MASTER PLAN PROCESS
Princeton's approach to planning is unique in the State of New Jersey because it has a joint Planning Board serving both the Borough and the Township. Planning is approached on a regional basis, and there is a greater understanding of the mutual benefits and impacts of planning and land use decisions. This Master Plan is meant to represent the collective thinking of the Princeton Community and its citizens. Once reviewed, debated, and adopted, it will reflect the understanding and aspirations for the future expressed by the community and its people.
The roots and many of the essential principles of the 1996 Master Plan are found in its predecessor Master Plans. The process is an evolutionary one as changes occur in goals, regulations, economic conditions, population, living habits, and environmental awareness. For us, the Master Plan is a strategic plan to guide our future and a policy tool for retaining and enhancing the special character, the values, and quality of life fundamental to our community. The master plan process in Princeton is not static but one where changes can be made as new challenges arise. The master plan should be viewed as a "rolling document" where new issues can be reviewed, evaluated and changes made as warranted.
Although there are many highly-valued goals and objectives for this Plan, the primary theme interwoven throughout each element of the Plan is that of balance and human scale. Princeton is and strives to be a balanced community with a mix of many uses that are serviced by appropriately-sized infrastructure and community services and facilities. Each element of the Plan has been approached with respect to its relationship to the others. Perhaps the most obvious is the balance sought between land use and circulation. As a premise of the Plan, the demands of one element are not permitted to override and out-compete another. The product, therefore, reflects a series of trade-offs substantiated by policy decisions reached throughout the planning process. It is these findings and initial policy decisions that are brought to the community in draft form by the Master Plan Committee for discussion, debate, and resolution.
The Princeton Community combines two distinct political entities. Princeton Borough is the older, more densely populated "town" at the core, of little more than one and a half square miles in area. Covering over 16 square miles, however, the Township rings the Borough and is generally more rural to the west and in its more remote northern and eastern sections. Although the two municipalities have separate governments and ordinances, they have come together in joint planning, education, recreation, health, library, and other services.
Master Plan Defined
Enabling Legislation
The State enabling legislation for the community's Master Plan is the Municipal Land Use Law (Chapter 291, Laws of N.J. 1975, amended) (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et. seq.). Under State law, the responsibility for the preparation of a Master Plan is required for any community that regulates land development through zoning controls. A periodic update every six years is required of each community.
A Master Plan must include a statement of objectives, principles, assumptions, policies, and standards upon which the constituent proposals for the physical, economic and social development of a municipality are based. The master plan may contain the following elements: land use, housing, circulation, utility services, community facilities, recreation, conservation, economic and historic preservation. Planning Activity in Princeton
The Planning Board of Princeton Borough was established in 1938, one of the first in New Jersey. A zoning ordinance was first enacted in 1929, and the first Master Plan was prepared in the 1950s, revised in 1960, adopted in June, 1967, and revised and adopted a second time in 1980. The 1996 Plan represents the fifth Master Plan for the Borough. The Planning Board of Princeton Township was established in 1948, ten years after the enactment of the first zoning ordinance. The first Township Master Plan was completed in 1959, revised and adopted in June 1968 and again in May 1980. As with the Borough, the 1996 Plan is the fifth Master Plan addressing Township growth.
The Regional Planning Board was organized in January 1970 and charged with exercising those powers pertaining to community growth and development, including the preparation of a Regional Master Plan. The first regional Master Plan was adopted in May 1980 and the second in July 1989.
Princeton Regional Planning Board Master Plan Index