Vol. 26, No. 8 ● November 8, 2018
Fairfax County RPA Changes
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality recently audited Fairfax County’s Chesapeake Bay Preservation Ordinance (CBPO) program, and the County’s Land Development Services (LDS) staff presented the resulting proposed changes at the October 23 Board of Supervisors meeting. The proposed changes will not affect the methods currently used to delineate Resource Protection Area (RPA) in Fairfax County, but will simply ensure connectivity between the RPA delineation process and preparation of plans of development.
The County is proposing the following changes to their CBPO Program:
Amend the CPBO, Subdivision and Zoning Ordinances, and the Public Facilities Manual (PFM) to require physical delineation of buildable area on plans of development. As part of these changes, the proposed buildable area must be identified by a labeled line on plans to clearly define where construction is allowed – incorporating the approved RPA, property line setbacks, and any other restrictions. LDS staff noted that many engineers already define buildable area as part of their plans, but that this change will amend ordinances and the Minimum Submission Checklists to require this extra step from all submitters and ensure consistency across the county.
Add running bamboo to the list of noxious weeds. This change is intended to streamline removal of this species of vegetation from within the RPA. With running bamboo added to the noxious weed, the regulated community will be able to remove the species through an administrative application.
Incorporate editorial changes and corrections. These editorial changes and corrections were not identified in the October 23 meeting.
Fairfax County will hold future meetings on the proposed changes:
December 5, 2018: Planning Commission Public Hearing
January 22, 2019: Board of Supervisors Public Hearing
For more information about the proposed Fairfax County RPA changes, or questions about Resource Protection Areas in general, please contact J.T. Kelley in our Gainesville office.