The project is still in its earliest stages, with the South Jersey-based developer having used a series of informal public meetings over the late summer and early fall period to float some trial balloons. Residents of the township have already expressed some concerns about the size of the project and its impact on the community.

A more definitive proposal is expected to be unveiled Thursday night before the local planning board. Local officials declined to comment pending the official unveiling, and developer Bergman could not be reached for comment.

The 3,000-unit residential component is the big number, with its potential of adding as many as 6,000 residents to this mostly rural township in the southwestern corner of the state. The 23-sm community, which also encompasses the town of Bridgeport, site of the township's existing municipal facilities, currently has a population of just over 6,000.Those preliminary plans for the project have been drawn up by the architectural firm of Moule and Polyzoides. The Pasadena, CA-based firm, a boutique shop known mostly for its "urbanist" and "green" designs on the West Coast, also has some New Jersey ties--its two founding principals are graduates of Princeton University.

Of the total of 420 acres, about 200 would be preserved as open space, according to Moule and Polyzoides' preliminary site plan, which was revealed during the recent public meetings hosted by Bergman. The residential component would include at leased 250 affordable apartments, with the rest of the units divided up among townhouses, single-family homes and market-rate apartments. The latter would be situated above ground-floor retail space.