CLIENT: TOWNSHIP OF HOLMDEL

Overview

Building areas under old zoning

Holmdel Township, a suburban community in central New Jersey’s rapidly growing “wealth belt,” was faced with the imminent development of its last 500 acres of unprotected rural lands in an environmentally sensitive area surrounding a historic hamlet center. The existing zoning required a minimum lot size of four acres, which would have resulted in large-lot sprawl that would not have fulfilled longstanding Township objectives to preserve open space and protect the character of the hamlet. The Township, with the assistance of a Smart Future grant from the State of New Jersey, retained Phillips Preiss and A. Nelessen Associates to create a design program and accompanying zoning regulations that would maintain the same total lot yield while utilizing neotraditional and conservation cluster subdivision design principles to create a new model of suburban development, including a small mixed-use project adjacent to the historic hamlet. After working closely with developers and other stakeholders, the result was a master plan amendment and form-based conservation zoning regulations that specified the location and typology of buildings, public spaces and conservation areas.

Building areas under form-based conservation zoning

The public benefits will be significant: sixty-five percent of the area is to be preserved as open space, greenway trails will be provided to link the developments to one another and to the village, and several new parks will be built, all tightly integrated into the design of the projects. Most of all, the new regulations preserve forever the important natural areas surrounding the hamlet while providing for a contextual extension of the hamlet. The program was the recipient of a Monmouth County Planning Board Merit Award.

CLIENT: TOWNSHIP OF BLOOMFIELD

Overview

The Township of Bloomfield is a fully developed, transit-accessible municipality located just west of New York City. Phillips Preiss has provided a full range of planning and redevelopment services to the Township for over two decades. Most recently, Phillips Preiss led the preparation of the 2025 Bloomfield Master Plan, a forward-thinking, community-driven document that was officially adopted in April 2025. The Plan was honored with the 2025 New Jersey Planning Officials Achievement in Planning Award.

Phillips Preiss continues to provide strategic guidance and technical expertise to the Township on its compliance with New Jersey’s affordable housing obligations and various planning efforts. Phillips Preiss has also played a central role in advancing the Township’s redevelopment goals. Over the years, the firm has conducted numerous Area in Need of Redevelopment Studies, prepared Redevelopment Plans, guided implementation strategies, and has advised on open space and development projects.

Client: Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority (FMERA)

Since 2011, Phillips Preiss has provided ongoing planning consulting services to the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority (FMERA). FMERA is the entity responsible for overseeing the redevelopment of Fort Monmouth with an emphasis on job creation, economic development, conservation of natural resources, and housing creation. Phillips Preiss has provided planning advisory services to FMERA including the preparation of redevelopment plans, amendments to the Reuse and Redevelopment Plan, and open space analyses among other tasks.

Client: Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority

Phillips Preiss prepared a form-based zoning code and development and design guidelines for Fort Monmouth, a former military base which closed in 2011. The Fort encompasses over 1,100 acres that lie in three different “host municipalities:” the Boroughs of Tinton Falls, Eatontown and Oceanport. A reuse and redevelopment plan for the fort envisioned the development of mixed-income neighborhoods; creation of mixed-use, neighborhood centers; provisions for enhanced mobility; and the creation of an open space network. Phillips Preiss worked closely with FMERA and the three municipalities to translate the design concepts in the reuse and redevelopment plan into land use regulations that are flexible enough to respond to market conditions, based on sound sustainable planning principles, and conform to all New Jersey statutory requirements.

Client: Township of Plainsboro,NJ

Overview

Phillips Preiss has provided ongoing planning services to the Township of Plainsboro in connection with the development of a world class health care-oriented mixed-use campus anchored by the University Medical Center of Princeton (UMCP) at Plainsboro on a former industrial property located along Route 1.

Phillips Preiss prepared the area in need of redevelopment investigation in 2007 which qualified the entire industrial site as a redevelopment area and subsequently prepared the redevelopment plan which set forth a detailed regulatory framework and design guidelines for the development of the property.

The firm has since worked with the Township and the redeveloper on amendments to the plan. The vision now is focused on broadening the medical facilities and ancillary uses to be provided within the redevelopment area to include a pediatric care/medical-office facility, a day care center, medical offices, and age-restricted and other residential health care facilities.

Walking paths, open spaces, water features, a green corridor and other common design elements will ensure that physical linkages between the various uses are provided. In addition, the plan is based on the idea that creating an attractive and engaging outdoor environment is beneficial to the health and well-being of not just patients, but also doctors, employees, visitors and other members of the community.

Results

The first project developed to implement the redevelopment plan was the Merwick Care Center, a skilled nursing facility. It was followed by the hospital and medical offices of the UMCP. This building sets a high standard for environmental sustainability in building design by including features such as a high-performance curtain wall system, solar panels, a cogeneration facility, and water-saving fixtures, which create significant reductions in energy and water usage. Subsequently, a 32-acre public park was completed. The redevelopment plan was the recipient of a New Jersey Planning Officials Achievement in Planning Award.

Client: Township of Cranbury, New Jersey

Overview

As Township Planner, Phillips Preiss worked with a subcommittee to develop a new Open Space and Recreation Plan Element of the Cranbury Township Master Plan to guide the acquisition and development of land and facilities for open space and recreation. Phillips Preiss gathered extensive public input through community workshops and stakeholder interviews and analyzed the scheduling, utilization and physical layout of each facility. The resulting plan included a set of recommendations designed to meet the open space and recreational needs of all residents of Cranbury from toddlers to the elderly.

Results

The Planning Board adopted the Plan.

Client: Township of Cranbury, NJ

View of new open space framed by townhouses. Special attention paid to making front and rear facades of townhouses both pedestrian-friendly.

View of the mixed-use retail buildings and public plaza. Rendering by Zampolin Architects.

Overview

Design guidelines and redevelopment plan for a mixed-use infill project. Street-facing retail with apartments overhead, and to the rear, a series of townhouses flanking a new public open space. The guidelines focused on ensuring pedestrian connectivity, active ground-floor uses, and human-scaled architecture. 

Client: Township of Woodbridge, NJ

Street section redesign for Main Street, Woodbridge, adding bicycle lanes, street trees that will grow to a taller height than the current trees, and wider sidewalks with bulb-outs.

Main Street, Woodbridge

The creek-side park in Woodbridge

Overview

Downtown Vision Plan for downtown Woodbridge, NJ. The town has a nearly continuous streetwall of retail stores extending for several blocks, a beautiful creek-front park, and a train station providing direct service into Manhattan. However, the downtown has little foot traffic. While downtown has a large parking supply, it is not allocated or managed efficiently. The design of the streets and private property frontages and facades does not contribute to creating an interesting and intriguing environment for pedestrians. Several large parcels with low-intensity development offered opportunity sites for infill and intensification. Phillips Preiss developed a Vision Plan that spells out a wide range of short- and long-term improvements that would help bring more residents downtown, transform the downtown into a dining destination, and create attractive public spaces to gather and linger.