Pinelands Commission approves Stockton University facilities transfer plan after mapping corrections

The Pinelands Commission on July 11 approved Stockton University's 2020 facilities transfer/master plan, a nonbinding state‑agency plan that lays out conceptual development areas across roughly 1,800 acres of campus lands.

Brad (staff) presented the plan’s history: Stockton's first plan was approved in 1990 and a second plan in 2010; mapping errors in the 2010 plan led to violations and a suspension of a 2016 memorandum of agreement (MOA). Stockton and commission staff later remapped infrastructure, removed 33 acres from deed restriction, added 35 acres of deed‑restricted land and completed a deed‑restriction amendment approved by DEP in December 2024 and recorded in March 2025, which resolved mapping discrepancies.

Staff said the current comprehensive plan identifies eight discrete development areas, some with detailed proposed projects and others at a conceptual level. Staff emphasized the approved plan is not binding; future development proposals will be reviewed as individual public development applications under the commission’s rules. Staff also noted water‑allocation and watershed considerations: the campus sits within a single HUC‑11 watershed and any increase in water allocation would require an application and commission review.

Commissioners asked questions about water availability and mapping; staff responded that the campus is in the New Jersey American Water service area and appears to have remaining allocation capacity under existing supplies but that applicants would need to demonstrate standards for any diversion increase.

The commission approved the plan and staff will continue to treat future development proposals from Stockton as separate public development applications subject to review.