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What are Resource Protection Areas?
In 1993, the Board of Supervisors enacted a Chesapeake
Bay Preservation Ordinance which regulates the kinds of
development that can occur in sensitive areas along streams
that drain into the Potomac River and eventually into the Chesapeake
bay. These are known as Resource Protection Areas or RPAs.
RPAs are the corridors of environmentally sensitive land that
lie alongside or near the shorelines of streams, rivers and
other waterways. In their natural condition, RPAs protect water
quality, filter pollutants out of stormwater runoff, reduce
the volume of stormwater runoff, prevent erosion and perform
other important biological and ecological functions. RPAs include
any land characterized by one or more of the following features:
1. a tidal wetland
2. a tidal shore
3. a water body with perennial flow
4. a nontidal wetland connected by surface flow and contiguous
to a tidal wetland or water body with perennial flow
5. a buffer area that includes any land within a major floodplain
or any land within 100 feet of a feature listed in 1-4.
Are fences allowed in Resource Protection Areas?
Fences are permitted in an RPA without
an exception or waiver subject to compliance with certain
design
requirements that collectively maintain the functional value
of the buffer. Fences should be designed so that they do not
inhibit or alter surface flow (i.e., water must be able to
flow under and through the fence unimpeded so that sheet flow
conditions
are maintained), and vegetation may only be removed to provide
for the actual placement of the fence. Where vegetation is
removed
it must be replaced with other native vegetation that is equally
effective in retarding runoff, preventing erosion and filtering
nonpoint source pollution from runoff. Fences should be located
to avoid the removal of trees. If the fence were to be placed
in an area that was an existing maintained lawn, the revegetation
requirement would not be applicable. For further information,
please contact the Land Development Services at 703-324-1720,
TTY 711.
Are sheds allowed in Resource Protection Areas?
The administrative waiver available for
minor additions is not available for construction of detached
accessory structures such as sheds. Accessory structures are specifically
prohibited in the state regulations from consideration as minor
additions. However, the construction of small sheds that do not
require a building permit (the current limit under the Virginia
Uniform Statewide Building Code is 150 square feet of building
area) constructed over existing maintained grass lawns can be
considered to be an inconsequential modification to an existing
use and may be permitted. As a general rule, sheds should only
be located in RPAs when there are no reasonable alternatives for
locating the shed outside of the RPA. Sheds should be designed
so that they do not inhibit or alter surface flow. Locating a
shed in an undisturbed RPA area is more problematic because there
would normally be at least some other place on the lot that the
shed could be located without encroaching into the undisturbed
area of the RPA and should be discussed with county staff. The
construction of multiple small sheds in the RPA also is problematic
and should be discussed with county staff.
Are decks allowed in Resource Protection Areas?
Decks are treated as minor additions
under the ordinance and therefore
are permitted subject to an administrative waiver process.
The administrative
waiver process is available only for minor additions to homes
constructed prior to the original effective date of the ordinance,
July 1, 1993, for existing and new RPAs and homes constructed
prior to the effective date of the amendments for newly designated
RPAs. For further information, please contact Land Development
Services at 703-324-1720, TTY 711.
How can I get a map that shows the outline of an RPA on any county parcel?
Go the the County's Digital Map Viewer and
choose the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Areas map.
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