Prince William County, VA Right to Farm: Agricultural Zoning Protection (2026)

Zoning Ordinance Sec. 02 lists what the A-1 Agricultural district allows without a Special Use Permit: agricultural uses, the keeping of livestock, fishery uses, and farm wineries or breweries with a limited brewery license (up to 15,000 barrels a year) on any A-1 lot of two acres or greater. Working farms get extra room to operate: the countywide cap on horses and other domestic equines set in Sec. 6 does not apply to lots ten acres or larger that are principally used for agriculture, and accessory structures such as barns, sheds and stables are permitted as required for bona fide agricultural uses without a separate size review.

A related protection sits in Sec. 10: residential uses lawfully established on a parcel principally used for bona fide agricultural purposes are deemed accessory to the farm rather than a competing principal use, which otherwise would be barred on a lot that already has one. The district's purpose clause, Sec. 01, states the A-1 district is designed to encourage conservation of large tracts of land, assure sources of agricultural products, preserve prime agricultural and forest land, and reduce demand for public services inconsistent with the county's rural areas.

The by-right line has limits: a restaurant or commercial kitchen at a farm winery needs ten or more acres, special events over 150 people need a temporary activity permit, and spinoff commercial uses like a landscaping business or garden center need a Special Use Permit even in A-1. New A-1 lots must be at least ten acres under Sec. 05, though smaller pre-existing lots keep their by-right agricultural uses.