On Sept. 10, 2024, the Fairfax County, Virginia Board of Supervisors approved a zoning ordinance amendment that creates new restrictions for data centers. The amended ordinance permits by-right data center development in...more
Demand for data center development opportunities remains at unprecedented levels across Virginia. But how the industry is regulated by Virginia’s diverse cities and counties is not uniform....more
On July 31, 2024, Arlington County previewed upcoming policy changes for adaptive reuse projects. The county’s current intent is to limit the policy to projects that change the principal use (such as office to residential)...more
Loudoun County, Va., joins a growing number of northern Virginia jurisdictions taking affirmative steps to restrict data center development. As the first part of a two-phase process, the board of supervisors voted to advance...more
On June 6, 2024, the Fairfax County, Virginia Planning Commission recommended approval of zoning ordinance amendments that will create new restrictions for data centers. The proposed ordinance will permit by-right data center...more
Fairfax County, Virginia, recently released draft zoning ordinance text amendments to provide new regulations for data centers within the county. A link to the draft zoning ordinance amendments may be found here....more
On April 20, 2024, the Arlington County Board considered several policy changes designed to address the rising office vacancy rate in the county. The board’s attempts are part of the county’s efforts to revitalize the...more
Following a recent planning study, Fairfax County has seated a task force to begin re-writing the comprehensive plan for Centreville, Virginia. The updated comprehensive plan will guide any necessary or desired zoning and...more
On March 19, 2024, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors directed Department of Planning and Development staff to update the county zoning ordinance with additional regulatory guidance for data center development. It is...more
Over the past year, local governments in Northern Virginia — including Fairfax County, Fauquier County, Caroline County and Spotsylvania County — have taken steps to enact, or begin the process of enacting, new and generally...more
Arlington County Manager Mark Schwartz announced on Jan. 23, 2024, that Arlington County will draft and potentially adopt office conversion regulations in the first half of 2024....more
Fairfax County, Virginia, recently released updated recommendations for data center development in the county, including potential changes to the comprehensive plan and zoning ordinance standards for data center development....more
The Fauquier County Board of Supervisors adopted guidelines to control new data center developments on Dec. 14, 2023. The policy is the product of collaboration between the county’s planning staff and a committee that met in...more
On Nov. 11, 2023, the Arlington County Board adopted Plan Langston Boulevard (PLB) after a nearly five-year planning process. PLB establishes long-term planning guidelines for the Langston Boulevard corridor, and includes...more
On Oct. 26, 2023, Arlington County released the final version of Plan Langston Boulevard (PLB) and scheduled public hearings for potential adoption in November. The final plan, which incorporates a few changes to certain land...more
The growing demand for data center space in Virginia increasingly has led the industry to locations outside northern Virginia. As a result, many central Virginia jurisdictions recently revised their planning and zoning...more
Like many Virginia jurisdictions, Fairfax County is reevaluating how it regulates data centers. As part of the zMOD readoption, the Board of Supervisors authorized an evaluation of Fairfax County’s comprehensive plan and...more
As described in more detail in McGuireWoods’ June 20, 2023, alert, Fairfax County, Virginia, continues to propose major changes to its sign approval process that will add another public hearing and impose new requirements for...more
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors adopted “Parking Reimagined” on Sept. 26, 2023.
The adopted ordinance includes significant parking reductions for commercial and multifamily uses, although the final multifamily...more
Fairfax County, Virginia’s Parking Reimagined project moved closer to adoption after the Fairfax County Planning Commission voted Sept. 13, 2023, to recommend approval to the Board of Supervisors....more
The Board of Supervisors of Fairfax County, Virginia, will hold a public hearing at its Sept. 26, 2023, meeting to consider the adoption of Affordable Housing Preservation Administrative Guidelines. Consistent with previously...more
On July 11, 2023, the Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors approved amendments to the county’s comprehensive plan to incorporate long-term planning goals for data center uses....more
As highlighted in McGuireWoods’ May 10, 2023, alert, Fairfax County is undertaking a review of its data center regulations. On July 18, 2023, the Fairfax County Land Use Policy Committee added data centers to the FY 2024...more
On June 20, 2023, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted 5-4 to allocate $90,000 and to direct staff to start the process to amend the comprehensive plan and maps to reflect direction from earlier this year related...more
After several years of planning and community outreach, Arlington County, Virginia, released the draft Langston Boulevard Area Plan on June 23, 2023....more