[Amended 10-7-2025 by Ord. No. 2025-2701]
A.
Residential Districts.
1.
R-C - Countryside Residence District. The R-C Countryside Residence District is intended to allocate land for single-family residential uses on large lots and in low-density settings. The District is further intended to preserve open space, sensitive natural features, and maintain the community's rural residential setting and scenic viewsheds where these assets exist in the southern areas of the City.
2.
R-SE - Suburban/Estate Residence District. The R-SE Suburban/Estate Residence District is intended to provide land for single-family residential housing in moderately low densities and that is suburban or semi-rural in character. The District is further intended to preserve and protect the City's natural resources, including woodlands and open spaces.
3.
R-SR - Suburban Residence District. The R-SR Suburban Residence District is intended to provide land for single-family suburban residential housing at moderately low densities. The District is designed to preserve the community's suburban and semi-rural character and its open space and natural resources. The district is intended to allow infill in locations where moderately low-density neighborhoods exist and to allow new residential growth, ensuring that development aligns with the City of Franklin's Comprehensive Plan.
4.
R-MF - Multiple-Family Residence District. The R-MF Multiple-Family Residence District is intended to establish and preserve land for both multifamily and single-family attached residential development such as duplexes, townhomes, and rowhomes to accommodate a variety of households with different lifestyles, age ranges, and incomes. The District is intended to allow a flexible mix of scales, densities and formats throughout the community while ensuring that the single-family attached and multifamily residential uses enhance the character of Franklin's residential setting, contribute to the community's visual appeal, and ensure the adequate provision of open space.
5.
R-V - Village Residence District. The R-V Village Residence District is intended to preserve the single-family residential character and architectural qualities of the St. Martins Historic Village Area. The District is intended to allow new single-family residential infill on vacant or underused sites in the Village area, provided that such development is consistent with the historic visual character and preserves its moderate residential density.
B.
Commercial and Mixed-Use Districts.
1.
B-N - Neighborhood Business District. The B-N Neighborhood Business District is intended to provide for the day-to-day retail, commercial service, and employment needs of Franklin residents, particularly the needs of the neighborhoods adjacent to properties in the District. The District is further intended to promote a mutually supportive mix of small-scale retail establishments and to ensure safe and convenient pedestrian and vehicular circulation on site and between adjacent sites as redevelopment of existing sites occurs.
2.
B-G - General Business District. The B-G General Business District is intended to promote a variety of commercial service and retail uses along the City's major roadways. The District is intended to allow moderately large-scale development that serves the general population of Franklin. It is further intended to promote commercial development in visually appealing plaza formats that promote safe and convenient pedestrian travel on sites and between adjacent sites and neighborhoods.
3.
B-R - Regional Business District. The B-R Regional Business District is intended to promote a variety of commercial service and retail uses along the City's major roadways to serve the needs of Franklin residents as well as a regional consumer market beyond the City's borders. Moderately large-scale development should be configured with groups of large-lot commercial structures with outlot commercial buildings surrounding shared parking areas and should provide safe and convenient pedestrian travel on site, and when practicable, between other sites and neighborhoods.
4.
B-MU - South 27th Street Mixed-Use District. The B-MU South 27th Street Mixed-Use District is intended to provide land for a mutually-supportive combination of retail, commercial, office, and compact residential uses in buildings' upper floors along South 27th Street. Development is configured in multi-building plaza formats and on relatively large sites. The District is intended to facilitate greater densities of retail, commercial, office, and residential uses than in the B-N and B-G Districts, given South 27th Street's direct access to bus transit. The development should further be arranged in cohesive plaza developments that facilitate convenient vehicle and pedestrian travel and enhance the corridor's appearance.
5.
B-SM - Village Business District. The B-SM Village Business District is intended to promote a mix of commercial retail, service, and upper-floor residential uses in the historic St. Martins Village area while maintaining the area's traditional character and built form. The District is designed to preserve historic structures while allowing infill development on underused sites that is consistent with the area's built characteristics and architectural qualities. Development should continue to be formatted in small lots and buildings should be placed relatively near front lot lines to preserve the area's pedestrian-oriented character.
C.
Industrial and Agricultural Districts.
1.
B-P - Business Park District. The B-P Business Park District is intended to promote a flexible mix of light industrial, research, and office uses in a campus like setting. Uses are conducted primarily indoors and do not have the potential to generate nuisances to adjoining properties. Circulation systems should be integrated into the site in a cohesive manner to ensure convenient pedestrian and vehicular travel.
2.
LI - Limited Industrial District. The LI Limited Industrial District is intended to provide land for manufacturing, industrial, warehousing, and similar uses of a limited scale and intensity. The district is intended to support employment opportunities in the City while maintaining the community's natural resources and neighborhood character.
3.
A - Agricultural District. The A Agricultural District is intended to preserve land in the City historically used for small farming operations engaged in crop production, the raising of livestock, the cultivation of orchards, and other small-scale agricultural activities. The district also accommodates limited single-family housing. The district is intended to preserve the large contiguous parcels of land that are characteristic of the community's rural areas.
4.
A-P - Prime Agricultural District. The A-P Prime Agricultural District is intended to preserve and protect land in the City historically designated as prime agricultural land in the City of Franklin's Comprehensive Plan. The district is intended to preserve the natural integrity, agricultural productivity, and scenic qualities of these lands while allowing limited single-family residential use properties.
D.
Miscellaneous Districts.
1.
P - Park and Open Space District. The P Park and Open Space District is intended to provide land for parks and recreational facilities that meet the needs of the Franklin community while also preserving the City's natural resources, including rivers, woodlands, wetlands and open space.
2.
I - Institutional District. The I Institutional District is intended to allocate land for public or semi-public uses, municipal facilities, utilities, and noncommercial places of assembly as defined in this UDO. The district serves to accommodate existing and future public and semi-public uses and to allocate land separately from commercial and residential uses.
3.
L - Landfill District. The L Landfill District is intended to contain and regulate existing and former landfill uses in the City while mitigating their adverse impacts such as odor, noise, and traffic on the community's commercial and residential areas.
4.
PDL - Planned Development Legacy District. The PDL Planned Development Legacy District includes properties that have been previously zoned as a "Planned Development District" and are governed by a unique set of regulations as set forth in the related Planned Development Ordinance.[1] Properties zoned in the Legacy Planned Development District will continue to operate under their specific planned unit development ordinance. No property may be rezoned into the Legacy Planned Development District after the date of the adoption of this Chapter.
[1]
Editor's Note: A list of planned unit developments and their ordinances are an attachment to this Chapter.
E.
FP - Floodplain Overlay District. All development within the Floodplain Overlay District; comprising the Floodway District (FW), Floodfringe District (FF), and General Floodplain District (GFP) is regulated by the Floodplain Zoning Ordinance[2] of the City of Franklin, WI.
[2]
Editor's Note: The Floodplain Zoning Ordinance is an attachment to this Chapter.
B.
District Boundary Description and Interpretation.
1.
Zoning Boundary Determination. The district boundaries shall be streets, alleys, railroads, lot lines, streams, floodplain boundaries, and wetland boundaries unless otherwise shown on the Zoning Map.
2.
Zoning Boundary Determination for Approximate Boundaries. Where the designation of the Official Zoning Map indicates that various zoning districts are approximately bounded by a street, alley, lot line, stream, floodplain boundary, or wetland boundary, such lot line or the centerline of such street, alley, or railroad right-of-way, or centerline of the main channel of such stream, the floodplain boundaries, or wetland boundaries as delineated on maps prepared by the City or under the Root River Watershed study, or as determined through the use of on-site wetland delineation, flood profiles and accompanying hydrologic and hydraulic engineering data, shall be construed to be the zoning district boundary line.
3.
Split Zoning of New Lots Prohibited. The split zoning of any newly created lot or parcel into more than one (1) zoning district shall not be allowed except for parcels split between a district and the Floodplain Overlay District.
4.
Zoning of Annexed Land. Any additions to the incorporated area of the City of Franklin shall be classified in the A Agricultural District until otherwise classified by amendment. Annexed land that includes statutory shoreland wetlands or floodplains shall adhere to the provisions of the Floodplain Zoning Ordinance[2] and the Shoreland Wetland Ordinance of the City of Franklin Municipal Code.
[2]
Editor's Note: The Floodplain Zoning Ordinance is an attachment to this Chapter.