Council adopts 'Go Big Green Bay 2050' comprehensive plan after amendments

The Green Bay Common Council on Tuesday unanimously adopted the Go Big Green Bay 2050 comprehensive plan, voting to approve the citywide growth and land-use framework after adding several amendments requested during a public hearing and in-council debate.

Council members heard public comment from neighborhood and development stakeholders before voting. Noel Halverson, president and CEO of NeighborWorks Green Bay, told the council he had advised on the plan and called it "a great plan." Greg Kersling, a Green Bay representative on the Brown County Planning Commission, urged the council to link the city's bike network to trails outside the city, saying, "Green Bay is the hub. It's been the, historically the hub and economic center of the whole Northeast Wisconsin." Jennifer Sundstrom, representing the Northeast Realtors Association, said the plan and related zoning changes aim to address a local housing shortage and warned that waiting for market corrections would be a mistake: "There is only 1 way out of this. We have to make up for the significant underbuilding in the last decade and try to do it in a way…