Milwaukee County’s goal is to enrich your life by providing essential services that meet your needs and those of your family, neighbors, co-workers and friends.
We enhance the quality of life in Milwaukee County through great public service.
Milwaukee County is home to over 950,000 people living in one of 19 communities, which range in size from the City of Milwaukee, with 595,000 residents, to the Village of River Hills, with roughly 1,600 residents.
Still a manufacturing stronghold, the region features 16 Fortune 1000 companies and thousands of others in the financial services, medical device, hospitality and retailing industries.
Find information about things to do and happenings in Milwaukee County.
The Planning Section is a group of landscape architects, civil engineers, park planners, environmental conservation specialists, and Geographic Information System (GIS) professionals, providing long-range planning, capital project management, and in-house design. The section also supports the maintenance and acquisition of parkland. Additional responsibilities include development review, evaluation of park improvements and resource-protection areas, needs assessments, easements, right-of-entry permitting, maintenance of the Parks GIS, administration of grants, and evaluation of third-party project requests. The section recognizes that the natural areas under Milwaukee County Parks stewardship are vital to the environmental health of the region. We respectfully acknowledge that the lands and waters encompassed by the Milwaukee County Park System are on the ancestral homeland of Indigenous People. We honor the ancestral owners and strive to be respectful stewards. Learn more in our Land Acknowledgement Statement.
In partnership with Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, Milwaukee County Parks created and adopted the 2050 Park and Open Space Plan in 2022.
View the Park & Open Space Plan
See Milwaukee County’s Coastline Management Guidelines (prepared by the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission-SEWRPC) to see if your project falls in the Coastal Management Zone, and how to propose a project in this vulnerable area.
SEWRPC Coastal Management Guidelines
This dashboard of the interactive map provides information on Parks current Capital Projects, which are approved in the County’s annual Capital Budget. These projects, generally with costs over $100,000, include things like playground replacements, trail, parkway, and roadway improvements, and facility improvements like HVAC upgrades and roof replacements.
Capital Projects Tracker
You may have heard the term “AOC,” or Area of Concern, pop up in conversations surrounding County projects. AOC is a designation given to a region that has been severely affected by environmental damage and habitat loss – to the point where humans, fish and wildlife are unable to fully use natural resources in a safe or beneficial way. The Milwaukee Estuary was added to the list of AOCs in 1987 and, after three decades of dedicated planning efforts, a remedy is within sight!
In coordination with a committed team of partners, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is leading the effort to remove the Milwaukee Estuary from the AOC list. Some of the partners, including Milwaukee County Parks, are responsible for carrying out projects. The focus of these grant-funded initiatives are habitat restoration, enhancements for wildlife, and improvements to beaches.
Learn More About Milwaukee County Parks AOC Projects
LMRP contains a collection of natural communities now rare in Southeast Wisconsin. More than 241 species of wildlife are found along the parkway, making it a critical AOC Project area. This project is one of the largest Milwaukee Estuary AOC restoration efforts, seeking to improve habitat and make enhancements for wildlife on over 800 acres of parkland and 6 miles of river.
More About the Little Menomonee River Parkway Project
Kohl Park provides critical habitat for many native reptiles and birds in the Milwaukee Estuary AOC and contains hardwood forests. The park was chosen as an AOC project due to its proximity to other large plots of protected and restored land. When the Kohl Park project is completed, it will connect those surrounding tracts of land, creating a 1,143-acre habitat corridor.
More About the Kohl Park Project
With community input from 2017-2019, designs were made for an improved beach experience at South Shore. Final plans include conversion of the old swimming beach into a naturalized greenspace, with the rocky beach to the south being transformed into a sandy swimming area.
More About the South Shore Beach Project
Apply for a right-of-entry permit for utility work or other construction-related impacts to parkland. The Parks Department requires that any outside party seeking to access and/or impact park property for a project must first obtain permission in the form of a Right-of-Entry Permit signed by the Parks Director or their designee.
If you are looking for an easement for utility or public infrastructure, you must first complete the Utility/Public Infrastructure Proposal form.
PLEASE NOTE: Due to staff capacity, permits may take 4-6 weeks or more to process. All projects that are not time-sensitive may need to be delayed. Projects on parkland should be requested ONLY when all other viable alternatives have been explored.
Please consider alternatives that do not impact parkland.
Note that Right-of-Entry Permits may include a fee of up to $10,000, depending on the impact and duration of the proposal. Permits are granted at the discretion of the Parks Director, and submitting an application does not imply an approval will be granted. Right of Entry Permit Application Administrative Fee: $50.00 (non-refundable)
Apply for a Right-of-Entry Permit
9480 W. Watertown Plank Road Wauwatosa, WI 53226 (414) 257-PARK (7275) Parks E-News Signup
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