Change in zoning Fairfax County

[Anonymous]

I have my house built in 1967 and zoned as R-2C in my neighborhood without HOA. It is the biggest lot in the neighborhood with 0.43 acres where houses are in 0.2 to 0.25 acres. I am looking to get it zoned differently so that 2 houses could be made on the lot if I demolish my current house and make both of the news ones from scratch. What are my options here and where should I start? Is there a lawyer that could help me with this?

[Anonymous]

You want to subdivide your lot and have it re-platted. You will need a local land use attorney to help you navigate that process.

[Anonymous]

We have the opposite problem: my town has many old houses built across two (or more) lots. We can't get a demo permit without replatting as a single lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You want to subdivide your lot and have it re-platted. You will need a local land use attorney to help you navigate that process.

Yes, this is what I am planning to do. Is this an easy process or pretty regular? Have seen a lot of builders doing it. A recommendation of an attorney in FFX that could handle this kind of work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You want to subdivide your lot and have it re-platted. You will need a local land use attorney to help you navigate that process.

Yes, this is what I am planning to do. Is this an easy process or pretty regular? Have seen a lot of builders doing it. A recommendation of an attorney in FFX that could handle this kind of work?

You need to talk to a land use engineer, like R.C. Fields, before you talk to a lawyer. If it is feasible, you then get a lawyer to do a spot re-zoning of the property. You might also have to remove the property from the HOA. This will take time and money.

[Anonymous]

If I were you, I’d have some detailed plans about the new houses drawn up before moving forward with subdividing the lot. There are numerous considerations to take into account — not the least of which are setback requirements.

The county will be difficult to work with — to say the least. Get an experienced attorney to assist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You want to subdivide your lot and have it re-platted. You will need a local land use attorney to help you navigate that process.

Yes, this is what I am planning to do. Is this an easy process or pretty regular? Have seen a lot of builders doing it. A recommendation of an attorney in FFX that could handle this kind of work?

You need to talk to a land use engineer, like R.C. Fields, before you talk to a lawyer. If it is feasible, you then get a lawyer to do a spot re-zoning of the property. You might also have to remove the property from the HOA. This will take time and money.

Ok, this is great advice. Will start from engineer. BTW, there is no HOA and the neighborhood was made in late 60s.

[Anonymous]

The first thing you need to do is call the planning and zoning office. Ask for the Engineer of the Day - who is the person assigned to answer questions, etc. It will help if you search your property in advance and have your map number, etc handy for them.

They will give you some decent advice as a starting point and you should definitely do that before hiring an engineer. If you can achieve what you want to do through a simple subdivision, a lot line adjustment, or something short of a full subdivision, you will have a chance at making it work. If you can't, between attorneys, engineers and time, this will be a slow and expensive process

[Anonymous]

Cant be done. You will realize after spending $$ with the engineer and attorneys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cant be done. You will realize after spending $$ with the engineer and attorneys.

Why not?

[Anonymous]

County isn't going to rezone your property if the rest of the neighborhood is R2C.

They're also not going to let you subdivide. Based on info you've provided, not a "by right" situation.

If your lot was subdividable, you would get letters from builders on a weekly basis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:County isn't going to rezone your property if the rest of the neighborhood is R2C.

They're also not going to let you subdivide. Based on info you've provided, not a "by right" situation.

If your lot was subdividable, you would get letters from builders on a weekly basis.

If the lots will still meet zoning, why wouldn't Fairfax let you partition?

[Anonymous]

You said that your lot is .43 acres.

That's less than 19K square feet.

Look up fairfax zoning ordinance. R2 requires minimum lot size of 18,000. R2C allows for as little as 13,000. You're nowhere near any of those minimums.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for the advice. I have been looking at zoning in my neighborhood and found that a few of them are also R-3 which is strange. My neighborhood doesn't have HOA and have more than 17K houses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I were you, I’d have some detailed plans about the new houses drawn up before moving forward with subdividing the lot. There are numerous considerations to take into account — not the least of which are setback requirements.

The county will be difficult to work with — to say the least. Get an experienced attorney to assist.

Op here, I could do that but getting the plans done is not cheap. I am ready to spend money if I know that this would be successful.