19721010 1972-20ORDINANCE NO. ~
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING AND RE-ENACTING THE P-D
(PLANNED DEVELOPMENT) ZONE OF SECTION ll (ZONING
SCHEDULE) OF THE ZONING ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF
FAI RFAX, VIRGINIA.
BE IT ORDAINED by the City Council of the City of Fairfax, Virginia,
that the P-D Zone in Section 11 (Zoning Schedule) of the Zoning Ordinance of
the City of Fairfax, Virginia, be and it hereby is amended and re-enacted to
read in its entirety as follows:
Purpose and Intent
The Planned Development Ordinance has been designed to promote a mixture
of commercial and residential uses on appropriate tracts of more than five acres
within the City, and to encourage creativity and innovation in development. The
ordinance provides a wider range of options for land use mixes through the offer
of design flexibility in return for a higher degree of review and regulatory
authority over development by the City Council in the insurance of essential
standards of public health, safety, morals, and general welfare. The overall
objective is (1) to encourage land uses within the City which are more beneficial
to the City and to the developer than are permitted under other existing zoning
ordinances; (2) to encourage development which improves public health, conveni-
ence or welfare and to foster future development of the City to the end that
transportation systems be carefully planned; that new community centers be
developed with adequate highway, utility, health, educational, and recreational
activities; that the needs of industry and business be recognized in future
growth; that residential areas be provided with healthy surroundings for family
life; and that the growth of the community be consonant with the efficient and
economical use of public funds.
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The more specific objectives include:
1. Beneficial Use of Land: The failure to develop land in a manner com-
patible with and beneficial to the community of which it is a part is
both widespread and widely lamented. Contributing factors have included:
a. The exclusive zoning of large areas for one specific purpose or
another, but prohibiting the possibility of mutually beneficial mix-
tures, thus forcing unnecessary demands for transportation between
areas and the consequent costs on both the City and the developer.
b. Zoning and development practices which have divided, rather than
united, the City and the developer in a common cause which is the
betterment of the community at large.
This ordinance has been designed to bring the City and the developer together to
promote the planning and development of land uses in a manner which best serves
the interests of both parties.
2. Coordinated Provision for Services: Unless the demand for services
generated by a development can be met by existing facilities, considering
all other sources of demand which can be foreseen, new facilities must be
planned for, budgeted and constructed to meet the demand as it develops.
Failure to do so creates serious and inexcusable problems for both the
new users and the prior users of those services.
This ordinance has been designed to make the development of land and the provi-
sion of services a coordinated venture on the part of both the City and the
developer.
3. This ordinance has been designed to encourage mixed developments which
are self-supporting with regard to tax-supported services; to reduce the
necessity for automobile traffic by encouraging people to live and work
in the same area; to encourage innovative mixes of both residential and
1972-20
commercial development which invite both day and evening as well as
work day and weekend usage by area residents and businessmen; and to
insure that usable play areas and other open relief are provided within
development.
Ae
Be
Uses permitted by right:
All uses permitted by right in the R-3 zone subject to all requirements
and restrictions governing said zone but not subject to the regulations
governing planned development uses in the P-D zone.
Planned Development:
1. Permitted Planned Development uses:
a. Residential;
b. Customary home occupations, provided that there are:
(1) No employees other than principal practitioner;
(2) No displays or advertisements.
c. Churches;
d. Governmental use, excluding property yards and repair facilities;
e. Commercial uses as follows:
(1) Office buildings;
(2) Banks, savings & loan associations, and other financial
institutions;
(3) Retail establishments for the sale of works of art, art supplies,
electrical goods and supplies, food and food products, furniture,
decorator supplies, hardware, luggage and leather goods, optical
goods, pets and pet supplies, garden supplies, electronics and
phonograph equipment, books, tobacco, confections, drugs,
jewelry, music, stationery, toys, newspapers and magazines,
,. 1972-20
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(9)
(10)
(11)
(14)
office supplies and equipment, medical supplies, clothing and
dry goods, flowers and similar goods and products.
(4) Establishments for the sale or repair or both of household
appliances, musical instruments and sporting goods, not including
sale or repair of major motorized equipment.
(5) Barber shops and beauty parlors, shoe repair and polishing shops,
tailor shops, laundromats and establishments for receiving and
distributing articles for laundering or cleaning.
(6) Cleaning and pressing establishments having not more than four
(4) pressing machines and one (1) drycleaning unit, with a capa-
city not exceeding fifty (50) pounds using non-inflammable
synthetic cleaning fluid and one (1) shirt pressing unit.
(7) Restaurants with ancillary uses, including live music.
(8) Schools of special instruction not including public dance hall
and riding school.
Private clubs and eleemosynary institutions.
Schools of general instruction.
Theaters and bowling alleys (excluding drive-in movie theaters).
Hotel and motel.
Electric transformers and substations.
Telephone repeater stations.
Uses permitted with a special use permit:
None.
Area, setbacks, height, coverage, density, floor area ratio:
a. Area: Area, which shall not be less than five (5) acres in any event,
shall be determined in accordance with standards contained in Section 6.
The gross area proposed for development in any P-D zone shall be
shown on the preliminary site plan.
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1972-20
b. Setbacks: There shall be a minimum open space area of at least
twenty (20) feet around the external walls of any structure. This
open space area shall be grassed and landscaped except for that area
where sidewalks are provided for the purpose of ingress and egress to
the structure.
c. Height: Permitted height of building shall not exceed sixty-five
(65) feet, not including mechanical equipment. An additional five
(5) feet may be allowed for mechanical equipment, towers and spires,
not used for human habitation.
d. Coverage: Maximum coverage permitted of all impervious surfaces in
any P-D zone shall not exceed fifty (50) percent of the total gross
acreage. Areas used for swimming pools, bathhouses, tennis courts
and other outside recreational space that is improved with a hard
surface, to the extent that it does not exceed five (5) percent of
the gross acreage, shall not be counted as covered area. At least
twenty (20) percent of the gross tract area shall be in open space
sections of at least ten thousand (10,000) square feet each.
e. Density:
(1) Residential: The maximum residential density, which shall not
in any event exceed fifteen (15) dwelling units per gross acre
shall be determined in accordance with standards contained in
Section 6 of this chapter and shall be computed on the prelimi-
nary site plan.
(2) Commercial: There shall be required in every P-D zone a
minimum of two hundred (200) square feet of commercial gross
floor area for each dwelling unit. The above requirement
may be waived in whole or in part by the City Council, pro-
vided that the City Council finds that the development does
not have a detrimental effect upon the tax base of the City
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1972-20
as a whole and generates sufficient economic and other benefits
to the community to offset the loss of commercial floor space.
f. Floor area ratio: The maximum gross floor area of all structures
(not including enclosed parking structures), which shall not in any
event exceed one (1) square foot of floor area for each gross square
foot of land within any P-D zone as shown on the preliminary site
plan, shall be determined in accordance with standards contained in
Section 11 and shall be computed on the preliminary site plan.
4. Parking Requirements:
a. Residential: Two (2) parking spaces per dwelling unit.
b. Office facilities: One (1) parking space for every three hundred
(300) square feet of gross floor area of office facilities.
c. Places of public assembly: One (1) parking space for every four (4)
seats based on maximum seating capacity.
d. Other: One (1) parking space for every two hundred (200) square
feet of gross floor area.
Compliance with parking requirements shall be shown by computations
on the preliminary site plan. In approving said plan the City Council
may permit a reduction in parking requirements not exceeding twenty-five
(25) percent of the total parking required in accordance with standards
contained in Section ll.
5. Procedures:
a. Preliminary submission. A potential applicant who wishes to apply
for change of zoning of property to the P-D zone may in advance of
filing an official application submit a general development plan to
the City Director of Planning and request a hearing before a joint
public meeting of the City Council and the Planning Commission for
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the purpose of guidance and comment concerning proposed development.
No official action shall be taken by either the Planning Commission
or the City Council at said meeting and no commitments shall be made
by the City or any agency thereof at said meeting.
b. General Development Plan. A general development plan may be general
in nature and schematic in form but must show the following:
(1) Proposed land use in each of the following categories: detached
single-family residential, town houses, apartments, commercial
offices, other commercial public use, open space, and other uses.
(2) General building locations, suggested height of buildings, esti-
mated number of dwelling units, estimated gross square feet of
commercial uses.
(3) Proposed traffic circulation.
(4) Proposed schedule of development.
(5) Proposed number of residents, school children, estimated vehicles
per 24 hours, estimated cost-sales price of dwelling units,
estimated rental per square foot of commercial, and any other
pertinent information dealing with the economic feasibility of
the proposed site.
c. Official submission: In addition to the general filing requirements
for all applications for change of zoning the applicant shall submit
with his application for change of zoning of land to the P-D zone a
general development plan and a preliminary site plan.
d. Preliminary site plan: A preliminary site plan shall include the
following information.
(1) Total area;
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(2)
(3)
(4)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
(1o)
(11)
(12)
(13)
(14)
(15)
(16)
(17)
(18)
(19)
Gross area proposed for residential uses and total number of
proposed dwelling units;
Gross floor area of all structures and floor area ratio;
Proposed locations of all buildings;
Proposed use of all structures;
Proposed setbacks from all property lines and from all non-
residential structures to the nearest residential structure;
Proposed height of all structures within the proposed development;
Proposed coverage;
Proposed residential density per gross acre;
Proposed number of parking spaces and location of parking areas;
Proposed methods of landscaping and screening;
Proposed methods of internal circulation, ingress and egress;
Existing contours per National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administra-
tion (USC&GS);
Proposed improvements to adjacent public streets;
All pedestrian walkways;
Proposed common open space;
Proposed gross floor area of all commercial development;
A study of anticipated revenue from all uses in the area to be
developed. Said study shall substantially conform to and pro-
vide information according to the guidelines adopted from time
to time by the City Council. The guidelines shall be made avail-
able to the applicant at the office of the Director of Public
Works.
A study of anticipated cost to the City to maintain and service
the uses in the area to be developed. Said study shall
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1972-20
(20)
ee
substantially conform to and provide information according to
the guidelines adopted from time to time by the City Council.
The guidelines shall be made available to the applicant at the
office of the Director of Public Works.
A development schedule showing the stages of development if
required.
Review and approval of preliminary site plan.
Upon determination by the Zoning Administrator that the content
of the preliminary site plan is complete in accordance with the above
requirements, the plan and application shall be submitted to the
Planning Commission.
The Planning Commission shall promptly consider the preliminary
site plan and the rezoning application and hold a public hearing thereon
in accordance with the standards hereinafter set forth and in accordance
with the provisions contained in Title 15.1, Chapter 11, Article 8 of
the Code of Virginia Annotated.
Within ninety days of receipt by the Planning Commission of the
preliminary site plan and application for rezoning, the Planning Com-
mission will transmit the plan and application to the City Council
together with its recommendations as to approval, approval with modi-
fication, or disapproval of said plan.
The City Council shall consider the preliminary site plan and
application for rezoning and hold a public hearing thereon in accord-
ance with the standards hereinafter set forth and in accordance with
the provisions contained in Title 15.1, Chapter 11, Article 8 of the
Code of Virginia.
The City Council shall approve, approve with modifications, or
disapprove the preliminary site plan and application for rezoning
1972-20
fe
within thirty days after a public hearing thereon, upon determination
that said plan complies with the standards hereinafter set forth.
In approving a plan, the Council may establish such conditions and
may require such modifications as shall assure compliance with said
standards and regulations, and the Council may further waive or
modify subdivision requirements otherwise applicable to the develop-
ment when such waiver or modification is not in conflict with said
standards and regulations.
In the event that a preliminary site plan shall be disapproved
by the City Council, the application for rezoning shall be deemed to
be denied. In the event that a preliminary site plan shall be
approved with modifications by the City Council, the Council may
continue the public hearing on the rezoning application to a date
certain in order to permit the applicant to modify the development
plan in accordance with such modifications.
Procedure for final site plans.
Approval of the preliminary site plan and the application for
rezoning shall constitute authority for the applicant to prepare
final site plans in accordance with the standards contained in
Section 6 of this chapter, and in conformity with the approved preli-
minary site plan. Approval of said final site plans shall be in
accordance with Section 3.172 through 3.180, except as follows:
(1) Separate final site plans shall be submitted for each develop-
ment stage or unit as set forth in the approved preliminary site
plan.
(2) A final site plan for a particular development stage or unit
other than the first, shall not be approved until the final site
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1972-20
plan has been approved for the immediately preceding stage or
unit.
(3) Minor deviations from the preliminary site plan shall be permitted
in the final site plan when the Director of Public Works determines
that such are necessary due to requirements of topography, drainage,
structural safety or vehicular circulation, and such deviations
will not materially alter the character of the approved preliminary
site plan including the proposed development sequence. In no case
shall such deviations include the elimination of any building shown
or the addition of any building not shown on the approved prelimi-
nary site plan. Neither will such deviations increase the density
or alter the height or setback limitations. Any changes not
authorized by this paragraph shall require resubmission of the
preliminary site plan in accordance with the procedures contained
herein.
(4) The final site plan shall be submitted within eighteen months
from the date of approval of the preliminary site plan. If a
final site plan is not submitted within said period, approval of
the preliminary site plan, and consequent authority to submit a
site plan, shall terminate and development by the applicant in
accordance with the P-D regulations shall require resubmission of
a preliminary site plan in accordance with the procedures set
forth in this section (5).
Standards. The following standards shall be applied by the Planning
Commission in recommending and by the City Council in considering a preli-
minary site plan, and by the Director of Public Works in considering a
final site plan.
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1972-20
a. The preliminary and final plans shall afford adequate protection
to adjacent and surrounding properties, provide harmonious internal
development, provide (where appropriate) a diversity of well-planned
uses within the development in accordance with the purposes of this
ordinance, provide adequate parking and adequate and safe circulation
and ingress and egress, and shall be so designed that development in
accordance therewith will not adversely affect the health, safety or
general welfare of persons residing or working in the neighborhood
of the proposed development, will not be detrimental to the public
welfare or injurious to property or improvements in the neighborhood,
and will be in accord with the purposes of this ordinance and the
Comprehensive Plan of the City of Fairfax.
b. The area included within any single P-D zone shall be sufficient in
size to justify planned development of the entire area as a unit in
furtherance of the purposes of this ordinance. The minimum area
required may vary from case to case in order to assure compliance
with these standards and to promote the objectives of this ordinance.
c. The permitted height of buildings and required setbacks from property
lines and required distances between structures within a P-D development
shall be determined in the context of the preliminary site plan as a
whole, adjacent buildings and uses both within and without the zone,
the Comprehensive Plan of the City of Fairfax, and the other standards
provided for development in this zone. The maximum heights permitted
and the minimum setbacks required may vary from case to case in order
to assure compliance with these standards and to promote the objec-
tives of this ordinance.
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d. Density: The maximum residential density allowed and the maximum
square footage of commercially designated floor space shall be deter-
mined in the context of the plan as a whole, shall not adversely affect
adjacent development and shall be consistent with existing and proposed
public facilities and the other standards contained in this ordinance.
e. Screening: Fences, walls or vegetative screening shall be provided
at the perimeter of planned developments where necessary to screen
improvements, glare, uses or other influences having an adverse impact
either on the planned development or on adjacent property. Screening
shall be provided between residential and commercial sections of the
site at ground level. Screening shall meet the specifications of the
City of Falrfax Zoning Ordinance.
f. Commercial uses shall be conducted entirely within enclosed buildings
with no outside display of merchandise and shall be designed to main-
tain and protect the residential character of all neighboring residen-
tial areas including residential areas contained within any P-D zone.
g. Principal vehicular access to a planned development shall be from
streets and roads capable of supporting existing traffic and the
traffic that will be generated by the planned development. Access
points shall be designed to provide smooth traffic flow, controlled
turning movements, and minimum hazard to vehicular or pedestrian
traffic. Merging and turnout lanes and traffic dividers shall be
provided where existing or anticipated heavy flows of traffic indicate
such need. No streets or roads within a planned development shall
connect to exterior streets for through streets.
h. Pedestrian access shall be arranged so as to provide safe and
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1972-20
convenient routes to and from a planned development. Pedestrian
access routes within a planned development need not be adjacent to,
or in the vicinity of, vehicular access routes. Pedestrian crossings
at the perimeter of development shall be marked and controlled, and
where pedestrians are exposed to substantial vehicular traffic,
fencing or other similar barriers shall be erected to prevent crossing
at other than designated points.
i. Bicycle and bridle paths shall be coordinated with the pedestrian
system and street crossings shall be combined.
j. Traffic visibility, both automotive and pedestrian, shall be preserved
as follows: no impediment to visibility between two and one-half
(2-1/2) and seven (7) feet above center line grades shall exist at
the intersection of any street or road within a planned development
or at its perimeter within a triangle beginning at the intersection
of right-of-way edges (projected if round corners exist), thence
fifty (50) feet along said edges, thence along the line connecting
those two points.
k. Where pedestrian access of any kind exists from within a planned
development to a perimeter street or road, without a barrier to pre-
vent indiscriminate entrance into such street or road, no substantial
impediment to visibility shall be permitted between two and one half
(2-1/2) and seven (7) feet above the center line of the street or road
or above the ground level of the access area.
1. Within a planned development, streets, roads, driveways and parking,
loading and service areas shall be designed so as to provide safe and
convenient vehicular access to all uses and facilities. Pedestrian
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ways to be used by substantial numbers of children shall be located
and controlled to minimize contact with vehicular traffic. Pedestrian
passages over and under vehicular routes may be required.
m. Developed recreation space and other open space intended for pedestrian
use and pedestrian-oriented structures, such as schools and churches,
shall be accessible from related structures, such as dwellings and
office buildings, with a minimum of street crossings. Where possible,
such uses shall be interconnected by a common pedestrian system.
n. The planned development shall be located in an area for which public
facilities are available and adequate for the uses proposed; provided,
however, that the applicant may provide such facilities which are not
presently available, and written assurance of such provision shall be
included as a part of the preliminary site plan.
o. Within a planned development there shall be adequate space to permit
accessibility to all structures by firefighting and similar emergency
equipment.
p. A planned development shall have adequate parking for all the uses
proposed therein and before allowing any reduction in parking as per-
mitted in Section B(4) of this ordinance, the City Council shall be
satisfied that a combination of uses will promote dual use of certain
parking spaces at different hours and that all uses proposed will
have adequate parking after said reduction. All required parking
shall be unreserved; provided that the preliminary site plan may be
approved showing certain reserved parking where the City Council is
satisfied that the reserving of said designated spaces will not create
a deficiency in the number of required parking spaces for all uses and
1972-20
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that the reserving of the said spaces will not place an undue hard-
ship on pedestrian travel within the parking area.
q. The developer shall provide for and establish an organization or
other legal entity for the perpetual ownership and maintenance of any
common open space and other uncovered areas designated on the preli-
minary site plan, including pedestrian ways, play lots, swimming pools,
bathhouses, tennis courts, parking lots and roads. Such organization
shall be created by covenants running with the land, and such cove-
nants shall be included as a part of the final site plan and subject
to approval by the City Attorney and City Council.
r. When a planned development is to be constructed in stages or units,
the total uncovered area provided at any stage of development shall
bear substantially the same relationship to the total uncovered areas
to be provided in the entire planned development as the stages or
units completed or under development bear to the entire planned
development.
s. The performance standards contained in Section 12 of the Zoning
Ordinance shall be met.
t. Where several parcels of land in the same ownership or land in dif-
ferent ownerships is shown on a preliminary site plan adequate assur-
ances including, if necessary, covenants running with the land, shall
be provided to assure that the parcels shown will be developed.
Development Schedule.
The developer shall develop the parcel in not more than sixty-six
(66) percent of the approved residential floor space prior to the comple-
tion of all the planned and approved commercial floor space.
Subdivision: Nothing in this ordinance shall prohibit the subdivision
of land within a P-D zone for purpose of sale; provided, however, that
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1972-20
o
any owner proposing to subdivide property wholly or partly within a P-D
zone shall produce satisfactory evidence to the Planning Commission that
such subdivision will not violate any of the standards contained in this
ordinance, and shall submit documents with the preliminary subdivision
plat assuring the continued common use of all parking or other areas
shown on the preliminary site plan for such uses, which documents shall
be approved by the City Attorney and recorded among the land records of
Fairfax County, Virginia, at the same time the approved subdivision plat
is recorded.
Variance:
Where by reason of exceptional shape or area, exceptional topographic
conditions, conditions created by a condemnation, or other extraordinary
or exceptional situation or condition, wherein the application of any
requirement of this ordinance would result in peculiar and exceptional
practical difficulty or hardship upon the developer or owner of such prop-
erty, the Planning Commission may recommend and the City Council shall have
the power to grant a variance from any requirement of this ordinance so as
to relieve such difficulties or hardships, provided such relief can be
granted without substantially impairing the intent and purpose of this
ordinance. In no case will density or height limitations be varied. The
Board of Zoning Appeals shall have no authority to vary the provisions of
this ordinance.
This ordinance shall take effect immediately upon its passage.
October 10, 1972
Passed:
A t te~st:
0qty Clerk
Mayor
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