Creating Development Opportunities in Fairfax County, Virginia

Fairfax County, Virginia, has officially launched its next round of the Site-Specific Plan Amendment (SSPA) cycle by releasing the 2025 Nominator Guide. The SSPA process – which will begin on Jan. 13, 2025 – offers a unique opportunity to propose amendments to the county's Comprehensive Plan for a specific property or assemblage. Successful nominations will be incorporated into the county's Comprehensive Plan Amendment Work Program, which will allow the proposal to continue to advance through the rezoning process.

Fairfax County created this biennial process as an initiative to enable the community, property owners and developers to enhance property value, respond to shifting market dynamics and establish more favorable design and placemaking parameters.

The SSPA Process

The SSPA process is broken into three distinct phases:

1. Nomination Phase (Jan. 13, 2025, to Feb. 13, 2025). Nominations for sites that meet the eligibility requirements (described below) may submit their proposals for redevelopment to the Department of Planning & Development during the Nomination Phase. The Nomination Phase is open for only one month, and it is likely that this process will not reopen for at least two years. It is anticipated that the Board of Supervisors will take action to accept or reject the nominations into the Screening Phase in March 2025.
2. Screening Phase (March 2025 to April 2025). The Screening Phase will determine which nominations should advance for further analysis on the Comprehensive Plan Amendment Work Program. Community engagement during the Screening Phase will consist of community meetings involving staff and nominator presentations, along with community discussion. Community meetings are anticipated to take place between March 2025 and April 2025. The Planning Commission will hold a public workshop on the nominations where staff and the nominators will present the submissions, and the public will have a chance to comment. Following this workshop, the Planning Commission will make a recommendation on which nominations should be included in Comprehensive Plan Amendment Work Program. The Comprehensive Plan Amendment Work Program will be tiered based on county
3. 2025 Comprehensive Plan Amendment Work Program. Evaluation of Comprehensive Plan Amendments will follow the Board of Supervisors' adoption of the Work Program. The timeline for processing these Plan Amendments will vary depending on the amendment's complexity, county staff resources and assigned tier.

Site Eligibility Requirements

Nominations are generally eligible for most parts of the county unless they include one or more of the following exclusions:

• Nominations are ineligible if they involve land areas subject to any pending Comprehensive Plan Amendment or those included in any amendment adopted in the past two years (i.e., since Feb. 13, 2023).
• Proposals affecting countywide policy or systems – such as the transportation network, trail and bicycle plan, parks or public facilities – are also ineligible.
• Multiple proposals on the same land area from the same nominator are not allowed.

Submission Requirements

1. nominator and property owner information
2. property information
3. property map
4. vulnerability index map
5. existing plan and proposed change
6. statement of justification
7. study acknowledgements
8. illustrative concept plan

Looking Ahead

Nominations with near-term development prospects that clearly meet the justification criteria may be prioritized. Given that the next SSPA process will not be available for at least another two years, this presents a significant opportunity to reimagine land use and redevelopment concepts. Accepted proposals will add tremendous value, optionality and flexibility to respond to changing market conditions.

Holland & Knight's D.C. and Northern Virginia Land Use Team has successfully navigated nominations through this process during previous cycles. Please reach out to the team to discuss whether this process can help further your development goals, as well as for assistance in preparing a successful nomination strategy. 

Information contained in this alert is for the general education and knowledge of our readers. It is not designed to be, and should not be used as, the sole source of information when analyzing and resolving a legal problem, and it should not be substituted for legal advice, which relies on a specific factual analysis. Moreover, the laws of each jurisdiction are different and are constantly changing. This information is not intended to create, and receipt of it does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship. If you have specific questions regarding a particular fact situation, we urge you to consult the authors of this publication, your Holland & Knight representative or other competent legal counsel.