New Jersey Office of Planning Advocacy/Mercer County Preliminary Plan Joint-Public Hearing

Date:                 February 18, 2025 (Inclement Weather Date: February 25, 2025)

Time:                 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm

Location:           Mercer County Office of Emergency Management/Fire Service Training Center Auditorium                                                                       350 Lawrence Station Road, Lawrenceville, N.J 08648

What is the State Development and Redevelopment Plan (State Plan)?  https://www.publicinput.com/njstateplan

Who is the Office of Planning Advocacy (OPA)?: https://www.nj.gov/state/bac/planning/

What is Cross-acceptance?: Cross-Acceptance is a process of comparing statewide planning policies at government levels to attain a high level of consistency among municipal, county, regional, and State plans and the State Plan. Through this process, the various stakeholders can partner to create a more meaningful and viable State Plan to ensure municipal, county, and regional master plans are taken into consideration during the process.

Public-comments: If you would like to submit a public comment on the draft State Plan you may submit commits via the OPA website (https://www.publicinput.com/njstateplan#tab-43961 ), email stateplan.comments@sos.nj.gov, or submit to the Mercer County Office of Planning and Preservation via email:rdelcy@mercercounty.org. Please include your name/affiliation (if appropriate) and full address to submit a comment.

Draft State Plan Released: December 6, 2024.   Click here to view the Draft State Plan

In addition, OPA/Rowan has set up Mapping Tools: one called the State Plan Update Viewer (https://njmap2.com/sdrp/stateplan) to help municipalities review the existing State Plan zones and planning information to assist in developing their CARTs. They also developed a NJ Smart Growth Explorer – Beta tool (https://www.nj.gov/state/bac/planning/mapping/nj-smart-growth/ ). This is another interactive map where users may explore area in NJ from statewide to block/lot to help understand existing data and information that may inform better decision making at the local level. This tool is not part of the State Plan policy map.

The Mercer County Board of County Commissioners adopted Resolution No. 2024-145, authorizing the County’s Participation in the State Plan Cross-Acceptance process as the Negotiating Entity for our Municipalities.

NEXT STEPS:

• Joint Mercer County and Office of Planning Advocacy Public Hearing to be held on February 18, 2025 at the Mercer County Office of Emergency Management/Fire Service Training Center Auditorium 6pm to 8p. Inclement Weather Date on February 25, 2025.
• Mercer County Board of County Commissioners authorizes the transmission the Final CART to the OPA
• OPA reviews CART summary documents
• Negotiating Phase begins between OPA and NEs
• OPA’s goal is to have the new State Plan adopted by the end of 2025
• Implementation to occur in 2026

Draft Mercer County State Plan Cross-Acceptance Response Released: May 12, 2025.   Click here to view the Draft Response.  The Draft Response will be presented at the Mercer County Panning Board Meeting on May 14, 2025, at 7pm. Attend the meeting in person at the Extension Services Building, 1440 Parkside Avenue, Ewing, NJ 08638 or virtually at: (https://mercercounty-org.zoom.us/j/88496748374  Webinar ID: 884 9674 8374).