Keeping intersections safe and passable is important whether you are walking, riding, or driving. The sight distance area is one way the County’s zoning rules seek to support transportation safety.

...These before and after pictures show how a tree was at one time blocking view of a stop sign and possibly oncoming traffic. The Department of Code Compliance worked with the homeowner to make the intersection safer....

Sight Distance Area - If you read past Code Compliance Corners, you may remember that the zoning rules are more restrictive in front yards. Certain accessory structures such as fences and vegetation like bushes and shrubs are permitted in a front yard. However, on a corner lot, in addition to having two or more front yards, rules for sight distance also apply.

The sight distance area is near the intersection and, from a bird’s eye view, its shape is often triangular. A house location survey (plat) won’t depict sight distance area, but using a plat along with the Department of Code Compliance (DCC) Sight Distance Flyer may help with trying to delineate the sight distance area for a property. The flyer also mentions how delineations may differ based on a corner lot's interior angle.

Regarding fences in the sight distance area of a corner lot, the maximum permitted fence height is three and one-half (3.5) feet in height. The only way to avoid having to reduce fence height to 3.5 feet in the sight distance area is not to build in that area. Installing a fence so it stays outside the sight distance area allows all front yard fencing to be built to the standard maximum permitted height. However, most properties are still limited to a maximum permitted fence height of four feet in the front yard (only six inches of additional height).

While most vegetation in the sight distance area must comply with the same maximum permitted height of 3.5 feet, tree trunks are different. A tree trunk not exceeding one foot in diameter, in and of itself, is exempt. Tree branches and foliage must be trimmed high-enough to maintain a clear area of at least 10 feet tall measured from the road surface. The goal is to provide the traveling public with clear sight-lines around the most key area – near the intersection and between 3.5 feet and ten feet on the vertical plane.

DCC is here to help – if you have questions, want to make a report, or if you are the subject of enforcement and need to contact us. You can report problems online, learn about what happens during an investigation, reach us via email, phone (703-324-1300 / TTY 711), or visit us in person at 12055 Government Center Parkway, Suite 1016, Fairfax, VA 22035.