About PlanSmart NJ
Building Better Lives Through Better Land Use
Our Vision
To protect the environment, reduce poverty and improve transportation options, housing choices and job opportunities for everyone in New Jersey.
Our Mission
PlanSmart NJ is a statewide civic action group committed to improving the quality of community life through the advancement of sound land use planning and regional cooperation.
Our History
PlanSmart NJ is the new name for the Regional Planning Partnership, a Trenton-based land use research and advocacy nonprofit organization that is four decades old. This is the third time the organization has changed its name. It was originally founded in 1968 as the Middlesex Somerset Mercer Regional Study Council, or MSM. After dropping the word "Study" in 1983, MSM evolved into the Regional Planning Partnership in 1999, when the organization’s leadership decided that, although they would always have a special relationship with central Jersey, the group had been working on state policy for so long, the name should reflect a larger vision. With the organization's 40th anniversary approaching in 2008, the Board recently decided to update the name to PlanSmart NJ in order to highlight our expanding role as a statewide agent of change. To read more about name change, click here.
Our Work
Over the past four decades, PlanSmart NJ has:
- Invented new planning tools, such as our Goal Oriented Zoning® (GOZ) computer program. GOZ has proven extremely successful in helping communities better plan for growth. Such tools are critical because local officials often don’t look at how zoning ordinances affect transportation systems, public water and sewer systems, the environment—and future development plans.
- Helped shape important laws critical to the future of NJ, such as the Farmland Preservation Act, the Fair Housing Act, the State Planning Act the Transfer of Development Rights Act;
- Developed dynamic new approaches to planning that have been adopted by state government, such as how center-based growth should be implemented under the State Plan;
- Written handbooks on smart growth land use strategies (Green Infrastructure Guide, Mercer County Greenlinks Plan; Growth Management Handbook; and Redesigning the Suburbs: Turning Sprawl Into Centers);
- Helped form numerous public/private partnerships and statewide coalitions, including D&R Greenway, NJ Future, the Coalition for Affordable Housing and the Environment and the NJ Regional Coalition;
- Unveiled a revolutionary way to use data to inform planning strategies (under the Smart Growth Economy Project) that can create more jobs, affordable housing, and better transportation choices—all in a way that minimizes the impact on New Jersey’s precious open spaces.