning in 2024. None of that reporting addresses covenants either.

What to watch next

The live question is which model a 2027 Wisconsin ADU bill copies — AB 449's zoning-only approach, which leaves associations untouched, or AB 365's covenant-voiding approach. Wisconsin does not pre-file, so drafts for the new biennium are ordered after the November 3, 2026 election. Until then, a Milwaukee homeowner whose city permits an accessory dwelling unit can still be stopped by their association's declaration.