Herndon’s Planning Commission holds public hearings Monday, Oct. 19, at 7 p.m. on two zoning amendments that copy new state laws into town code. One lets congregations and other nonprofits build mostly affordable housing on their own land without a rezoning. The other caps the parking the town can require for homes within half a mile of Herndon Station.
Town staff recommends approval of both. With the Municipal Center closed for renovation, the meeting is in the Herndon Police Department’s Community Room at 397 Herndon Parkway. The staff reports and draft ordinances are in the agenda packet.
Congregations and nonprofits can build affordable housing without a rezoning starting Jan. 1
HB 1279 and SB 388, passed in the 2026 General Assembly session, created § 15.2-2288.9 of the state code. From Jan. 1, 2027 until Jan. 1, 2031, localities must allow mixed-use or residential projects by right, meaning with no rezoning or special exception, on land owned by a property-tax-exempt religious organization or 501(c)(3) nonprofit. A project qualifies when:
- the owner has held the land continuously for five years
- at least 60 percent of the homes stay affordable for 30 years or more, for renters earning 80 percent or less of area median income (the regional midpoint income HUD publishes) and for buyers earning up to 120 percent
- at least 70 percent of the floor area is housing, and the rest holds uses such as worship space, child care or a health clinic
- the housing pays local real estate tax and is open to the public under Virginia’s fair housing law
Under Herndon’s draft, ZOTA #26-07, a building can reach 45 feet or the height of the tallest by-right building within 500 feet, whichever is greater. Density can reach 20 homes per acre, or the densest existing housing within 500 feet if that is higher. The town cannot require a setback (the gap between building and lot line) deeper than 10 feet, or deeper than the smallest setback within 500 feet if that is less. Parking runs one space per home plus one per 300 square feet of nonresidential space.
At 20 homes per acre, a two-acre property could hold 40 homes. Projects still pass through the town’s administrative site plan review and state stormwater rules, but they skip the rezoning and its public hearings. The rules do not reach land zoned O&LI, the town’s Office and Light Industrial district, or land next to it or to an industrial use, and the Historic District Overlay stays in force.
The staff presentation maps examples of tax-exempt properties on Ferndale Road, Van Buren Street, Bennett Street, Dranesville Road, Elden Street and Center Street. It does not say whether any owner plans to build.
Near Herndon Station, the town can require no more than half a space per apartment
HB 888, in effect since July 1, created § 15.2-2209.4. Within half a mile of a transit station entrance, no locality can require more than half a parking space per home in apartment or mixed-use buildings, or more than one per single-family home, duplex or townhouse.
Herndon’s draft, ZOTA #26-08, measures the half mile from directly beneath the “Herndon Station” sign at the base of the Silver Line station’s escalator. A parcel counts in full if any part of it falls inside. The ring touches the PD-W, PD-R, R-10, PD-TOC, PD-TRG1 and PD-TRG2 zoning districts. Town staff found the Reston Town Center and Innovation Center stations more than half a mile from the town line.
In the R-10, PD-R and PD-W districts, the town code sets 2.33 spaces per townhouse and 2 per apartment with two or more bedrooms. Inside the ring, the draft lowers those minimums to 1 and 0.5.
Outside the ring, builders can ask the zoning administrator to waive part of the parking requirement. After an Oct. 5 work session, staff dropped a 20 percent limit on those waivers and loosened the test for granting one.
Each required space a builder skips can save up to $50,000
Del. Irene Shin, who introduced HB 888 and represents parts of Herndon, told FFXnow that a required space costs up to $5,000 in a surface lot and up to $50,000 in a parking deck. For a two-bedroom apartment near the station, the minimum drops by 1.5 spaces, or up to $75,000 in deck parking at Shin’s figure. Builders can still provide more parking than the minimum.
Buyers near Herndon Station should get the parking count in writing
A building that meets the new minimum can offer one space for every two apartments, and new townhouses inside the ring need only one space each. Before signing on new construction near the station, get the number of assigned spaces in the contract or condo documents, ask whether spaces sell or lease separately, and check the street parking rules on the block.
Fairfax County, which governs Reston, takes up its own parking amendment Oct. 27
Reston sits in unincorporated Fairfax County. The county’s 2026 Code of Virginia Updates amendment adds a parking tier for land within half a mile of a station entrance, with a Board of Supervisors hearing set for Oct. 27. The church-land housing law applies statewide from Jan. 1.
Comment by email to the town clerk or in person Monday
Send comments to [email protected], or speak at the hearing. Staff plans to take the parking amendment to the Town Council on Nov. 17 and expects a council hearing on church-land housing before Jan. 1, 2027, the date that ordinance would take effect.
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