Multi-Use Planned Development

Fairfax, Virginia

Fair Lakes in Fairfax, Northern Virginia is a 657 acre, multi-use planned development that will contain at build-out over 5 million square feet of office and research space, with supporting residential, retail, hotel and recreational uses. This large scale business park is part of the larger 5,600 acre Fairfax Center Special Development District that was formed by a public/private partnership to contain sprawl in the high growth areas of the Washington, D.C. region. The process is indicative of how negotiated public/private agreements are helping to manage growth in high-growth areas. In 1980, landowners, developers, citizens and the Fairfax County Government formed a public task force and began a process of re-planning that resulted in the rezoning of the land in 1984. The rezoning is an example of incentive-based development processes. It established the right of developers to build higher density projects as long as they provided off-site road improvements and site amenities. As part of the public/private agreement with the county, the developer provided major on-site and off-site transportation improvements, which included the Fair Lakes segment of the Fairfax Center Parkway, and an interchange at I-66.