July 9, 2026 PC Land Use Process Review Committee - Jul 09, 2026

meeting

Fairfax County Planning Commission 1h 19m 1 speaker 8 agenda items transcribed 1 day ago official recording ↗

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What are the opening introductions and agenda for the Land Use Process Review Committee meeting?

Unknown 0:02

All righty, welcome. I'm calling this meeting to order. This is the land use process review committee And we will just kick this right off. We can do quick introductions around the room We will start with our commissioners. Thank you. Mr. Jim Sargent at-large Mary Mary Cortina Braddock district Candace Bennett at-large Evelyn Spain Sully district

Jeremy Hancock 0:30

Jeremy Hancock, Providence.

Phil Malin 0:31

And Phil Nadelcy-Yankner, At-Large.

Carmen Bishop 0:37

Oh, I didn't know if I was supposed to. Carmen Bishop, Zoning Administration Division. Casey Judge, Zoning Administration Division.

Phil Malin 0:45

Phil Malin, Zoning Administration.

Unknown 0:47

Great. All right. Well, we don't have any committee business to kick us off, so we're going to go straight into presentations. Excited to hear all about your updates related to accessory living units.

Casey Judge 1:02

Yes, great. Thank you. I guess we'll skip the the introductions. We'll dive right in Wait till my slideshow is up There we go All right. So tonight we're here to talk to you about a proposed zoning ordinance amendment related to accessory living units or AL use for short and So since we last presented to you all in December, we've had a variety of community outreach, including a survey and public outreach meetings. We also have upcoming community meetings scheduled in the next two weeks with our goal for authorization and public hearings by the end of this year. As part of our robust community outreach plan, we're working on a community engagement portal that will be coming soon to our dedicated ALU website, which will include additional ways for community members and community groups to stay engaged and provide feedback on the proposals.

Casey Judge 1:54

So an accessory living unit is defined as a secondary dwelling unit that's in conjunction with and subordinate to a single family detached dwelling unit. An ALU contains the provisions of eating, sleeping, living, and sanitation. And it's occupied by somebody as their residence. So we do see a variety of occupants of ALUs, ranging from in-laws to caretakers to au pairs to renters. And we also see a variety of ALU arrangements, such as interior ALUs in a basement as an addition to a dwelling. or an ALU over a garage. And as you see from these photos, the one on the left is that basement ALU I mentioned. The top right is an addition. And then the bottom right is actually a detached ALU that exists over that garage space.

Casey Judge 2:39

With this amendment, we do have a few overarching goals. We would like to align the amendment with the housing action plan as we see ALUs as a valuable tool in the affordable housing toolkit. ALUs can serve to provide more housing options as well as to provide flexibility for older adults, young professionals, and caretakers throughout our community. So ALUs can support households with affording their mortgages by providing supplemental income as well. We do aim to clarify and update regulations to reduce the number of zoning interpretations that are required. We do think that, of course, having clear standards will ensure consistency and predictability in the process of establishing ALUs. And this amendment also looks at ways to streamline the process of getting an ALU legally established and removing unnecessary impediments.

Casey Judge 3:25

As we presented in December, we reviewed the ALU regulations in other jurisdictions. And as you can see on this chart, The trend is to allow for both interior and detached units, either by right with or without an administrative approval. And other jurisdictions also do not specify a minimum lot size for detached ALUs. Other jurisdictions allow ALUs to be occupied by more than two people, usually three to four is what we've seen. And then other jurisdictions do not require renewal of the approval. Some jurisdictions are allowing ALUs into family and townhouse units as well.

Carmen Bishop 4:02

The white paper and draft texts that have been posted online, they outline various options for changes to the ALU regulations, and they also identify the preliminary staff recommendations. And so that's what we'll be highlighting over the next few slides. So as we presented in December, based on feedback, the administrative permit is often perceived as a barrier by potential ALU applicants.