MIDDLE TOWNSHIP – The State Planning Commission and the Department of Environmental Protection have approved the township’s regional center designations, a step ahead for the township’s evolving plan for redevelopment.

The state designates regional centers to help ensure orderly growth of mixed-use development throughout New Jersey. Towns with designated centers are eligible for incentives, such as priority for discretionary state funding and expedited permit review.

Middle’s regional centers that have the most potential for development are in Court House and Rio Grande. One such project in Court House is a proposed Hampton Inn off exit ramp 10 of the Garden State Parkway. That project requires an extension of the township’s sewer system, which in turn was awaiting the property’s inclusion in the center designation.

The township’s regional centers were originally authorized in 2011. The township began the process a renewed endorsement with some changes to the planning boundaries in 2021.

Middle also has hamlet and village centers in Del Haven, Green Creek, Swainton and Goshen.

The center designations become effective May 7.

The DEP had been involved in the process as it was conducting its mapping of Coastal Area Facilities Review Act centers.

Contact the reporter, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.