Planning Board Members

The County Planning Board consists of nine members: two Freeholders, the Freeholder President, one other Freeholder appointed by Freeholder President, the County Engineer, and six citizen members who serve three-year terms on a rotating basis. The citizen members are appointed by the County Executive with the advice and consent of the Board of Chosen Freeholder .

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Roles & Responsibilities

The Essex County Planning Board's duties and responsibilities as defined in the State enabling legislation are:

• to prepare and adopt a Master Plan for the physical development and orderly growth of the county;
• to review and approve applications for subdivision and site plans;
• to encourage the cooperation of the 22 county municipalities in matters of mutual concern;
• to advise the County Executive and Board of Chosen Freeholders with respect to the formulation of development programs and budgets for capital expenditures;
• Prepare  the official County Map.

The Essex County Planning Board is also responsible for the State Review Process. Another basic function of the County Planning Board is to be a depository of current municipal master plans and zoning ordinances.

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Planning Board Meetings

In light of the unprecedented circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the need to restrict unnecessary travel and adopt/adhere to social distancing practices, the public meetings will no longer be held in person. Rather, the meetings will be conducted virtually via the County's conferencing software (i.e. Zoom ). The time and date of the meetings remain unchanged. Interested parties can contact main desk, (973) 226-8500 x 0, to obtain a virtual meeting's log-in information.

See schedule for Planning Board Meetings and Land Development Review Committee Meetings to be held during the calendar year 2024.