History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume I, Part 46

Author: Bruce, William George, 1856-1949; Currey, J. Seymour (Josiah Seymour), b. 1844
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 818

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Street Arrangements and Details .- " Assuming the location of the County Building at Ninth and Cedar streets and, of course. the City Hall at the cast

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PROSPECTIVE MILWAUKEE-CITY PLANNING AND ZONING 493

end of the Cedar Street axis, the problem remains of how best to place the other buildings, and what size and shape to give to the open spaces, for the latter need to be as carefully designed as the former. The two most serious limitations upon the development of the most thoroughly satisfactory design consist in the monotonous division of the area into eity blocks and in the size and loeating of the new anditorium," thus continues the report of F. L. Ohn- sted and Jolm Nolen.

"If all streets are carried unbroken across the composition, they will not only divide it monotonously but will make it impossible to so place any of the features of the design as to be seen from Grand Avenue by looking down the connecting streets. Sixth, Fifth and Fourth streets-on account of their connections and relatively easy grades have too much traffic importance to allow of interruption. Eighth Street has a steep gradient and it would be desirable to place some feature in connection with the terraces rising west of Eighth Street, such as an outstanding basin and fountain, for example, so as to project into the line of Eighth Street. The roadway would be merely deflected around that feature in crossing the Cedar Street axis. Of still more importance, as regards the beauty of the composition, if it ean possibly be ae- complished, would be the closing of Seventh Street from Wells to State. This, together with the substitution of a broad parking with a roadway on either side in place of the single axial roadway of Cedar Street between Sixth and Eighth, would afford an impressive and unbroken open space of suitable shape and scale in front of the County Building and would permit the ultimate construction of public buildings of agreeable proportions to flank this open space on the north and south. The fact that the arrangement would make the buildings visible from Grand Avenue is an additional gain.

Treatment of Wells and State Streets .- Seventh Street has been sug- gested as a route for an additional street ear line, but it would seem as though Fifth or Sixth Street, or at most, both of them would suffice. The needless multiplieation of trolley lines across the design ought to be avoided at all hazards. Moreover, a car line on the main axis, such as now exists between Fifth and Sixth streets, is very undesirable and it would seem as though the east and west connections conkl be made wholly on Wells and State streets ; both of which ean and should be widened in connection with the formation of the civic center. Wells and State streets should not only be widened throughout the bloeks acquired by the publie so as to leave sidewalks adequate for the maintenance of trees, as well as ample roadways, but the necessary steps should be taken to insure the rebuilding of the opposite frontage in a manner that will harmonize with the character of the civie center. The most effective means of securing these ends would be for the publie to acquire these frontages.

"The Auditorium makes impossible a continuation of the broad treatment of the main open space east of Sixth Street. We therefore recommend for the blocks from Sixth to Fourth streets an arrangement substantially like the one proposed by the Metropolitan Park Commission, but with these changes: (1) the inclusion of the land fronting on Fourth Street from Wells to State, without which a dignified and satisfactory"enelosure of the civic

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center is hardly possible; (2) the reduction of the size of the eircular paved space between Fifth and Fourth streets.

"East of Fourth Street, upon the reasonable assumption that Cedar Street cannot be widened, it would seem desirable to widen the sidewalks at the expense of the needlessly broad roadway and to introduce sidewalk trees as shown on the plan; but it is essential that those trees should not be of large growing species, or the vista through to the City Hall would in time be blocked by them. East of the river again the space between the Cedar Street axis and the existing large buildings of the power house and the theater ought to be kept open as gardens rather than left to be built up as suggested by the plan.

"In conclusion, our judgment is that the general situation proposed by the Metropolitan Park Commission would permit of an orderly, advantageous and economieal grouping of public and semi-public buildings; that the plan of development proposed is, in its essentials, admirable ; and yet that the project is of sueh complexity that the best results are to be secured only by means of the most thorough and skilful study applied to the revision and development of the plan as a working project-a revision and development that ean best be accomplished by the cooperation of a group of designers working out the various parts of the problem, one in harmony with the other."

River and Lake Shore Parks .- In one part of the 1911 report of the city planning commissioners the subject of river parks is dealt with in an exhaus- tive manner. The lands lying along the Milwaukee River are thoroughly con- sidered ; also the Menomonee and Kinniekinnie rivers, and suggestions and recommendations freely made throughout. These may be studied in the light of the later developments proposed by the subsequent boards which have considered the various problems that have arisen. In one of the reports at- tention is called to the advantages possessed by Lake Michigan in planning parks and driveways along its picturesque shores. In faet it may be said that the people of Milwaukee, like the people of Chicago, have only in late years really "discovered" Lake Michigan with its wonderful possibilities of beautiful views and the thousand diversities of amusement it affords to those who would explore its far-extended shores, or embark on its waters.

Final Word of the Public Land Commissioners .- " It seems that the site designated as the 'Revised Metropolitan Park Board Seheme' offers the most attracfiye solution of the entire problem. Your board of public land commis- sioners concurs in the opinion held by two recognized leaders in city planning. Mr. Olmsted and Mr. Nolen, in that the plaeing of the courthouse on the hill at the intersection of Cedar and Ninth streets would mean the seizing of an unusual opportunity. There would be no duplicate of Milwaukee's Civic C'enter. It would be unique and give an added distinction to this city and in comparison with the splendid undertakings of a similar nature in Cleveland, Denver, Minneapolis, San Franeiseo, and other American cities, it would easily hold its own.

"If the project seems large, let us not forget that, as the eity approaches the million mark, there will be a concurrent growth in its financial capacity.

JUNEAU PARK

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Let us also appreciate that it is not proposed to carry out the entire scheme at once, but that sufficient ground be now reserved and enough building be now undertaken to confirm the plan. In preparing for the inevitable greater Mil- waukee so that she may be great in character as well as in numbers, let us not fail to heed the prophecy and advice of that well known architect and city planner, the late Daniel H. Burnham :

" 'Make no little plans ; they have no magie to stir men's blood and prob- ably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone, will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever increasing insisteney. Remember that our sons and grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us. Let your watchword be Order, and your beacon Beauty.' "

Zoning for Milwaukee .- The Board of Publie Land Commissioners issued a tentative report in June, 1920, in which is described the plans that have been adopted to improve the conditions existing in a rapidly growing rity like Milwaukee. "Zoning, " says Mr. Edward M. Bassett of New York City, an authority on the subject, "is the creation by law of districts in which regulations, differing in different districts, prohibit injurious or unsuitable structures and uses of structures and land."

The board of public land commissioners, as appears in this report, con- sists of the following persons: C. B. Whitnall, chairman ; George F. Staal, secretary ; William H. Schuchardt, Perey Braman, Edw. Grieb. The board employed R. E. Stoelting as city planning engineer and Arthur C. Comey as consultant.

Definition of the Term .- The term "Zoning" is further defined in the language of Mr. Lawson Purdy, formerly tax commissioner of the City of New York, and vice chairman of the New York City commission on building distriets and restrictions. The term "has come to be used, " he says, "to mean the regulation of buiklings in a city. It signifies such regulation of the height, area, and use of buildings as will protect each landowner from the impair- ment of his share of light and access as will protect him from unseemly noises, unpleasant smells and offensive sights.

"Proper protection of the owner in these respects enhances the value of his land and conserves the value of his buildings. Owners cannot have such protection for themselves without conceding the like protection for their neighbors. Appropriate regulation demands such rules that no parcel of land in the city ean be used in such fashion that all similar land could not be improved with buildings of like kind without disadvantage to each and all of them. This is only common fairness, corporate equality. Zoning must proceed on the basis of existing conditions. Even the worst sections can be improved somewhat ; some sections may be saved, some sections may be protected at the beginning of their development."

A Zoning System .- The commissioners' report then considers the zoning system as it applies to Milwaukee: "Zoning constitutes a fundamental part of Milwaukee's city plan. From studies made in connection with the prepara- tion of a general plan, it is apparent how closely zoning is bound up with other Vol. 1-32

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elements in the city's development following such a city plan .. It is generally admitted that the past hap-hazard development of our city was ruinous. The larger Milwaukee grows the more essential becomes a plan whereby the vari- ous sections of our city will be used for a specific purpose. During the course of the next ten years, millions of dollars will be spent for publie improve- ments and property owners during this period will spend several billions. Since private property comprises about two-thirds of the city's area, a general plan to regulate the use of such property must be coneeded to be of even more importance than a plan to regulate public improvements. Streets laid out for the convenient movement of traffic of all kinds are of the most im- portance to the city, yet they cannot be properly planned unless it is first decided whether the adjacent territory is to be developed as a district of two- story buildings or one comprising buildings six or more stories high. Streets laid out for residence purposes are entirely unsuitable in a commercial or manufacturing distriet. Without a zoning plan to control the construction of buildings and to segregate the residential from the commercial and in- dustrial districts, a street system cannot be properly laid out.

Sewerage Systems and Zoning .- "As the city increases in population, the attendant congestion makes it more difficult to prevent disease. Zoning minimizes the congestion and makes the task of controlling disease less diffi- eult.

"The sewerage system of the city cannot be designed properly without the adoption of a plan for segregating the use of property and limiting the height of buildings and the area of lots which may be built upon. The lack of such a plan has already made it necessary to duplicate parts of our sewerage sys- tem at considerable expense, which might have been avoided had a zoning plan been in operation years ago. By segregating the use of property, the problem of sewage treatment can be more readily solved.

"People living in well-lighted homes have a physical resistance which is superior to that of people who live in dark rooms. It is common knowledge that you cannot raise babies without light and air any more than you can raise plants, that disease is most prevalent in congested localities and that people living in congested distriets most always show diminished power of resistance to disease. Zoning makes for an orderly city and it can be shown that this will have a marked etfeet on the physical fitness of the city's in- habitants.

Fire and Accident Prevention .- "Fire protection will be less difficult under a zoning seheme which will provide for the segregation of buildings of different nses. Zoning will thus increase the safety and seenrity of the homes of the people. Street congestion will be materially reduced under a proper zoning plan. By reducing congestion, it is a known fact that the number of accidents on streets is materially redneed. The records of New York City show that of the persons killed by vehicles over hall' are children. The zoning ordi- nance will prevent the indiscriminate use of property and prevent factories and commercial establishments from going into residence districts. thus keep- ing the greater amount of traffic on the principal arteries of travel rather

PROSPECTIVE MILWAUKEE-CITY PLANNING AND ZONING 499

than on residence streets. It is undisputed that this will reduce the number of accidents to children.

"The zoning plan will do for the individual owners what they cannot do for themselves-set up uniform restrictions that will proteet each from mis- guided operations or exploitation by his neighbor and be of mutual benefit. We see everywhere the invasion of many residence 'or business districts by harmful or inappropriate buildings or nses. If a district has been thus in- vaded, rents and property values decline, loans are called and it is difficult ever to reclaim the district to its more appropriate use.

"Industries of a heavier type have naturally segregated themselves along the water fronts and railroads. Light industries are found mostly near the wholesale, retail and terminal centers of the city, but there are many kinds of light industries that are free from any segregating force and locate indis- criminately throughout the city. They are found scattered throughout the business and residential sections, especially the residential sections from which their labor or supplies are recruited. The factory is usually a blight within the residential section. It destroys the comfort, quiet and convenience of home life. The exclusion of trades and industries from the residential streets is essential to wholesome and comfortable housing. Stores, garages and other business buildings scattered among the residences are a constant menace to residence property. The concentration of all the neighborhood business buildings on the business streets make the transaction of business more con- venient. Segregation of dwellings on the exclusively residential streets adds to the convenience and quiet of home life and thus tends to increase property values on sneh streets.

"Zoning the city will make it less difficult to find a proper location for a new industrial establishment by setting aside a certain distriet for that specific purpose. Up to the present time many locations most suitable for industrial purposes have been subdivided into lots and blocks and improved with a small mimber of dwellings. Many such developments adjacent to railroad tracks have made the use of this property for factory purposes impossible because the land was divided into narrow strips by streets and alleys. Zoning should make it possible for industrial property to be developed unhampered."

Examples from Other Cities .- The need of regulations required under any well considered zoning ordinance is as great in our city as in the cities whose examples are cited in the following paragraphs :

"Sinee New York City in 1916 adopted a zoning ordinance, many of the larger cities of the country have adopted such an ordinance or are engaged in the preparation of one. Newark, Philadelphia, Fresno, Omaha, Portland and Berkeley are some of the cities which have recently adopted a zoning ordi- nance, while such eities as San Francisco, Rochester, Buffalo, Cleveland and Detroit are now preparing such an ordinance.

"The success of the zoning ordinance in such cities as New York and St. Louis has made the advantages of such an ordinance seem essential to every city. These ordinances are accompanied by a comprehensive zoning plan of the entire city, providing for the protection of the existing improvements and the most desirable development of mimproved property. The ordinances

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provide for the control of building operations by regulating the use, height and bulk of buildings by means of eertain general restrictions which are equally applicable to like distriets in all parts of the city. This type of zoning ordinance provides a reasonable amount of flexibility so as to permit future modification of the plans to take care of the growth and expansion of cities.

"The experiences of New York and St. Louis are interesting to show the success these eities are having in the application of the zoning ordinance. From investigations made by Herbert S. Swan, zoning consultant of New York, and Harland Bartholomew, engineer of City Plan Commission of St. Louis, Mo., it is possible to compare the first sixteen months of operation of the zoning ordinance in those cities.

"In New York fifty-three changes were requested in the regulations estab- lished by the zoning ordinance. Of these forty-seven effect use regulations and six the area regulations. Of the forty-seven requests for changes in the use regulations twenty-seven were granted; of this twenty-seven there were twenty-three for relaxation of which one was a change to an unrestricted dis- triet at the expense of residence; eight were for the extension of a commercial district at the expense of residence ; seventeen were for the extension of an unrestricted distriet at the expense of a commercial distriet. These changes were all small and many of them were because of mistakes or errors in the maps or the classification under the original plan. The area of the city affected by such changes was insignifieant.

"One of the most satisfactory provisions of the New York ordinance was the creation of a board of appeals. From July, 1916, to November, 1917, 483 appeals were made to this board, of which 216 were granted; 114 denied; 96 dismissed and 57 withdrawn. One of the most difficult problems in the adoption of a zoning ordinance is that of the public garage which is usually accompanied by a repair shop. Criticism of the original New York ordinance was made because of the difficulty in locating garages and in 1917 two amend- ments were adopted, one of which permitted the erection of a garage on either side of a street between intersecting streets where one garage already existed before the adoption of the zone ordinance. The other amendment permitted the establishment of a garage in a commercial or residential dis- triet upon petition signed by 80 per cent of the frontage deemed affected by the board of appeals.

Benefits Derived from Zoning in New York .- "'The New York zoning ordi- nanee has prevented vast depreciation in mimerous distriets, while it has effected great savings in values amounting to many millions of dollars in established districts. Even in the former old residence seetions of Murray ITill and Washington Square, which have practically been abandoned for several years for good residential purposes, a rehabilitation resulted from the enaetment of the zoning ordinance. Another interesting and significant result of the adoption of the zoning ordinance in New York has been the production of a new and what is believed to be a better type of high buildings.

"In general, it may be said that the New York ordinanee has eity-wide approval. During the three and a half years since its adoption there has been surprisingly little attempt to change it, while no actually significant changes

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PLAN OF PROPOSED PRINCIPAL EAST AND WEST ARTERIES AND THEIR RELATION TO OTHER ARTERIES BEING CONSIDERED IN CONNECTION WITH AUDITORIUM SITE AND CITY HALL SITE Proposed by the Board of Public Land Commissioners

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have been made in the ordinance itself. The ordinance has been vigorously supported upon all occasions where its maintenance or existence has been threatened.

General Effects of Zoning .- "Zoning is simply an extension of the funda- mental principles underlying the building code, regulation of individual rights in the, common interest. Its purpose is to bring an orderly city out of the present increasingly chaotic development with buildings of all types of use and of all sizes mingled together to their mutual injury. This is accomplished by establishing distriets within which buildings must conform to certain ro- quirements designed to produce a much more homogeneous development than has heretofore been the practice.

"Certain sections are recognized as best adapted, either through their location or on account of existing improvements, for industrial purposes, others for light manufacturing and commercial buildings, or for local busi- ness; finally the residential districts of the city need protection from all inappropriate uses. From another standpoint districts are needed, grouping buildings according to height so that those vast areas of the city in which practically all the buildings would be low, law or no law, will be pro- teeted against the intrusion of an occasional building overtowering its neighbors. Finally, the less intensively used sections, away from the heart of the city, should be protected from buildings occupying too much of the lot, especially so that the present admirable open type of residential development may continue, free from exploitation by those who might destroy its character by congested building.

"In putting zoning into effect it is not proposed to stop any existing nse or require any building to be redneed in size, but as changes are made from time to time constant pressure will be exerted towards conformity with the zoning plan.

Uses of Certain Districts .- "The districts in which the uses of a certain type of buildings are indicated are placed in four classes, each designed to meet the requirements of a particular type of use either predominating now or anticipated as the logical development of the district in the near future. This predominating use is indicated in a general way by the names of these four classes of distriets as adopted in the ordinance.

"In residence districts no use is permitted except such uses customarily associated with residences as are recognized not to be detrimental to the residential character of the neighborhood. Besides places of abode, churches, educational and similar institutions are recognized as clearly within this. gronp. Rural or suburban activities not carried on in factories, stores and similar buildings, such as farming and horticulture, both in the open and under glass are also included in the residence classification, since they normally precede the extension of residential development into the outlying seetions.

"These principal uses appropriate to residence districts may be accom- panied by such accessory uses as are customarily incident to them, inelud- ing such activities within the building as may be carried on without being in any way objectionable or a detriment to the primary purpose of the neighbor- hood, and including garages for private use only.

SKETCH OF SUGGESTED GROUPING OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS By the Metropolitan Park Board

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"Local business districts are provided along thoroughfares close to the residence districts to serve them with retail stores, publie garages, the mak- ing of such products to be sold at retail as will not create a nuisance to the neighborhood, and similar community needs. Residence uses are permitted in these districts.

Manufacturing and Industrial Districts .- "The commercial and light man- ufacturing districts include the present principal business sections and a reasonable extension thereof, as well as strips of territory between industrial and residence districts. Such industries as are apt to constitute nuisances if located in the center of the city or close to residential neighborhoods are prohibited, comprising slaughtering, chemical, heavy metal and stone indus- tries, and others that are offensive on account of odor, dust, smoke, gas, or noise that ordinarily attends their operation. Light manufacturing is thus encouraged to locate immediately outside the business section with its pro- hibitive land values, and to utilize that very considerable area which is be- coming less and less attractive for residence purposes but which has for the most part, owing to its very size, but little hope of a business future.

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History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume I, Part 46

Author: Bruce, William George, 1856-1949; Currey, J. Seymour (Josiah Seymour), b. 1844 Publication date: 1922 Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 818

Author: Bruce, William George, 1856-1949; Currey, J. Seymour (Josiah Seymour), b. 1844
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 818