Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance Update

The County’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan guides the future growth and development of Prince William County as well as investments in future public infrastructure through the year 2040. It also presents a blueprint for creating a great quality of place, quality of community and quality of life based on the County's vision for its future. That vision is:

Prince William County is a diverse and thriving community that strives to be an equitable, sustainable, and vibrant place which offers access to a variety of employment, housing and mobility opportunities while respecting our distinct cultural and environmental resources as well as promoting the quality-of-life values that establish a unique sense of place.

Zoning implements the Comprehensive Plan by setting clear rules for how land is used and how it develops over time. This is important for fulfilling Prince William County’s future vision regarding continuing improvements in the health, safety, welfare and quality of life for residents. The Zoning Ordinance Update is a multi-year effort by the Prince William County Planning Office to comprehensively update and modernize the County’s Zoning Ordinance.

The Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance Update will be informed by community engagement and feedback throughout this effort. Community members are encouraged to get involved in the Zoning Ordinance Update and to sign up for further updates.

Current Zoning Ordinance

The Zoning Ordinance is one of the Code of Ordinances for Prince William County and can be found here. It consists of 10 articles: Article I: Terms Defined, Article II: Administration and Planning Standards, Article III: Agricultural and Residential Districts, Article IV: Commercial, Office, and Industrial Districts, Article V: Overlay Districts, Article VI: Nonconforming Uses, Lots, and Structures, Article VII: Zoning Amendments and Special Use Permits, Article VIII: Site Plans, Article IX: Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA), Article X: Violations, Infractions, and Penalties.

The Board of County Supervisors approves updates to the Zoning Ordinance.

Main Goals of the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance Update

Through the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance Update, Prince William County seeks to accomplish several goals:

• Alignment of Zoning Ordinance with the 2040 Comprehensive Plan: The Zoning Ordinance is a tool to implement the Comprehensive Plan. However, the current Zoning Ordinance’s zoning districts and development standards are not aligned with the policies of the updated 2040 Comprehensive Plan that the Board of County Supervisors adopted in December 2022.

• For example, land use applicants seeking County approval for proposed development may request waivers and modifications to the Zoning Ordinance’s standards to align their projects with the 2040 Comprehensive Plan. This can happen even if the proposed development is the type of development supported by the Comprehensive Plan’s policies. A major goal of the Zoning Ordinance Update is to update the Ordinance’s development standards to reflect the 2040 Comprehensive Plan. This could reduce requests for waivers and modifications to the Ordinance’s standards to ensure proposed development is aligned with the 2040 Comprehensive Plan.

• Completion of initiated Zoning Text Amendments: Outside of a comprehensive major update, the Zoning Ordinance is typically updated through Zoning Text Amendments focusing on specific issues. A number of Zoning Text Amendments (ZTAs) have been initiated by the Board of County Supervisors that remain pending. The goal is to incorporate as many of these ZTAs as feasible into the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance Update.
  
  
• Support for Policy Moves: The Zoning Ordinance Update also will include updating or adding new development standards to implement major policy goals from the Comprehensive Plan and other key County initiatives, including:
  
  
  1. Expansion of Housing Options: The 2040 Comprehensive Plan calls for expanding the range of housing types that can be built in the County to help expand the housing supply and provide more housing options for different needs and affordability. The Zoning Ordinance Update will look at methods to expand more housing options in Prince William County.
     
     
  2. Green Zoning: The 2023 Community Energy and Sustainability Master Plan includes specific goals and actions strategies that could be implemented by changes to the Zoning Ordinance to promote sustainability and climate resilience in new development.
     
     
  3. More Options for Mixed-Use Development: Mixed-use development includes multiple land uses, such as housing, retail, restaurants, office, or community facilities, together in one development. It promotes walkability and can meet a variety of needs in one place. Mixed-use development requires standards that focus on pedestrians, while standard single-use development has been more focused on the automobile. The Zoning Ordinance currently allows for certain types of mixed-use development; however, improvements are needed to better align uses and development standards to promote the development of more walkable mixed-use developments in Prince William County.
     
     
• Innovation: The Zoning Ordinance Update will consider ways to include innovations and best practices in zoning. This includes exploring other approaches to zoning such as:
  
  
  1. Form-Based and Performance-Based Zoning: New approaches to zoning reduce the emphasis on a list of “uses” and focus instead on height, lot coverage, floor area ratio (FAR), noise standards, traffic generation and similar performance measurements to accommodate future uses and adaptive reuse as long as performance criteria is met.
     
     
  2. New/modified land use categories to support a wider variety of development types.
     
     
• Modernization and Efficiencies: Over time, standards, use categories, and processes specified in the Ordinance become outdated. This comprehensive update will consider changes to the Ordinance to modernize it and support efficiencies in the land use process.
  
  
• Adjustments & Clarifications: Over time County staff and officials identify a need to update or clarify specific provisions in the Zoning Ordinance due to changes in state law or issues with implementation. While these changes can occur through specific Zoning Text Amendments, the comprehensive update to the Zoning Ordinance is another opportunity to make these adjustments or clarifications.
  
  
• Other County Priorities: Prince William County has a variety of priorities identified in the County’s Strategic Plan and the 2040 Comprehensive Plan, such as economic development, that could be supported by updates to the Zoning Ordinance.

Success Criteria for the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance Update

The success of the Zoning Ordinance Update, following adoption by the Board of County Supervisors, could be reflected in a number of ways over the coming years, including:

• Development that reflects the County’s policies and vision in the 2040 Comprehensive Plan, as measured by the regularly updated Build-out Analysis.
• A reduction in the number of waiver and modification requests for land use applications due to lack of alignment between the Comprehensive Plan and the Zoning Ordinance.
• More efficient and streamlined land use application review processes.
• An improved user experience with the Zoning Ordinance with easier to understand and predictable guidance governing future development in the County, reflected, for example, in a decrease in the number of inquiries seeking explanation of Zoning Ordinance provisions.