Prince William County Unincorporated, Virginia · General provision

Sec. 32-509.02, 32-509.03, 32-509.06

Dimensional standards

Uses

Permitted by right2

  • data centers
  • All uses permitted by right in underlying zoning district

Prohibited1

  • data centers in agricultural, residential, PMR, B-2, B-3, V districts

Extracted standards

5 individual requirements pulled out of this section’s prose, each with the sentence it came from.

Design

  • A buffer yard is required to screen the data center from adjacent residentially zoned or planned properties. In lieu of DCSM Section 800, any side/rear yard abutting property not planned or developed with commercial or industrial uses shall include a buffer yard with earthen berm min height 6 ft, slope not steeper than 2:1, planted to type C DCSM buffer standard.

  • Principal building façade requirements

    Principal building façades shall avoid undifferentiated surfaces by including at least two design elements: change in building height, step-backs, fenestration, change in material/pattern/texture/color, or accent materials.

Other

  • Fencing restrictions

    Fencing along public or private streets is not chain-link, with or without slatted inserts, and does not include barbed wire or other similarly visibly intrusive deterrence device. Chain-link or barbed wire prohibited along street frontages.

  • Screening of mechanical equipment

    Ground level and roof top mechanical equipment shall be screened from major arterials, interstates and abutting residentially zoned or planned properties, using principal building, existing vegetation, or visually solid fence/screen wall/parapet wall.

  • Substation screening

    Substations shall be screened from adjacent major roads or residentially zoned/planned properties with ten-foot-tall opaque fencing facing residential properties.

From the ordinance

Data Centers are permitted an increased FAR, within the Data Center Opportunity Zone Overlay District, up to 1.0 FAR provided all other development standards (excluding FAR limitations) for the underlying district are met.
Sec. 32-509.02, 32-509.03, 32-509.06