The Master Plan is a collaborative effort between the Planning Board, Township Staff, consultant Heyer, Gruel & Associates, and residents. The Master Plan will be structured around a community established vision, goals, and recommendations.

Green Building and Sustainability Element. This element is a newer component of Master Plans in New Jersey but acts as an important lens for promoting municipal futures that can be sustained, not just for our lifetimes, but for that of our childrens’ and every generation beyond.

Community Facilities Element. Community facilities are public facing locations and their associated services that work to establish quality of life for residents. Examples include facilities like public works departments, public libraries, various emergency response teams like police and fire departments, and senior centers. Community Facilities Elements provide an opportunity to secure a municipality’s safety and enrichment.
Recycling Element. As the name suggests, a Recycling Element concerns the breadth and effectiveness of recycling in a municipality.
Utilities Element. The Utilities Element brings attention to everyday services that many of us take for granted, and yet, are essential to the proper functioning of any well-run municipality. Electric supply, water supply, garbage removal, and wastewater treatment can dictate how places like South Plainfield develop into the future.

As is stated on the Home Page, public engagement is critical to this process. We cannot produce a Master Plan that is truly effective without incorporating your feedback. Here are the various ways South Plainfield will involve the public:

Establishing a “vision plan” for future South Plainfield. This will be incorporated into the Master Plan and set the tone for the document.
Creating goals and objectives. Inspired by the vision plan, these provide specific guidelines for how South Plainfield residents want the municipality to look. Goals and objectives can be used to address current problems, build on pre-existing strengths, and build roadmaps for how South Plainfield should handle its development moving forward.
Analyzing current conditions. Part of what Master Plans do is take a detailed look at what the current state of affairs is in a municipality. Nobody knows South Plainfield better than you, the residents. Your local knowledge helps us piece together the most accurate picture possible of what is going on in the Borough.
Influencing policy recommendations. Master Plans put forth a set of policy recommendations for the municipal administration to consider based on all of the information that is collected throughout the process. The consultant will be writing these recommendations, but they are heavily influenced by the vision plan, goals, objectives, and current conditions analyses that you will be involved in.

To complete this project, South Plainfield has hired the community planning consultant Heyer, Gruel & Associates (HGA). To view previous projects that HGA has worked on, click here.

In New Jersey, municipalities are required by law to have a Master Plan in place, and that Master Plan must be updated at least every 10 years. South Plainfield’s current Master Plan was originally produced in 2000, and was later updated in 2006 and 2014. All of these documents are available online, for free- simply click here to view them.

Much has changed since 2000, and in spite of the updates that have been done, it is time for South Plainfield to create a new, fresh, up-to-date Master Plan for itself. The new Master Plan will contain the following sections, or “elements”:

Land Use Element. The Land Use Element is often considered the “heart” of a Master Plan. It examines and influences what land uses are allowed in the municipality, where they can take place, and whether these things should change in the future. Land use is the most fundamental building block of how a municipality is shaped, quite literally. This is your chance to share your thoughts on the way space in South Plainfield should be divvied up between its various land uses- residences, industrial enterprises, parks, shopping centers, warehouses, preserved natural lands and more.
Circulation Element. The Circulation Element concerns itself with the movement of goods and people. Subtopics include roadway infrastructure, traffic, freight, and public transit. While focused on transportation, these items can also influence larger overall systems like the types of industries that develop in-town, the future residents that those job opportunities attract, and public health.
Open Space and Recreation Element. Also called an OSRP, this element examines the state of parks, open space, recreational facilities, and preserved natural lands.
Economic Development Element. Economic development is the attraction of new industries combined with the support of economic systems already in place and thriving. South Plainfield’s Master Plan will work to position the Borough so that it is best able to bolster its industries and residents’ economic health given changing economic markets. Economic outcomes can significantly sway what our future towns and cities look like, including South Plainfield.

About the Plan

South Plainfield Master Plan