In order to speed up plan approvals, gain consistency, and increase predictability, Fairfax County Office of the Fire Marshal (OFM) Plan Reviewers have generated a Plan Review Submission Checklist - Commercial. All Commercial building plans submitted to Land Development Services’ (LDS) Building Division for building permit that meet the following criteria will be required to have this checklist completed by the Registered Design Professional in Responsible Charge (RDP) :
- New building
- Building with additions over 1,000 sq ft
- Change of use with area equal to or greater than 5,000 sq ft
- Level 3 Alteration as defined in Virginia Existing Building Code (VEBC)
- When required by the Office of the Fire Marshal staff upon resubmission
Effective, September 7, 2020, all plans meeting the above criteria must submit completed checklist with their submissions. OFM highly encourages designers to begin utilizing this checklist for in-house Quality Control as soon as possible. Plans without completed checklist will not be reviewed by OFM staff after the effective date until the completed checklist is submitted.
The goal of the checklist is to help improve the quality of plans submitted which will result in higher APPROVAL rates and QUICKER review times. Note, this document does not serve as a substitution for compliance with the Codes and County Ordinances. Where conflict occurs, the latter takes precedence.
The checklist can be found on the previous page (Engineering Plans Review), under Additional Resources, titled Plan Review Submission Checklist - Commercial.
The Office of Fire Marshal welcome comments and suggestions to improve future editions of this document. Please email fire.engplansreview@fairfaxcounty.gov.