How is zoning organized in Green Bay?

Green Bay uses a conventional zoning structure with separate residential, commercial, and industrial district families, plus a planned-unit-development process for larger or mixed-use sites. The Plan Commission reviews rezonings and conditional uses before Common Council approval.

How do I find the zoning for a Green Bay address?

The City of Green Bay's Planning Department maintains an online zoning map and GIS parcel viewer that returns the current district for any address, alongside the published zoning ordinance text.

What should developers know about Green Bay's downtown and riverfront zoning?

Downtown and near-downtown parcels along the Fox River are generally oriented toward mixed-use redevelopment, while industrial and port-related uses concentrate on riverfront and rail-adjacent land further from the core. Site-specific standards should be confirmed against the current zoning map before assuming a use is permitted.

Green Bay, Wisconsin · city zoning districts · 15 districts

Green Bay, WI zoning map & districts

Green Bay's zoning ordinance is administered by the city's Planning Department and follows a conventional Euclidean structure: separate residential, commercial, and industrial district families with numbered gradations for density and intensity, plus a planned-unit-development track for larger or mixed-use sites. Zoning in the city is shaped heavily by the Fox River, with downtown and near-downtown parcels oriented toward mixed-use redevelopment and adjacent industrial land along the river and rail corridors carrying the city's heavier manufacturing and port-related uses.

The code Green Bay Zoning Ordinance

Green Bay zoning map

Open the official City of Green Bay: Zoning (Web Mapping Application) — the official interactive map is the authoritative source for current district boundaries, not the summary on this page.

The City of Green Bay's Planning Department publishes the current zoning ordinance text and an interactive zoning map through the city's website.

A published summary is never the authority. The adopted ordinance and the city's official zoning map govern, and both change — verify the district and every standard on your parcel before you rely on it.

How zoning works in Green Bay

Rezonings, conditional uses, and planned developments go through the Plan Commission before reaching the Common Council for final approval. Developers working in Green Bay should expect the specific district and its dimensional standards to depend heavily on which side of the river and how close to downtown a given parcel sits.

Green Bay zoning districts by family

The 15 district codes below are the ones that decide most projects in Green Bay, grouped by what they are for rather than by the order the ordinance prints them.

Key districts in the Green Bay Zoning Ordinance — a curated reference, not the exhaustive list. Confirm against the current adopted code.
Code	District	What it is for
Residential 4 districts
R-1	Low Density Residential District	The city's baseline single-family district.
R-2	Medium Density Residential District	A step up in density from R-1, still primarily single-family blocks.
R-3	Varied Density Residential District	Mixed housing types on one block, from small-lot to multi-family.
RR	Rural Residential District	Low-density edge-of-city parcels, closer to county character.
Mixed-use 2 districts
OR	Office-Residential District	Transitional zone pairing office uses with residential.
NC	Neighborhood Center District	Small commercial nodes meant to serve nearby neighborhoods only.
Commercial 3 districts
C1	General Commercial District	Standard citywide commercial corridor zoning.
C2	Highway Commercial District	Auto-oriented commercial along arterial highways.
C3	Community Center Commercial District	Larger-format shopping centers drawing from beyond one neighborhood.
Downtown / core 1 district
D	Downtown District	Split into D1/D2 sub-areas along the Fox River core.
Industrial 3 districts
LI	Light Industrial District	Lower-impact industrial and flex/warehouse uses.
GI	General Industrial District	Heavier manufacturing, much of it along the river and rail corridors.
BP	Business Park District	Campus-style office and light-industrial parks.
Special purpose 2 districts
PI	Public Institutional District	Government, schools, and civic institutional land.
CON	Conservancy District	Environmentally sensitive land held out of development.

Green Bay zoning — common questions

How is zoning organized in Green Bay?: Green Bay uses a conventional zoning structure with separate residential, commercial, and industrial district families, plus a planned-unit-development process for larger or mixed-use sites. The Plan Commission reviews rezonings and conditional uses before Common Council approval.
How do I find the zoning for a Green Bay address?: The City of Green Bay's Planning Department maintains an online zoning map and GIS parcel viewer that returns the current district for any address, alongside the published zoning ordinance text.
What should developers know about Green Bay's downtown and riverfront zoning?: Downtown and near-downtown parcels along the Fox River are generally oriented toward mixed-use redevelopment, while industrial and port-related uses concentrate on riverfront and rail-adjacent land further from the core. Site-specific standards should be confirmed against the current zoning map before assuming a use is permitted.

Working in Wisconsin? Get on the list.

The parcel layer lands in the order demand does. Illinois went first because that's where the deals were; the next state is decided by who tells us what they're trying to underwrite. Tell us where you're building and what you wanted to run — you'll hear from us when Wisconsin opens, and sooner if we need a test parcel.

Keep reading

← Wisconsin zoning — who holds the zoning power in Wisconsin, under which enabling statute, and the reforms that override local rules.

Other Wisconsin cities

The zoning reference → — every state, plus city-level district guides like this one.

Green Bay zoning summaries on this page are provided for information, not legal advice. Confirm every project against the current adopted code for the jurisdiction.