Land Development Services

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. LDS was directed to increase fees over a two-year period starting on July 1, 2024. The full amount of fees set forth in the Staff Report dated March 5, 2024, will be effective July 1, 2025. 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, 2025. Site-related fees will increase by 5%. A technology surcharge fee will rise from 7% to 10%. The code academy surcharge fee will increase by 1% and be applied to all building records. The fees for pedestrian bridges and minor revisions to site-related plans will also increase. See the infographic below for more details on all the fee changes. All fee changes will apply only to applications submitted after July 1, 2025. Applications filed before these dates will be subject to the fees that were in place at the time of filing. See the amended fees policy document Appendix Q, and see details about zoning fee schedule changes.  

The Governor of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin, recently signed house bill (HB) 2660 which affects plan review times at various stages of submittal. Beginning July 1, 2025, some review times will change to comply with this new state mandate. Site Development and Inspections Division (SDID) has taken this opportunity to comprehensively assess all review deadlines assigned for various site record types and made updates for consistency, simplification and to comply with HB 2660. SDID welcomes your comments and input on the review time changes presented in the table below and the draft first submission policy. Please email any comments to LDS SDID Admin by May 28, 2025. We will also hold a virtual community forum for questions and input on Wednesday May 28, 2025, from 10 a.m.-11 a.m. using the link below: Microsoft Teams Join the meeting now Meeting ID: 277 120 697 073 Passcode: DT7Ze3kr Dial in by phone +1 571-429-5982,631861062# United States, Washington Phone conference ID: 631 861 062# We have adopted a tiered approach to simplify review times for various records. Below is a summary of the review times that will apply to new applications submitted on or after July 1, 2025. All days are calendar days unless noted otherwise. Target Review Time(9)(10) Review cycle Tier 1(1)(6) Tier 2(2)(7) Tier 3(3)(8) Tier 4(4) SP, SD, PI, MSP RPA, RGP, DS, SFP, RP, PKS, WAIV, WQIA, SWOD, FDOT, SR, Revisions to Tier 1 plans INF, CON, RGP, BATH, FPUD, EP, SAB, SAN, SIP, SR, Revisions to Tier 2 plans SDGP, SPGP, Revisions to Tier 3 plans 1st Review Cycle 40 30 21 14 1st and 2nd resubmissions (2nd and 3rd review cycles) 30(5) 21 14 14 3rd resubmission (4th review cycle) and beyond 14 14 14 14 Tier 1 plan includes: Site Plans (SP), Subdivision Plans (SD), Public Improvement Plans (PI), and Minor Site Plan (MSP). Tier 2 plan includes: Resource Protection Area Plans (RPA), Rough Grading Plans (RGP major), Drainage Study (DS), Floodplain Study (SFP), Record Plat (RP), Parking Studies (PKS), Waivers (WAIV), Water Quality Impact Assessment (WQIA), Stormwater Management Determination (SWOD), Fairfax County Department of Transportation Plans (FDOT), Soils Report (SR) associated with Site Plan, Subdivision Plan, and Public Improvement Plan. Tier 3 Plan includes: Infill Lot Grading Plans (INF), Conservation Plans (CON), Rough Grading Plans (RGP minor), Bathymetrical Survey (BATH), Floodplain Use Determination (FPUD), Easement Plat (EP), Site As-Built (SAB), Site Sanitary As-Built (SAN), Sports Illumination Plans (SIP), Soils Report (SR) associated with INF plans. Tier 4 Plan includes: Subdivision Grading Plan (SDGP), Site Grading Plan (SPGP) For Designated Plan Examiner (DPE) plans, the review time for the 2nd review cycle remains either 28 or 14 days, as determined during the Post Submission Conference. Review time for revisions to Tier 1 plans will align with review time of Tier 2 plans. Review time for revisions to Tier 2 plans will align with review time of Tier 3 plans. Review time for revisions to Tier 3 plans will align with review time of Tier 4 plans. When Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is distributed, the review time for SDID will be manually adjusted to 35 days to include 30 days for VDOT review and 5 days for coordination. Signature submissions will continue to be reviewed within 5 business days.   First Submission Policy First submissions are considered “officially submitted” when a minimum submission review (MSR), Gateway Review, or Engineers and Surveyors Institute (ESI) Review has been accepted (when required), and the plan has passed pre-screen review via the Application Submittal task in the Planning and Land Use System (PLUS). Subsequent submissions are considered “officially submitted” as resubmissions if the scope of the resubmission is equivalent to the prior submission that was reviewed, and if all review comments have been addressed satisfactorily. If substantive changes to the project scope have been made, or design concepts have been significantly changed, the resubmission will be handled as a first submission, subject to Director approval. First submissions will be subject to a new application, first submission fees, and first submission review times. If more than two years have lapsed since a previous review was completed, the resubmission will be considered a first submission, subject to a new application, first submission fees, and first submission review times. Plan revisions that significantly change the scope of the project, necessitating a completely new plan review, shall be submitted as a new plan, subject to Director approval. First submissions are subject to the regulations and policies in effect at the time of submission.