South Milwaukee Comprehensive and Downtown Plan Update

Ten years after the City of South Milwaukee partnered with GRAEF to update its Comprehensive Plan in 2014, the GRAEF Planning + Urban Design team once again updated the city’s Comprehensive Plan for the next 25 years of community development to 2050. The 2014 Comprehensive Plan update set the city on a path of exciting economic development initiatives including a Downtown Guide, Downtown Revitalization Grant Program, Downtown Strategic Vision plan, and multiple Tax Increment Districts (TIDs) supporting redevelopment of this historic community. The plan set the framework for several key developments in downtown including the Bucyrus Club, Event Center, and Museum, ongoing redevelopment of the historic industrial Bucyrus Campus (where steam diggers that built the Panama Canal were manufactured!), and the Bucyrus Commons which serves as the city’s premier outdoor event space.

The Path to Progress
The 2025 update to the Comprehensive Plan was a critical visionary document to set the framework for the city’s zoning code rewrite. The code rewrite followed shortly after the comprehensive planning process and set the stage for the city to adopt one of the most innovative zoning codes in the State of Wisconsin. The plan includes a vision for expanding housing options, decreasing reliance on outdated and overly restrictive zoning procedures, and promoting walkable, mixed-use, live/work neighborhoods that will continue to make South Milwaukee a community of choice in the region. The new plan’s vision for affordable housing and sustainability is reflected in a new, in-depth analysis of the housing economy and new chapter on Sustainability & Natural Resources.

Connections and Destinations
The updated plan incorporates renewed commitment to innovative transportation strategies ranging from regional passenger rail to complete streets and local trails. Long-range opportunities for new passenger rail investments in the community are effectively leveraged by strategically positioning the city to partner in planning and investment initiatives aimed at capturing the potential benefits of large-scale infrastructure projects. The plan incorporates recommendations for implementing Transit-oriented development (TOD) strategies around potential passenger rail locations that could become a reality in the long-term. In the meantime, the plan recommends modernized strategies for improving the safety and efficiency of the local transportation system with complete streets and connecting important destinations with walking and cycling trails.

Opportunity Knocks
Following in the footsteps of the previous plan’s successful implementation of several notable downtown redevelopment projects, the updated plan provides for 16 redevelopment opportunities across the community to spur additional investment on underutilized sites. Most sites exist surrounding the industrial corridor straddling the Union Pacific Railroad that bisects the community. These sites are positioned for success with the recommended concepts in the plan, the new zoning code, and increased commitment to economic development from the city over the past decade.