The Suffolk County Planning Commission has the responsibility to:
- Review local zoning actions and site plans meeting certain jurisdictional requirements
- Prepare a Comprehensive Plan for Suffolk County;
- Conduct studies and render reports as are needed in the performance of its functions;
- Report annually to the legislature on the status of the County;
In addition, the Planning Commission may, on request of any town or village in Suffolk County, furnish a town or village with requested planning services.
Each town and village in Suffolk County that has the jurisdiction to adopt or amend zoning regulations, issue special permits and variances, or approve subdivision plats and condominiums must refer to the Suffolk County Planning Commission any municipal zoning or subdivision action within the Commission’s jurisdiction.
NOTE TO TOWNS AND VILLAGES:
Effective March 18, 2020,
All municipalities are required to submit all their 239 Referrals to Suffolk County electronically. This will be done through the link provide below.
PLEASE SEND REFERRALS TO:
Plannin.uqpi9cmyw7vq0oku@u.box.com
VERY IMPORTANT: PLEASE NOTE IN THE SUBJECT LINE THE NAME OF THE APPLICANT AND THE NAME OF THE TOWN this way no two submissions will have the same identifying name.
Please note that you will need to have the following documents with your submittal:
- Referral Submission Cover sheet (Appendix A – Suffolk County Planning Commission Guidebook – filled out with as much information as possible (link to the Guidebook provided below)
- Completed local application form (Change of Zone Petition, Subdivision, Site Plan, Variance. State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) documents (e.x. Environmental Assessment Form [EAF] – Short EAF, Full EAF, Draft & Final Environmental Impact Statements {DEIS & FEIS], Finding Statements
- Appropriate Maps
Please see Page 15 of the Suffolk County Planning Commission Guidebook
VERY IMPORTANT: PLEASE NOTE IN YOUR SUBJECT LINE THE NAME OF THE APPLICANT AND THE NAME OF THE TOWN this way no two submissions will have the same identifying name.
Under Suffolk County law, the Suffolk County Planning Commission is comprised of 15 members who are each nominated by the County Executive and confirmed by the County Legislature. Each of the ten Suffolk County towns is represented by one commission member. In addition, one commission member represents incorporated villages with populations under 5,000, one member represents villages with populations over 5,000, and there are three at-large members. County law also requires that the commission members collectively reflect a variety of backgrounds including law, business, real estate, labor, environmental action, and transportation.
The current members of the Suffolk County Planning Commission are:
| Name
|
Representing
|
| Jennifer Casey, Chair
|
Town of Huntington
|
| Lisa Perry
|
Villages over 5,000 Population
|
| Lasheca Lewis
|
Town of Babylon
|
| Michael VanDenburg
|
Town of Brookhaven
|
| David Doty
|
Town of East Hampton
|
| Timothy McCarthy, 2nd Vice Chair
|
Town of Islip
|
| John Condzella
|
Town of Riverhead
|
| Elizabeth Galle
|
Town of Shelter Island
|
| John Finn
|
Town of Smithtown
|
| Daniel Flynn
|
Town of Southampton
|
| Thomas J. McCarthy
|
Town of Southold
|
| Michael Kaufman, Vice Chair
|
Villages under 5,000 Population
|
| Stephanie Baldwin
|
At Large
|
| Errol Kitt
|
At Large
|
| Kevin G. Gershowitz
|
At Large
|
Meetings of the Suffolk County Planning Commission are held on the first Wednesday of every month at 2:00 PM, unless otherwise noted.
Jurisdiction
The jurisdiction of the Suffolk County Planning Commission is any real property lying within one mile of an airport or within 500 feet from:
- The boundary of any village or town;
- The boundary of any existing or proposed county, state or federal park or other recreation area;
- The right-of-way of any existing or proposed county or state parkway, thruway, expressway, road or highway;
- Existing or proposed right-of-way of any stream or drainage channel owned by the county or for which the county has established channel lines;
- The existing or proposed boundary of any other county, state, or federally owned land held or to be held for governmental use; or
- The Atlantic Ocean, Long Island Sound, any bay in Suffolk County or estuary of any of the foregoing bodies of water; or which would change the district classification of or the regulations applying to real property lying wholly or partially within the Suffolk County Pine Barrens Zone as described in the Charter.
The Suffolk County Planning Commission must act upon the referral of a municipal action within 45 days of the receipt of a full statement of the proposed action. In conducting its review, the Suffolk County Planning Commission's primary interest is to protect the public interest and investment. The Commission also provides local officials with the planning expertise of the County Planning staff and the experience of the County Planning Commission on inter-municipal and area-wide impacts of proposed municipal actions.
By resolution, the Planning Commission may: approve the proposed action without change, approve the action with modifications, approve the action subject to conditions, or disapprove the proposed action. All decisions by the Commission (except approvals) must be accompanied by a report which explicitly states the reasons for the Commission's decisions to help the municipality evaluate the proposed action. If the Planning Commission does not act upon a proposed municipal zoning action within the 45 day period, the action shall be deemed to have been approved.
When the Planning Commission approves a proposed zoning or subdivision action, the municipality may adopt the action in the ordinary course of municipal business. When the Planning Commission disapproves the action or approves the action with changes or conditions, then the municipality may amend the proposed action in accordance with the Planning Commission's recommendations and adopt it in the ordinary course of municipal business. But if the municipality declines to adopt one or all of the Commission's recommendations, it can adopt the original proposal in a resolution that explicitly sets forth its reasons for not adopting the Planning Commission's recommendations. A decision of disapproval from the Suffolk County Planning Commission can be overridden upon an affirmative vote of a majority-plus-one of the entire membership of the referring body.
The Suffolk County Jurisdictional Map shows the jurisdiction of the Suffolk County Planning Commission.
Fees
The Suffolk County Administrative Code, Section A14-26 requires the Suffolk County Planning Commission to collect a fee for each zoning or subdivision action referred to the Planning Commission, with the exception of comprehensive plans.
Reports
The Suffolk County Administrative Code, Section A14-6 requires the Suffolk County Planning Commission to prepare and release an Annual Report for the County Executive and County Legislature. The annual report chronicles the activities of the Commission and includes a “survey of conditions in the county.” The Suffolk County Planning Commission’s Annual Reports and other reports authored by the County Planning staff can be found at the publications page of the Suffolk County Division of Planning and Environment.
The Suffolk County Planning Commission has adopted the Suffolk County Planning Commission Guidebook as its rules and regulations relating to referral procedures, policies, and standards that the Commission applies to proposals in reaching its decisions. The most recent update to the guidebook was released in 2023.
The Suffolk County Planning Commission occasionally authors other reports or model codes on various topics, to help inform municipalities and the public: