About Us
The Morris County Office of Planning & Preservation is comprised of the following sections:
Planning
Responsible for reviewing development applications for conformance with the County Land Development Standard, preparing an annual land development report and updating the County Official Map.
Responsibilities include the County Master Plan, filing and review of municipal master plans and zoning ordinances, and disseminating demographic and economic information. Projects include developing the county-wide Wastewater Management Plan and other regional planning efforts.
Preservation Trust
Responsible for undertaking a multi-phase update of the 1986 county-wide cultural resources survey known as the Acroterian report. Other related projects include research and compiling data on cemetery burial sites, Freeholders of Yesterday, historic maps, municipal surveys, street histories and a veterans compendium in conjunction with the Morris County Veterans Services Office.
The Morris County Agriculture Development Board (CADB) oversees the farmland preservation program. The program enables the County to offer farm owners the opportunity to preserve their farms, while continuing to own and maintain them. The CADB also administers the Right to Farm Program.
Morris County is moving people out of harm’s way and ending the destructive cycle of repetitive flooding by providing grant funding to municipalities to purchase flood-prone homes. The municipality then demolishes the homes and permanently preserves the property as public open space.
The program provides grant funding for the acquisition, stabilization, rehabilitation, restoration or preservation of historic resources by municipalities, qualified non-profits and the County. Applications for plans and reports associated with the implementation of a historic preservation project are also eligible. The annual application cycle begins at the end of January.
Open Space Trust Fund Program
Under the municipal/qualified charitable conservancy category of Morris County’s Preservation Trust Fund, this program provides grant funding for the permanent preservation of property as publicly accessible open space in fee simple or permanent easement. A 15-member committee annually reviews and makes recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners on applications submitted by any of the 39 municipalities in the county as well as eligible land conservancies.
This program provides grant funding to municipalities for the construction of trails on preserved, public parkland. The program operates as a collective and collaborative effort of the Morris County Park Commission and the Division of Planning and Preservation.
Boards and Committees served by the Office include: