Prince William County, VA Zoning Overlays & Bonuses: Downtown Design Guide (2026)

Town centers are the county's mechanism for pedestrian-oriented, mixed-use downtown-style development, established only by Special Use Permit within a Planned Mixed Use (PMD) or Planned Mixed Residential (PMR) zoning district under Sec. 30, and required to sit on between 40 and 250 contiguous acres under Sec. 31. Sec. 35 spells out exactly what the applicant's design guidelines must cover before the Board of County Supervisors will approve the permit. The architecture section must address renderings of building materials and colors, coordinated cornice and roof lines, height and materials for walls and fences, rooftop mechanical screening, energy-efficiency measures, and a comprehensive sign plan covering everything from window signs to freestanding sign size and illumination.

A separate section governs streets, alleys, bicycle paths and sidewalks, requiring guidelines on paving materials and widths, street furniture anchoring, and street lamp placement and style. Parking guidelines must address rideshare space reservations, landscaping for surface lots and structured decks, and screening for loading and service areas. Landscaping and open-space sections require guidelines on tree species and spacing in public areas and the size of parks, plazas and squares. Once adopted, these design guidelines are not aspirational: Sec. 35 states that development within a town center shall proceed only in accordance with the design guidelines adopted within a Special Use Permit approved by the Board of County Supervisors, and Sec.

31(7) requires the developer to record covenants creating a property owners' association and an Architectural Review Board to enforce those architectural standards going forward. Waivers to specific standards can be requested at the time of the SUP application, or later during site plan review, under the modification procedure in Sec. 34.