Parking Lot Landscape Requirements

Landscaping serves a variety of purposes. It helps define the street edge and fixes gaps where buildings do not define an edge condition. It buffers other uses and screens utility functions such as dumpsters and loading docks. Landscaping provides water absorption areas from impervious parking areas and roof tops. It reduces cooling requirements and the urban heat island produced by large paved areas and facades with sun exposure. Landscaping helps bring human scale and amenities to a site. On existing sites, landscaping helps to adapt a site to move towards more current planning goals.

NEW: Landscape Design Guide for Parking Lots

This guide is intended to serve as a resource for property owners, businesses, designers and contractors by illustrating and describing options for parking lot landscaping that meet the minimum requirements of the City of Milwaukee Zoning Code. A variety of options for meeting the standards exist in order to provide flexibility, as each site is unique and different solutions may be appropriate in different circumstances.
The guide is not intended to be inclusive of all standards found in the City’s zoning code, and users should refer to Section 295-405 of the City of Milwaukee Code of Ordinances for all applicable landscape standards.