Official Site of The State of New Jersey

Walter C. Lane serves as the Acting Executive Director of the New Jersey Office of Planning Advocacy where he supports the State Planning Commission and staff to advance Implementation of State Development and Redevelopment Plan and works on a wide range of smart growth planning efforts.

Prior to his role at the New Jersey Office of Planning Advocacy, he served as the Director of Planning for Somerset County for over ten years. He was responsible for all of the County's planning efforts, the Open Space Advisory Committee, the Regional Center Partnership of Somerset County, the Somerset County Green leadership Hub and the Somerset County Energy Council. Since 1997, he held numerous roles serving as a Supervising Transportation Planner, Principal Planner, Senior Community Planner and Planning Intern during his tenure at the County.

He has over twenty-seven years of land use, regional planning and transportation planning experience and has managed numerous award-winning projects. Walter is a licensed New Jersey Professional Planner and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners. In December of 2022, he received the Budd Chavooshian Award for Outstanding Professional Planner from the New Jersey Chapter of the American Planning Association.

He is a past President of the NJ County Planners Association. He has served on the APA-NJ Executive Committee and is a past chair of the Regional Transportation Advisory Committee at the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority. He frequently presents on a wide range of planning issues at various statewide conferences, seminars and workshops.

He Is a graduate of Cook College, Rutgers University and holds a BS in Environmental Policy.