Green Bay council adopts ‘Go Big Green Bay 2050’ plan with amendments on housing, bike connectivity and design

The Green Bay Common Council unanimously adopted the Go Big Green Bay 2050 comprehensive plan on Oct. 21, 2025, after adding amendments intended to strengthen bike connectivity, spur new housing and emphasize design in public infrastructure.

Council members approved the plan following a public hearing that drew developers, planners and neighborhood advocates. The council approved multiple targeted edits before voting to adopt the plan “as amended.”

The plan is the city’s long-range guiding document for land use, transportation and parks through 2050. Supporters said it is intended to expand housing options while improving walk and bike access and coordinating investments with neighboring municipalities.

Noel Halverson, president and CEO of Naval Works Green Bay and a former city and county planner, told the council he had participated in the process and called the plan “a great plan,” saying he appreciated staff work and the document’s usefulness for future growth. Greg Persling, Green Bay’s representative to the Brown County Planning Commission and a member of the Friends of the Fox River Trail, urged the council to explicitly connect trails across municipal boundaries, arguing Green Bay should be a regional biking destination.

Jennifer Sundstrom, speaking for the Northeast Realtors Association and its roughly 900 members in Brown County, told the council that the plan and associated zoning amendments go beyond “band aid tweaks” and called them “visionary,” saying changes are needed to increase housing supply and diversity of housing types.

Council amendments adopted during the meeting included language to: - Add explicit direction in the plan (pages cited during the meeting) to expand bike network connections to neighboring municipalities and to show Packerland Drive as an active transportation corridor on maps; - Instruct staff to review and add language on incentives and possible city funding sources to support infrastructure for new housing projects, including both financial and nonfinancial tools; - Add a statement encouraging a design review process for public infrastructure projects so design considerations are weighed alongside functionality; and - Ask staff to “investigate” options to better activate and beautify Veterans Park and to consider a possible land swap to relocate the memorial to a more visible site while freeing adjoining parcels for other uses; the council modified the original language so the action is framed as investigation/consideration rather than an immediate rezoning directive.

Other amendments approved included adding text about green stormwater infrastructure in complete-streets descriptions and an impervious-surface provision that sets different maximums depending on lot size in R-1 zoning: 50% maximum on lots 7,501 square feet or larger and 60% on lots 7,500 square feet or smaller (the amendment originated to balance new development flexibility on small, older lots with green space on larger lots).

The mayor and staff repeatedly acknowledged that the plan ties to other city documents such as the parks plan and safe-walk-and-bike recommendations; staff said some maps and recommendations referenced originate in those adopted plans.

After debate and the amendments were adopted, the council voted to adopt the comprehensive plan unanimously. Council members also discussed how amendments will be finalized in the consultant’s final formatting and asked staff to provide clear, post-adoption documentation showing how each amendment was incorporated.

The council’s adoption moves the plan into implementation steps that will require subsequent policy or budget approvals to carry out specific projects and funding. Several councilors and staff emphasized that adoption sets the vision and that individual infrastructure, zoning or budget actions will return to the council for authority.

The meeting record shows robust public engagement during plan development and multiple amendments added by councilors at the Oct. 21 session; staff said some amendments will be integrated in coordination with the consultant and other council-adopted plans.