To the Editor:

The long-anticipated work to update Princeton’s Community Master Plan begins in earnest this month. While the consultant team engaged by the Planning Board has been gathering reports, maps, data, and other background materials for some time, the Steering Committee charged with overseeing the update process will meet for the first time on Friday, May 20 at 9 a.m.

The Steering Committee will work with the consultant team (led by Clarke Caton Hintz), the Planning Office, and the Master Plan Subcommittee of the Planning Board to provide input and direction for the development of the Community Master Plan. Steering Committee members will ensure that the consultants understand the shared values and divergent viewpoints of Princeton. They will also be advocates in the community for robust participation in public forums, surveys, and other forms of outreach led by the consultants.

The Steering Committee members (in alphabetical order) are: Kristin Appelget, Emma Brigaud, Cecilia Xie Birge, Sam Bunting, Jennifer Carson, Nick Di Domizio, Mark Freda, Brian McDonald, Liliana Morenilla, Mia Sacks, Shirley Satterfield, Christine Symington, and Louise Currey Wilson.

Members of the Planning Board’s Master Plan Subcommittee – Tim Quinn, Phil Chao, David Cohen, Alvin McGowan, and John Taylor – are ex officio members of the steering committee.

Most Steering Committee meetings will be held via Zoom, where they can be viewed by interested members of the public. Meeting information will be available on the municipal calendar at princetonnj.gov. The role of this committee is not to gather and synthesize public input on the master plan. That work will be done over the coming six to eight months through public forums, surveys, interviews, tabling events, and other online and in-person methods led by the consultant team.

To avoid any potential confusion, the people, organizations, institutions, and businesses of Princeton should understand that the upcoming “community master plan listening session” hosted by the private nonprofit Princeton Future is not part of the municipal master plan update process.

The Princeton Planning Board acknowledges the work and expertise of Princeton Future and its board; we appreciate its keen interest in the development of the community master plan. That said, the process of developing the community master plan is the responsibility of the publicly appointed members of the Planning Board, not Princeton Future. The leadership of Princeton Future are welcome to participate as community stakeholders in the public process to be facilitated by Clarke Caton Hintz.

As mentioned above, there will be many opportunities for public participation. Those opportunities will be clearly identified and recognizable with a logo, and will be widely publicized. An online information hub will launch in the coming weeks. We encourage the entire community to express your views when and where they will have the most impact on the new Community Master Plan.

We look forward to the exciting work ahead.

Louise Currey Wilson
Chair, Planning Board of Princeton

Timothy Quinn
Vice Chair, Planning Board and Chair, Master Plan Subcommittee