Planning and Preservation

We provide staff to the Morris County Planning Board and are responsible for programs that preserve farmland, open space, historic resources, assist in the buyout of flood-prone residential properties and fund trail construction projects. We also:

  • Develop county master plan, review subdivisions of land and site plans, advise commissioners on planning matters, and provide information for individual citizens, industries, public service groups, and government officials
  • Maintain aerial photographs of the county and acts as the depository for U.S. Census data
  • Manage the various and diverse planning related programs conducted by the County

Programs

More Information

Latest News

Morris County Comprehensive Farmland Preservation Plan Adopted

On July 7, 2022, the Morris County Agriculture Development Board adopted the Morris County Comprehensive Farmland Preservation Plan.

Comprehensive Farmland Preservation Plan – Morris County, NJ (morriscountynj.gov)

Share Your NJ Flood Story

This fall, the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts will be kicking off “Rising Together, NJ,” a social media campaign that encourages people to come together to share their experiences with flooding in New Jersey. Ultimately, the goal is to compile these experiences into an archive everyone can use to support flood risk outreach and education efforts.

Learn more and share your story! 

2022 Historic Preservation Grant Awards

On July 13, 2022, the Board of County Commissioners approved $2.65 million in county grants from the county’s 2022 Preservation Trust Fund to help preserve, restore, or protect 29 historic sites in 21 towns across Morris County.

Please see 2022 Funding Summary(PDF, 1MB) .

Project Welcome Home

On March 29, 2022, in honor of National Vietnam Veterans Day, Morris County released a list of Vietnam veterans. If you are a veteran born in Morris County, or lived here for ten years, and would like to be included, please contact Jan Williams [email protected]

2022 Open Space Applications Available

The Morris County Office of Planning and Preservation has released the application form for the 2022 funding round of municipal/non-profit open space projects under the Morris County Preservation Trust Fund. Any of the 39 municipalities in the county and qualified non-profit organizations are eligible to apply for funding.

The 2022 open space application and list of other required application materials can be found online.

All application materials are due by 4:30 PM on Thursday, June 9, 2022.

Program rules were recently amended to include costs for demolition and restoration of a property (up to a maximum of 10% of the eligible land cost, or $50,000 whichever is less) as allowable costs under the program.

Please contact Barbara Murray in the Morris County Office of Planning and Preservation at (973) 829-8120 or [email protected] for further information on the program or application process.

 

Morris County Miners

On March 2, 2022, the office of Planning and Preservation released a cultural resources survey, a compilation of the names of Miners. Click here to search the list.

 

2020 Census Summary

The US Census Bureau released the 2020 population figures for Counties. The data was released in raw form with the more formalized and formatted data to be released on or about September 30th. Morris County’s population increased by 3.5%, from 492,276 in 2010 to 509,285 in 2020.  This places Morris County right in the middle of the state’s 21 counties for percentage growth from 2010 to 2020.  New Jersey’s population increased by 5.7%.

The top three Morris County municipalities with the largest numerical population increase are:

  1. Parsippany, up 2,924 (5.5%)
  2. Morristown, up 1,769 (9.6%)
  3. Rockaway Township, up 1,185 (4.9%)

The top three Morris County municipalities by percentage growth are:

  1. Mount Arlington, up 17.0% (859)
  2. Riverdale, up 15.4% (548)
  3. Morris Plains, up 11.2% (621)

Map showing population change over the last decade. Washington, Chester Twp, Roxbury, Long Hill, East Hanover, Jefferson and Kinnelon lost population.

2020-2010_PopulationChange.pdf(PDF, 525KB)

 
2020 Municipalities - Morris County
Total Population
 Municipality 2010 2020 Change (numeric) Change (percent)
Boonton 8,347 8,815 468 5.6%
Boonton Twp. 4,263 4,380 117 2.7%
Butler 7,539 8,047 508 6.7%
Chatham Boro. 8,962  9,212 250 2.8%
Chatham Twp. 10,452 10,983 531 5.1% 
Chester Boro. 1,649  1,681  32  1.9% 
Chester Twp. 7,838  7,713  -125  -1.6% 
Denville 16,635 17,107  472  2.8% 
Dover 18,157  18,460  303  1.7% 
East Hanover 11,157  11,105  -52  -0.5% 
Florham Park 11,696  12,585  889  7.6% 
Hanover 13,712  14,677  965  7.0% 
Harding 3,838  3,871  33  0.9% 
Jefferson 21,314 20,538  -776  -3.6% 
Kinnelon 10,248  9,966  -282  -2.8% 
Lincoln Park 10,521  10,915  394  3.7% 
Long Hill 8,702  8,629  -73  -0.8% 
Madison 15,845  16,937  1,092  6.9% 
Mendham Boro. 4,981  4,981  0  0.0% 
Mendham Twp. 5,869  6,016  147  2.5%
Mine Hill 3,651  4,015  364  10.0% 
Montville 21,528 22,450  922  4.3% 
Morris Twp. 22,306  22,974  668  3.0% 
Morris Plains 5,532 6,153  621  11.2% 
Morristown 18,411  20,180  1,769  9.6% 
Mountain Lakes 4,160 4,472  312  7.5% 
Mount Arlington 5,050  5,909  859  17.0% 
Mount Olive 28,117  28,886  769  2.7% 
Netcong 3,232  3,375  143  4.4% 
Parsippany 53,238  56,162  2,924  5.5% 
Pequannock 15,540  15,571  31  0.2% 
Randolph 25,734  26,504  770  3.0% 
Riverdale 3,559  4,107  548  15.4% 
Rockaway Boro. 6,438  6,598  160  2.5% 
Rockaway Twp. 24,156  25,341  1,185  4.9% 
Roxbury 23,324  22,950  -374  -1.6% 
Victory Gardens 1,520  1,582  62  4.1% 
Washington 18,533  18,197  -336  -1.8% 
Wharton 6,522  7,241  719  11.0% 
Morris County 492,276  509,285  17,009  3.5% 
New Jersey 8,791,909  9,288,994  497,085  5.7% 
SOURCE:

U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Census (P.L. 94-171) Redistricting Data Summary Files
https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial/2020/data/01-Redistricting_File--PL_94-171/New_Jersey/

U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 Census
https://www.morriscountynj.gov/files/sharedassets/public/departments/planning-amp-preservation/pop-estimates-2019.xlsx


As this data is continued to be processed, additional charts and maps will be posted to the Office of Planning and Preservation web page under the Data section. The following are links to the posted materials:

 

 

Contact Us

Phone

(973) 829-8120

Fax

(973) 326-9025

Location

Schuyler Annex Building
30 Schuyler Place, 4th floor
Morristown
07960
View Map

Mailing Address

County of Morris
Office of Planning & Preservation
PO Box 900
Morristown, NJ 07963-0900

Email Us

Fill out our feedback form to send us an email.

Back to top