Wauwatosa, WI Accessory Structures: Tiny Homes (2026)

" A development site is limited to one cottage court, with a minimum of four and a maximum of 16 individual buildings, and only one dwelling unit allowed per building. Each dwelling building is capped at 1,800 square feet of floor area, while a building used only as shared common amenity space can reach 4,000 square feet. If the cottage court buildings sit on individual lots rather than a single shared lot, each lot must be at least 1,500 square feet. The buildings must be arranged around a shared common court of at least 2,500 square feet with a minimum 30-foot width, visible from the public right-of-way, and each unit needs a front porch at least 8 feet wide, 6 feet deep and 8 feet tall facing that court.

Parking and driveways must sit behind the buildings, which is where the code uses the phrase "dwelling-cottage/tiny home court," and at least 5% of units, never fewer than two per court, must have step-free, accessible entries. Cottage courts were rewritten into their current form by Ord. O-25-25 on 11/18/2025, replacing the prior version adopted under Ord. O-19-05 in 2019.