Zoning Ordinance Rewrite

June 9, 2023, Update: The Planning Commission and its subcommittees have completed their work in drafting a revised Loudoun County Zoning Ordinance to send to the Board of Supervisors for consideration.

June 2, 2023, Draft Zoning Ordinance Text

That latest version of the draft Zoning Ordinance that included the Planning Commission's work to date was published on June 2, 2023, in the Staff Memorandum for the June 5, 2023, Planning Commission work session.

Read the June 5, 2023 Staff Memo and June 2, 2023 version of the draft Zoning Ordinance (PDF)

The Planning Commission and its subcommittees met for more than 20 work sessions to consider draft regulations and to direct updates to the proposed text.

Review a summary of the Planning Commission's Zoning Ordinance Rewrite schedule and access hyperlinks to meeting documents and videos as of June 9, 2023. (PDF)

The commission completed its work on the evening of June 8, 2023, and voted to forward its recommended draft Zoning Ordinance to the Board of Supervisors. Next, the commission's final recommended Zoning Ordinance text will be prepared and the Board of Supervisors will consider the text at a future public hearing that is expected to be held in the summer of 2023. The Planning Commission's final recommended Zoning Ordinance text will be published on this webpage in advance of the Board of Supervisors' upcoming public hearing. The date of the public hearing will be announced once it is scheduled.

Prior Versions of the Draft Ordinance

May 19, 2023 Draft

A complete version of the draft Zoning Ordinance that included the Planning Commission's work to date was published on May 19, 2023. The commission and its subcommittees have met for more than 20 work sessions to consider draft regulations and to direct updates to the proposed text. The commission continued to revise the draft ordinance in subsequent work sessions.

Read the May 19, 2023 version of the draft Zoning Ordinance

August 2022 and January 2023 Drafts

The Planning Commission published various chapters of the draft text for two public hearings.

August 30, 2022, Public Hearing: The Planning Commission began considering the text in Chapter 7: Development Standards; Chapter 8: Signs; Chapter 10: Nonconformities and Adaptive Reuse; Chapter 11: Procedures; Chapter 12: Officials, Boards and Commissions; and Chapter 13: Definitions and Rules of Interpretation. Since the August 30 public hearing, the nonconformities section of Chapter 10 and the rules of interpretation section of Chapter 13 have been merged into Chapter 1: Introduction. The adaptive reuse section has been relocated to Section 4.09 in Chapter 4: Use-Specific Standards. As a result, Procedures is now Chapter 10; Officials, Boards, and Commissions is Chapter 11; and Definitions is Chapter 12.
January 24, 2023, Public Hearing: The Planning Commission began considering text in Chapter 1: Introduction; Chapter 2: Zoning Districts; Chapter 3: Uses; Chapter 4: Use-Specific Standards; Chapter 5: Overlay Districts; Chapter 6: Natural and Environmental Resources; portions of Chapter 7: Open Space; Chapter 9: Attainable Housing; and the remainder of Chapter 10: Procedures – Additional Requirements.

Since the two public hearings were held, the Planning Commission has continued to review text and direct updates to the text during regular work sessions. The Planning Commission’s work to date is captured in the May 19, 2023 draft Zoning Ordinance, which is linked above. The commission continues to work toward a complete recommended Zoning Ordinance that it will forward to the Board of Supervisors in the summer of 2023 for the Board’s consideration. The Board of Supervisors may further refine the draft Zoning Ordinance text before ultimately voting to adopt a new Zoning Ordinance, which is likely to occur by the end of 2023.

April 18, 2022 Draft

The first draft of proposed Zoning Ordinance text was based on the work of the Zoning Ordinance Committee and published on April 18, 2022. At that time, the county opened a comment period for 90 days.

Read a complete and final report of public comments received through enCodePlus. (PDF).

Following the 90-day comment period, the April 18, 2022, draft text was forwarded to the Planning Commission, which has directed updates to the proposed text during the work sessions listed above. The chapters of subsequent draft Zoning Ordinance text were presented at Planning Commission Public Hearings on August 30, 2022 and January 24, 2023. The Planning Commission continues to work toward a final recommended draft Zoning Ordinance that the Planning Commission is currently scheduled to deliver to the Board of Supervisors in summer 2023.

Stay Informed About This Project

Meeting Documents, Videos and Schedules

Review Planning Commission meeting agendas and documents.
View live and archived video of meetings.
View all public meetings on the county's calendar.

Provide Comments on the Draft Zoning Ordinance

Members of the public may provide input about the proposed changes to the Zoning Ordinance at any time by submitting this online comment form or by calling 703-777-0246.

Contact Us

For questions about the Zoning Ordinance Rewrite project, email Planning and Zoning or call 703-777-0246.