Fairfax consultants begin zoning ordinance review to implement small-area plans

Fairfax City staff and consultant White and Smith presented the start of a zoning-ordinance review on Jan. 14 to align the city's zoning code with adopted small-area plans and the 2019 comprehensive plan.

Planning staff said the project will examine discrepancies between policy documents and the zoning ordinance, produce options and recommendations, and return to the council before drafting specific ordinance language.

Paul Nafty, the city's planning chief, told the council that four small-area plans adopted since the comprehensive plan created circumstances where new policy and older code are not fully aligned. Justin Wallace of White and Smith said his team spent months in a project-discovery phase: site visits, meetings with staff and stakeholders, technical-topic meetings, and a November community meeting. The consultants described next steps as producing a report that presents a range of options and, ultimately, recommended strategies for code amendments.

"Our task is to align the city zoning ordinance with the land-use policy established in the comprehensive plan and small-area plans," Wallace said, describing issues that include building height transitions, allowances for mixed-use development, open-space definitions, utilities placement, and potential incentive programs for sustainability or other public benefits.

Consultants said they will explore incentive-based approaches to encourage community benefits in exchange for increases in development intensity. That could take the form of a bonus program, a tiered approach, or a point-based system, Wallace said, noting the need to evaluate how Virginia statutes affect incentive zoning.

Council members asked for more detail on several items: whether signage standards might be addressed, the fiscal impacts on fee schedules if mixed use were allowed by right, how the four small-area plans would be evaluated (individually and in aggregate), and whether the consultants would analyze a range of scenarios for each area. Staff and the consultants said they would return with a report and options.

The presenters described five "activity center" areas as the focus of the small-area plans and explained that the zoning update aims to make the ordinance clearer, more predictable, and better aligned with the policy goals for pedestrian-oriented, mixed-use redevelopment.

No ordinance amendments were adopted at the Jan. 14 meeting. The item was an introductory work session; staff and the consultant will prepare a report of findings and options and return for additional council consideration.