Zoning Ordinance Rewrite Change Highlights - Chapter 4: Use-Specific Standards

Chapter 4 includes the standards and regulations that are unique to specific uses, such as additional buffering and screening, and the thresholds for when legislative approval (Minor Special Exception or Special Exception) for a use is required.   

The use-specific standards define the requirements intended to minimize the potential impacts associated with the range and mixture of uses allowed in each zoning district. Use-specific standards can address dimensional requirements, such as lot area, height, density, setbacks, yard and buffer requirements, as well as transportation and pedestrian necessities, noise and lighting levels, parking, public safety, and historic, cultural, environmental, and natural resource protection. These standards also help prevent long-term impacts that may impact wildlife and habitat, sensitive streams and water bodies, mountainside slopes, or other environmental features.  

The new Zoning Ordinance carries forward many use-specific standards from the previous ordinance (Revised 1993 Zoning Ordinance), adds use-specific standards for new uses such as Energy Storage Facility, and strengthens standards for certain uses such as Data Centers and Flex Buildings.  

Data Centers  

For data centers, the previous ordinance contained limited standards for design, mechanical equipment screening, and landscaping/buffering/screening. In the new ordinance, these standards are expanded primarily to help reduce impacts upon neighboring residential properties. New standards for data centers adjacent to residential property require building setbacks, soundproofing roof-top or ground-mounted mechanical equipment, pre- and post-construction noise studies, limited generator testing hours, fully-screened mechanical equipment and refuse collection areas, and enhanced buffers on top of a six-foot-tall berm. Principal façade building treatments must be provided on all sides of a data center that are adjacent to residential property or other uses, such as stand-alone religious assemblies, parks, farm wineries, and limited breweries.  

Energy Storage Facility  

Chapter 4 establishes use-specific standards for an Energy Storage Facility, which is a new use in the new Zoning Ordinance. Standards include extensive fire and life safety requirements, as well as requirements that apply when an energy storage facility is located adjacent to residential properties. These include providing a minimum three-acre lot size, a minimum fifty-foot setback, soundproofing, pre- and post-construction noise studies, and enhanced buffers on top of a six-foot-tall berm. 

Flex Building   

In the previous ordinance, flex buildings were not allowed to have outdoor storage. Standards in the new ordinance allow up to 10% of the lot to be used for screened, outdoor storage. The new Zoning Ordinance expands where flex buildings are allowed beyond industrial zoning districts to include urban and suburban zoning districts. Chapter 4 adds standards such as prohibiting outdoor storage for flex buildings located in urban and suburban zoning districts. An existing administrative practice has been added to the new ordinance, requiring an applicant to demonstrate conformance to use-specific standards, such as parking rates, at the time of zoning permit for each specific use occupying a flex building. 

Other Uses  

Highlights of use-specific standards for other uses in Chapter 4 of the new Zoning Ordinance include the following:  

  • Retains floodplain requirements for public schools as they exist in the current Zoning Ordinance, to allow a maximum of 20% (changed from 10%) of the floodplain to be used for utilities, trails or other uses permitted within the floodplain, and to require 80% (changed from 90%) of the floodplain to be forested. 
  • Increases the amount of retail sales as part of a business support services use from 20% to 25% of gross floor area. 
  • Removes the requirement for an escape lane associated with drive-through facilities. 
  • Changes the minimum lot area to establish a Vehicle Wholesale Auction from 50 acres to 20 acres and remove the requirement that the use be at least partially located within the Airport Impact Overlay District. 
  • Removes the requirement that Health and Fitness Centers be located outside the Quarry Notification (QNOD) Overlay District. 
  • For recreational uses, removes the prohibition on inter-parcel access to adjoining industrial uses, removes the prohibition on locating within the QNOD, removes the square footage limitation in the Transit Related Center and Urban Employment Zoning Districts, and requires a Special Exception for Indoor Recreation uses exceeding 150,000 square feet. 
  • Removes references to accessory substations and require substations to be set back a minimum of 100 feet from adjacent residential parcels. 
  • Adds standards for Agricultural Processing as a standalone, principal use that mimic the requirements for Small Business uses to address scale and impact. 
  • To encourage the economic development of lodging facilities in Loudoun County, the new Zoning Ordinance reduces the number of amenities (Restaurant, Swimming Pool, Fitness Facility, Guest Retail Store and Meeting/Conference Space) a hotel must provide from five to three for lodging in the Town Center (TC), Development Planned-Research Development Park (PD-RDP), Office Park (OP) and Industrial Park (IP) Zoning Districts.

Review additional details in the Loudoun County Zoning Ordinance.

Last updated 12/18/2023