- City Meetings: Housing Policy Committee 9/25
- Fall Leaf Collection Begins in October, Dates Available
- How do I get the fall yard waste set-out dates for my home?
- What will yard waste crews collect?
- How should I put out my yard waste for collection?
- Consider composting your leaves instead!
- Neighborhood Indicators Project Updated with 2024 Data
- Events & Announcements
City Meetings: Housing Policy Committee
The Housing Policy Committee meeting will take place on Thursday, September 25, at 4:30 p.m. in virtual format. Agenda items include reviewing and making an advisory recommendation to the Plan Commission for three Fall 2025 Housing Forward zoning code proposals. Following the Housing Policy Committee’s vote on Thursday, these three proposals are planned to go to the Plan Commission on October 6th and Common Council on October 7th.
- Item 2: reduce minimum lot width and lot area within certain zoning districts and to reduce the rear setback for alley loaded one-story attached garages; here’s the staff presentation
- Item 3: update the existing step-down rules for larger buildings when adjacent to a residential district; here’s the staff presentation
- Item 4: allow detached Accessory Dwelling Units to have two units and not be included in maximum permitted use accessory structure size; here’s the staff presentation
Meeting info:
Fall Leaf Collection Begins in October, Dates Available
The fall yard waste and leaves collection of 2025 begins in October. Your address will receive three guaranteed curbside set-out opportunities for leaf and yard waste pickup this fall. The exact dates when you should set out your leaves will depend on where you live. For some neighborhoods, the first set-out opportunity will be Sunday, October 5, 2025. Others have a different first set-out date. You need to use the yard waste website, or contact the Streets Division, to learn when you should set-out yard waste for pickup at your home. More information is available in this news release from the Streets Division.
How do I get the fall yard waste set-out dates for my home?
Go to our yard waste webpage. Then, enter your address into the form on the site. You will see the upcoming set-out date for your neighborhood.
What will yard waste crews collect?
Yard waste crews collect leaves, weeds, pumpkins, and other plant debris you have raked or pulled from your lawn or garden. Yard waste is not the same as brush. Stacks of brush and piles of yard waste mixed together will not be picked up by the yard waste collection crews.
How should I put out my yard waste for collection?
Place the leaves and yard waste at the street edge or on the terrace. Do not place yard waste into the street – these won’t be picked up and they leach phosphorous into our lakes, degrading water quality. Keep the material at least four feet from obstructions. Street signs, utility poles, mailboxes, trees, stumps, and parked cars get in the way of crews.
If you bag your leaves and yard waste, please use compostable paper leaf and lawn bags. Keep your bags open so crews can see what is inside. Other bags are acceptable if they are kept open, too. Crews may need to rip or slice open plastic bags to get the yard waste out. Crews will leave the split bags behind at the curb.
Consider Composting your leaves instead!
Leaves are a very handy (and free!) mulch material. You might consider mowing them down into your lawn to improve turf health and water retention next year, or gathering them in a pile for composting in your garden – this is what we do at our house.
Here’s some information about composting yard waste in the fall, shared by the University of Wisconsin Horticulture-Division of Extension.
Neighborhood Indicators Project Updated with 2024 Data
Madison’s Neighborhood Indicators Project (NIP) is now updated with the latest data for 2024. A collaboration between the City of Madison and the UW-Madison Applied Population Lab, NIP offers detailed, neighborhood-level insights across more than 50 variables in seven key topic areas: Census, Housing, Public Safety, Health, Education, Economy, and Transportation. The NIP tool will show you information like neighborhood-level population totals, housing characteristics, and student mobility—drawing from local, state, and federal sources data sources.
New in the 2024 Edition:
- Median Rent
- Areas of Limited English Proficiency
- Alternative Transportation to Work
This year also introduces a major upgrade: users can now track indicator changes over time, thanks to the 2022 shift to census geographies. Explore the data at the this Neighborhood Indicators Project webpage…