June 24, 2024
REMINDER: Land Development Fee Changes Effective July 1, 2024
Land Development Services fee changes effective on July 1, 2024. The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved proposed fee adjustments from Land Development Services (LDS) on April 16, 2024, marking the first significant update since 2015. The new fees will better align with the current costs of providing land development services, which have risen due to increased personnel costs and other inflation-related factors.
Building fees (excluding vertical transportation) will experience a 12.5% increase on July 1, 2024. Site-related fees will increase by 5%. A technology surcharge fee that is normally 4% will increase to 7%. There will also be a new code academy surcharge fee of 1% applied to all building records. New fees will also be introduced for pedestrian bridges and minor revisions to site-related plans. See the infographic below for more details on all the fee changes.
All fee changes will apply only to applications submitted after July 1, 2024. Applications filed before these dates will be subject to the fees that were in place at the time of filing. Read more about these changes. To see the amended fees policy document, review Appendix Q.
For more information about residential fast-track projects, visit the Fast Track Building Plan Review webpage.
December 26, 2024
This notice provides an update to our October 14, 2024, notice to industry on the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality's (DEQ's) two amendments to the Erosion and Stormwater Management (VESM) Regulation [9VAC25-875], which is the regulation governing the county's Erosion and Stormwater Management Ordinance (Ch. 124.1).
The first set of amendments was published in the Virginia Register of Regulations on October 7, 2024. The original amendment is described by DEQ as correcting technical errors that will improve clarity and certainty by making the VESM Regulation internally consistent, removing outdated requirements, and accurately reflecting requirements in the State Water Control Law. When it is republished, we expect there will be changes to the original proposed amendment. The original amendment and the comments can be viewed on the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall at: https://www.townhall.virginia.gov/L/ViewStage.cfm?stageid=10407.
The second set of amendments is scheduled to be published in the Virginia Register of Regulations on December 30, 2024, for a 30-day comment period. The amendments are described by DEQ as amending the VESM Regulation to update sections and requirements that are out of date and burdensome to the regulated community because they do not reflect current practices, technology, or data about land use and nutrient loading. The proposed amendments impact the design of development plans by reducing the allowable phosphorus load from new development to 0.26 pounds/acre/year from the current 0.41 pounds/acre/year, require use of the new Virginia Runoff Reduction Method (VRRM) Version 4.1 spreadsheet to compute the phosphorus load, and require use of updated nonproprietary Best Management Practices (BMP) design standards contained in the Virginia Stormwater Management Handbook. The proposed effective date is July 1, 2025.
You may comment on the amendments in a Town Hall comment forum as soon as they are published in the Virginia Register of Regulations. If you sign up for the Town Hall email notification service, you will be notified when the comment forum opens.
If you have any questions, please contact John Friedman, P.E. with the Site Code Research and Development Branch at 703-324-1773, TTY 711.
December 16, 2024
As detailed in Technical Bulletins 23-07 and 24-2, the 2021 Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code (USBC) became effective January 18, 2024, which replaced the 2018 USBC. The one year grace period, which allows the use of technical provisions of the 2018 USBC, expires on January 17, 2025. All building permit applications submitted after January 17, 2025, must comply with the 2021 USBC.
If you have any residential code change questions, please contact Kyle Kratzer in the Building Division at 703-324-1516, TTY 711. If you have any commercial code change questions, please contact Maryia Lackansingh in the Building Division at 703-324-2655, TTY 711.