Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan



The Fairfax County County Comprehensive Land Use Plan, often referred to simply as the Comprehensive Plan, is a document required by the State of Virginia that covers land use decisions in the county.

The Comprehensive Plan provides guidelines for how areas are to be maintained in Fairfax County and is used as a guide in decision-making about the built and natural environment by the county's Board of Supervisors and other agencies, such as the Planning Commission and the Board of Zoning Appeals.

The current Plan was adopted by the Board of Supervisors on June 30, 1975.

Organization
The plan breaks Fairfax County up into four areas. Each of these areas is further subdivided into planning districts and other special districts. In the 2011 Comprehensive plan, the division is as follows:
 * Area I - Annandale, Baileys, Jefferson, Lincolnia, and the Merrifield Suburban Center.
 * Area II - Fairfax, Vienna, McLean, McLean Central Business Center (CBC), and the Tysons Corner Urban Center
 * Area III - Bull Run, Pohick, Upper Potomac, and the Dulles Suburban Center and Fairfax Center Area
 * Area IV - Lower Potomac, Mount Vernon, Rose Hill, Springfield, and the Franconia-Springfield and Fort Belvoir North Area.

History
Fairfax County's first attempt at developing a master plan for development in the county was the so-called "McHugh Plan", named after Francis Dodd McHugh, the consultant under whose direction it was prepared. Begun in 1952, the McHugh Plan consisted of six phases addressing the following components :
 * Sewer plan
 * Residential density plan
 * Highway plan based on residential density
 * Commercial plan based on highways and residential density
 * School plan based on communities and neighborhoods
 * Industrial plan based on employment centers and access

Completed at a cost of $150,000, the McHugh Plan was delivered on November 15, 1954. After showing the plan to local newsmen and county officials, at the direction of the Board of Supervisors, the Planning Commission decided to delay public release of the plan while it developed proposals of its own.

Controversy about the McHugh plan crystallized around three major issues: the setting aside of 4000 acres to accomodate the proposed construction of a National Airport in Burke, the setting aside of a similarly sized site in Centreville and Chantilly for Federal government agencies wishing to relocate out of Washington, D.C., and the limiting of minimum lot sizes in the rural, undeveloped portion of the county to three to five acres.

The McHugh plan was finally made available to the public on February 7, 1955. A series of 30 meetings to explain the McHugh plan and the planning commission's recommended changes followed in April, May, and June.

After much discussion and debate, the plan was adopted by the Board on July 6, 1956, with the so-called "Freehill Amendment", named after Chairman Joseph H. Freehill which changed the proposed maximum lot size in the rural areas of the county to two acres.