Like all communities, Janesville’s zoning and subdivision code lays the blueprint for the area through a set of regulations and mapped zoning districts. A notably “technical document,” Cherek admits that it’s not always something that’s at the forefront of residents’ minds unless they embark on a task like building a house or opening a business. Still, it works quietly in the background every day, affecting everything from a community’s structure to its functionality. “Zoning really does shape communities,” Cherek said. “It provides the guidelines within which the community grows and develops and, I think, ultimately coexists.” With this type of impact in mind, Janesville is currently in the process of updating its zoning and subdivision code. The update comes on the heels of a housing market that has steadily become less affordable and accessible to the average Janesville resident. In fact, housing was identified as Janesville’s top barrier to growth in Forward Janesville’s 2025 Business Retention & Expansion (BRE) Survey, as well as a priority in the city’s 2025-2029 Strategic Plan. A new zoning and subdivision code could lay the groundwork necessary to tackle these issues and respond to modern housing market trends, issues and desires. “The zoning ordinance is the set of tools in the toolbox that implement that vision,” Cherek said. OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW A comparison of older and newer zoning codes shows just how much influence these tools have on their community. With more than four decades under its belt, Janesville’s current zoning code reflects the desires and needs of a very different housing market. “Older zoning codes were really focused on trying to keep different kinds of uses separated from each other,” said Executive Director of Smart Growth Greater Madison, Inc. Bill Connors. Connors also provided input on Janesville’s code update through his role as the work group advisor for the Zoning Work Group of Forward Janesville’s Government Relations Council (GRC). This separation ultimately led to segmented communities, where areas zoned for commercial use, like shops and restaurants, resided in a different part of town from areas zoned for residential use, which were almost entirely devoted to single-family homes. At a time when the housing market was much more accessible and affordable, this system mostly seemed to work. “The American dream of homeownership is something that used to be kind of taken for granted,” said Executive Officer of the South Central Wisconsin Builders Association Heidi Van Kirk. “Anyone could own a home.” Today’s housing market, however, presents a very different story. “One of the challenges right now is that it’s extremely expensive to build new housing,” said Connors. “And consequently, you have many areas of the state where clearly there is a demand, but builders aren’t building because they don’t think they could sell the houses at a price that they would be able to make a profit on because the income levels just aren’t supporting those prices.” This has led to a shortage of residential homes across the state, including in Janesville. In the midst of these challenges, the limitations of Janesville’s current zoning code, which was established in 1981, has become more apparent. Steven Genin, principal/engineer at Angus-Young Associates, Inc. and the chair of GRC’s Zoning 8 | FORWARD JANESVILLE Modernizing Through Flexibility Janesville’s New Zoning and Subdivision Code Set to Reshape Community By Jen Bastron When Duane Cherek, planning director for the City of Janesville, thinks about the word community, what he pictures is likely a little different than the majority of Janesville residents. While most people think of the word in the context of their schools, places of work, favorite restaurants and friends and family, Cherek sees a bigger, more complex picture. A picture of the current Janesville zoning map which delineates land use by district. The districts will change somewhat with the zoning code update. “Zoning really does shape communities. It provides the guidelines within which the community grows and develops and…ultimately coexists.”
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