CREST HAVEN – The Cape May County Planning Board adopted a new Comprehensive Plan Jan. 20, replacing one from 2002.
The plan is almost 300 pages in length. It is rich with demographics that were lacking in its almost two-decade-old predecessor. It can be accessed on the Planning Department’s website.
Despite the name, the Comprehensive Plan is not a strategic plan for land use in the county. Land-use decisions are almost entirely in the hands of municipalities.
The document, according to Planning Department Director Leslie Gimeno, is a statement of values and goals, which the county Planning Board hopes will influence and “inspire” decisions at the local municipal level.
The document looks at the future development of the county across a series of specific elements, including roads, bridges, forest areas, open space waterways, and farmland preservation. In each, it seeks to articulate general goals that may serve as reference points for the public as municipal plans are debated.
A presentation to the public in November 2021 led to several changes in the plan in response to public comment.
The document, as adopted by the Planning Board, is still undergoing modification in much of its demographic presentations. The county’s external consultants, T&M Associates, who worked to draft the current plan, have been retained to update many of its data points with results from the 2020 census, which were not yet available when the plan was crafted.
