Fairfax County regulates off-street parking on residential and non-residential sites to ensure that adequate parking is available. This is done primarily through the Zoning Ordinance regulations and the Public Facilities Manual as development plans are approved. Parking studies may contain a request to reduce parking below code requirements for the designated use or include a parking redesignation plan when parking spaces are added, eliminated or rearranged, and changes do not require submission of a site plan or minor site plan. Compliance with county parking requirements must be demonstrated using the county Parking Tabulation Form and a plan depicting the parking layout. A separate PKS is not required if parking elements are already shown on a site-related plan under review.
New to the process? For more information on Fairfax County's parking requirements, visit our LDS Off-Street Parking webpage.
ON THIS PAGE
This information is the most common for how to obtain the necessary approval for your project and is not representative of all the conditions you may encounter.
WHO SHOULD APPLY?
Property owners or their duly authorized agents may submit a parking study, however, the study itself must be prepared and certified by a professional engineer licensed by the Commonwealth of Virginia and meeting the respective code requirements.
PLAN AHEAD
Before submitting, ensure you are aware of all applicable regulations and conditions that could affect your project to avoid surprises during the review process. Some of those factors include:
- Zoning Information
- Design Codes and Standards
- Do I Need to Hire a Design Professional?
- Floodplains
- Resource Protection Areas (RPA)
- Grading/Site Plans
- Parking Tabulation
- Types of Soils and Problem Soils
- Researching Site Conditions
To get a detailed description about each regulation and condition, visit our Plan Ahead page.
HOW DO I SUBMIT MY RECORD?
PLUS Application
Apply for your parking study online in PLUS under the Site tab. If you are a first-time user, you must first register for an account.
Submission Guidelines
Visit our Site-Related Submission Guidelines page for information on how to submit your plan, including strongly encouraged naming conventions.
Tutorial on Uploading Plans and Documents in PLUS
Helpful Instruction Guide:
Requirements
Depending on the scope of your project, one or more of the following may be required:
First Submissions:
- Parking Tabulation Form – complete and upload with your PLUS record.
- Parking Redesignation Review Checklist – when applicable, any proposal to redesignate parking space delineations which change the existing parking space size, configuration or number of spaces.
- Zoning applications – when applicable, any associated zoning applications must be referenced in the Plan Approval Information block on the coversheet and listed as a related record in PLUS.
- Review fee
Subsequent Submissions:
- Digital signature - verifiable digital signature of the licensed design professional
- Applicant responses - enter responses to all open issues in the PLUS Digital Plan Room
- Review fee
Helpful Videos:
Upload Corrected Plans - YouTube
Helpful Instruction Guides:
What's Next?
To get a step-by-step guide on PLUS statuses and what they mean, see our What is My PLUS Status? Site Plans Infographic.
Review Process
Staff from the Site Application Center and Site Development and Inspections Division will review your package for completeness and compliance with applicable codes and county ordinances. You will be notified of any deficiencies. Plan corrections, resubmission fees and additional supporting documents may be required.
- Queue times
- Fees
- Common plan comments for site review
- Workflow Routing Slip to track review and plan assignment
For a detailed summary of application progress, to include the name(s) of assigned review staff, click on “Reports” in the top-right corner of the PLUS screen, when you are in a specific record, and select “Workflow Routing Slip Report.”
Issuance of County Decision
Staff will notify the applicant when the study reaches final action, and an approval or disapproval letter will be made available to the applicant via PLUS, under the Attachments folder.
Helpful Video:
Approved Plans - YouTube Video
