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Council adopts 'Go Big Green Bay 2050' comprehensive plan after amendments
Summary
The Green Bay Common Council voted unanimously Oct. 21 to adopt the city's Go Big Green Bay 2050 comprehensive plan, approving several amendments including bike-network language, incentives for housing infrastructure, a public-infrastructure design review directive, green stormwater language and revised impervious-surface limits.
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 that creates much larger diversity of housing options and at lower price points."
Why it matters: The comprehensive plan sets the city's long-term vision for housing, transportation, parks and development. Councilors said the document is intended to guide zoning, public investments and future development approvals that affect neighborhoods and projects across Green Bay.
Major amendments adopted during the meeting included language to encourage connections between the city's bike network and neighboring municipalities (the council asked staff to add references on plan pages noted by councilors), an instruction that staff review and clarify language on incentives and potential city funding sources for infrastructure to support new housing projects, and a directive to include a design-review process for public-infrastructure projects to elevate aesthetics along with functionality. The council also added explicit language describing green stormwater infrastructure as part of complete-streets work and approved a technical amendment that adjusts impervious-surface maximums in the R-1 residential zone (the council approved a tiered threshold tied to lot size during debate).
Council and staff discussion: Council members repeatedly thanked planning staff for the work on the plan and pressed for clarity on how amendments would be incorporated into the final document. Planning staff and the city's director confirmed that specific map edits and language changes (including showing a Packerland Drive corridor connection on a transportation map) could be added before the final published plan. Some alderpersons emphasized the need for flexibility in examples of incentives, warning that the comp plan should not lock the city into a narrow set of tools.
Veterans Park and other site-specific language drew the most prolonged debate. Councilors discussed a proposed amendment to "investigate better activating and beautifying the Veterans Park area, freeing up land for other uses." Several members urged that any future changes be coordinated with veterans groups and parks planning work; staff noted that the city's parks plan was recently updated and that changes to future land-use maps should be harmonized with that document.
Process and next steps: Councilors approved the plan "as amended" and asked staff to work with the city consultant to integrate the council's language edits into the final document. Staff said they would return the edited language in the consultant's final formatting; councilors requested side-by-side documentation of amendments to track what changed. Multiple alderpersons emphasized that future implementation actions, such as zoning changes and developer agreements, will return to the council for separate approvals.
Public input and engagement: The public hearing portion included speakers representing NeighborWorks Green Bay, the Brown County Planning Commission, the Northeast Realtors Association and other residents who commented on bikeways, trail connections and housing. Council members also referenced hundreds of community volunteers and contributors involved in the planning process.
Ending: The council adopted the Go Big Green Bay 2050 comprehensive plan unanimously. Staff will incorporate the council's amendments into the final published plan and return the completed document to the council and the public record.
