Wauwatosa, WI Parking Rules: Driveway Rules (2026)

11 of the zoning code, set a flat paved-surface requirement for residential parking. 060 states that no motor vehicle may be parked on a residentially used property unless it sits within a garage, on a paved parking slab, or on a paved driveway that runs directly from the street to the garage or slab, and that a three-foot buffer must separate any parking space from the sidewalk. That rule rules out parking a vehicle on bare dirt, grass or an unimproved gravel strip anywhere on a residential lot in the city.

The same section carries a parallel, narrower rule for commercial vehicles parked in residential districts: one commercial vehicle per lot may be parked outside a garage, evaluated by the zoning administrator using factors like a commercial registration, a commercial sign, visible commercial equipment such as ladder racks or toolboxes, or a gross weight over 10,000 pounds, but semi-tractors and box trucks are excluded outright. That commercial vehicle, too, must sit on a paved parking slab or paved driveway with the same three-foot sidewalk buffer. The section exempts vehicles used temporarily for deliveries or service calls, and it does not restrict vehicles parked entirely inside a garage. 060 was carried into the zoning code's comprehensive rewrite, Ord. O-25-25, adopted November 18, 2025, replacing the prior parking chapter.