HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — The Town of Hilton Head Island has a new planning director. John Fussa, who has run planning offices in three states, will lead the Planning Department, the town announced Thursday.
Fussa takes charge of zoning, land use, development services and long-range planning at a time when the town is reworking its Land Management Ordinance. That rulebook sets where building can happen, how many homes can go on a lot, setbacks and the size of structures, and the proposed changes have drawn sharp debate.
His arrival also lands days before the Nov. 3 election, when voters will settle contested races for mayor and three seats on the seven-member Town Council.
Fussa comes from Carrboro, North Carolina, where he became planning director in December 2025. Before that he was community development director in Parker, Colorado, where his work included a citywide transportation plan, a Mainstreet plan and redevelopment along East Main. Earlier, in Bayonne, New Jersey, he wrote the redevelopment plan that turned a onetime Army port terminal into the Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor.
Town Manager Marc Orlando called him an outstanding fit for the island. Fussa has more than 25 years in community and transportation planning, a graduate planning degree from Rutgers University and an undergraduate degree from Notre Dame. He holds memberships in the Urban Land Institute and the American Planning Association, and his town office number is 843-341-4625.
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