Our Community in Fairfax County, Virginia
If you have access to the Internet, you can easily find out where to call in Fairfax County about blight, noise, yard junk, and other neighborhood nuisances. The URL is http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dpwes/environmental/neighborhood.htm. The site is organized to provide useful information and current contact information on a variety of issues:
At our February 2005 General Meeting, our guest speaker was Roger Sims, a supervising field inspector for Mason and Providence Districts. He supervises four zoning inspectors where we live in Mason District, and two more in Providence. Our district has the heaviest workload for zoning enforcement of all the districts in the county, and thus the most inspectors of all.
In 2004, his inspectors handled 66 complaints in Westlawn and Broyhill Park, with only 10 outstanding, which is an excellent record. In order to have more effective zoning enforcement, Fairfax County prosecutes zoning violation cases under civil law. Civil law allows for much greater financial penalties than criminal law. Civil law gives the county the options of pursuing consent decrees, default decrees, and judgments against zoning ordinance violators.
An obstinate violator can keep their property in violation for over a year if they play the system right, but eventually they will have to comply.
You can now search Fairfax County's Web site for information on building permits at or near a given address. Just go to http://ldsnet.fairfaxcounty.gov/ldsnet/GIS_Address.aspx and enter an address. Since Virginia state law no longer requires homeowners to place building permits in their windows, this database is the fastest way to find out if your neighbors have a permit to build whatever you see them building. Keep in mind that people sometimes get a permit to do one thing and decide on their own to do something else!
With all the crowding into homes of multiple families, some homeowners make the mistake of creating a second, separate dwelling unit in their basement. The law is clear. There can be no second kitchen in a single dwelling unit. If this violation occurs, the homeowner will have to remove the kitchen and all gas and electric lines all the way back to their connectors.
Similarly, homeowners cannot remove basement stairs to create a basement apartment with no access to the house. This is a fire hazard in addition to a zoning violation.
The Office of Zoning Enforcement operates on a complaint basis. Last year, 16 inspectors responded to 2,630 zoning complaints in addition to about 1,000 complaints regarding sign permits. We are the eyes and ears of our neighborhood. If someone appears to be in violation of the county's zoning ordinance, the county relies on us to report suspicious activity to their attention.
The state of Virginia is trying to help by passing legislation to keep our residential neighborhoods as residential as possible. Lawmakers recently passed a law to prohibit lawn-care vehicles from parking overnight on crowded residential streets. A new law is under consideration to further restrict commercial vehicles in residential areas, especially on narrow, substandard roads like those in Westlawn.
An ongoing issue of controversy involves the county's authority to grant variances to homeowners who want to build home additions closer to their property line or front yard fences taller than the law allows. In the past, the county had a process that resulted in exemptions for many homeowners. The state supreme court has ruled that the law is the law, and variances are no longer available unless the home is otherwise unusable.
The court's view is that when homeowners buy a home, they expect that their neighbors will live by the constraints of the zoning laws, and that granting variances to individual homeowners undermines the law, regardless of how reasonable the requests may be. The county is debating whether to change the zoning ordinance to allow the county to continue to grant variances like it had before, or some lesser alternative. Stay tuned!
On 20 November 2003, the Fairfax County Zoning Administration filed a bill of complaint against the owners of the property located at 7015 Arlington Blvd, according to public records. The complaint notes that the county issued a notice of violation on 3 January 2001 against the owners for converting the house into offices for a cleaning service and a moving business and for storing cleaning supplies and equipment. Nobody was residing at the residence. The owners did not appeal this notice of violation.
Zoning inspections throughout 2003 revealed that the violations had not been cleared. The recent bill of complaint asks the court to issue an injunction against the owners to cease using the property as offices and to restore the residential use of the property and, if the cleaning business continues to operate, that it be operated under the Home Occupancy Permit in strict compliance with zoning regulations; and to either remove outdoor storage from the property or relocate it to the rear half of the property, screen it from the view from the first story window of any neighboring dwelling, and limit it to a total area not to exceed 100 square feet.
If the court finds in favor of the county, the homeowners face criminal charges if they fail to bring the property into compliance and if it ever goes out of compliance in the future.
Fairfax County has adopted regulations to promote public health, safety and welfare. Many of the topics noted below are intended to help maintain the quality of life in our neighborhood. The Zoning Enforcement Branch of the Department of Planning and Zoning is responsible for addressing the issues listed below. You may call them at (703) 324-1300 or fill out an online form.
If you are affected by one of these problems and wish to register a complaint, please call and report it. When calling in your complaint, be prepared to give your name, address, phone number, and the best time to contact you. Complainant's names are kept confidential.
The county prefers that people call in complaints that directly affect themselves, rather than calling in a complaint on behalf of someone else. Upon receipt of a complaint, staff is supposed to:
Alleged violations of the Fairfax County Zoning Ordinance may be reported directly to the Zoning Enforcement Branch of the Department of Planning and Zoning in one of three ways:
County residents are allowed to hold only two yards sales a year at their home. Also, residents are limited to selling items not specifically purchased for resale.
To register a complaint with the Zoning Enforcement Branch, call 703-324-1300 or contact http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dpz/ecomplaints/ and fill out the online form.
Here in Westlawn we don't have rules that restrict what you can do on your property like they do in many new neighborhoods. But, there are laws governing what you can and can't do on your property. Unfortunately these laws are quite complex and could never be listed in their entirety here in this newsletter. In general, though, when you are adding to your home, i.e., a new room, a garage, a basement, etc.; or if you are building a wall that is higher than 2 feet tall; or a large shed in your backyard; you are required a apply for a building permit and to comply with the zoning regulations that apply to your neighborhood. If you choose to ignore this requirement, and a neighbor makes a complaint, you could be forced to tear it all down.
You can call Edythe Frankel at Supervisor Penny Gross's office at 256-7717 if you need information about zoning rules and requirements. You also should check out Fairfax County's Department of Environmental Management Home Page for a variety of useful information and phone numbers.
If you have a complaint or suspicions about a neighbor's building project, such as unlicensed contractors or work without permits, first call the Fairfax County Permit Office at (703) 222-0801 to see if a permit is even required for the ongoing work. If a permit is needed, then call the Department of Environmental Management at (703) 324-1937. They will check to see if a permit is on file and send a notice to the homeowner if it is not. Failure to comply with the notice could lead to court action. You can make anonymous complaints, but you must leave your name if you want to get updates on what happened with your complaint.
At the February 1995 Westlawn Civic Association meeting a number of zoning questions were raised. The discussion topic was the abundance of (operable and inoperable) cars and other commercial vehicles in the Westlawn area and their effect on the community.
Fairfax County requires specific storage for inoperable vehicles.
As you know, there are strict laws governing residential use in Fairfax County. In the context of the questions that were raised at the meeting, some of the extra cars in the neighborhood could be due to several people sharing a house and/or to home businesses.
Only four unrelated people are allowed to live in one home and one commercial vehicle is permitted per unit (subject to the provisions of Sect. 102). If these laws are being violated, Zoning Enforcement can be called at 324-1300.
There are no zoning regulations limiting the number of relatives that can live at a residence. However, Health Department regulations requires at least 50 square feet of sleeping space per person. Before calling the Health Department at (703) 246-2300, keep in mind that some homes have more sleeping area than you might realize, and the regulation applies to residents, not visitors.
There are a number of ways to access zoning information. You can go to any Fairfax County Public Library and look at the Zoning Ordinance of the County of Fairfax, VA. The Zoning Office can be called at 222-1082 (General Information) or visited in person.