Arlington County, VA · Arlington County Zoning Ordinance (ACZO)
C-O-A is a mixed-use commercial office district (ACZO §7.14). Permitted heights are 35-45 ft. Density is set by a site-area schedule: total FAR 1.5 at 5,000 sq ft rising to 4.0 at 40,000 sq ft, with a lower multiple-family component (0.75 to 2.0 across the same range).
Development standards in C-O-A
Maximum height
45 ft
7.14
FAR is set by a site-area schedule rather than a single cap (ACZO §7.14.3): 5,000 sq ft -> 1.5 total / 0.75 multiple-family; 10,000 -> 2.0 / 1.0; 20,000 -> 3.0 / 1.5; 40,000 -> 4.0 / 2.0. Intermediate site areas interpolate per the ordinance.
Read from Arlington County Zoning Ordinance (ACZO), effective through 2026-06-13. We last checked with the publisher on 2026-09-14 and found nothing newer -- a check on that date, not a promise about today.
How complete is this market? Across 38,683 parcels we answer 65.5% of the 6 questions this site is built to answer, each with a source you can check. The rest are shown as “not recorded” rather than filled in — we would rather be short than wrong.
Permitted uses in C-O-A
AllowedOffice By-right: all three office rows in the ACZO §7.1.2 use table read P for C-O-A (p88) -- 'Offices, business and professional', 'Offices, federal, state and local', and 'Offices or clinics, medical or dental' (§12.5.16).
AllowedRetail (Ground Floor) By-right: ACZO §7.1.2 use table row 'All other retail sales uses' reads P for C-O-A (p89; use standard §12.5.21); 'Large-format retail' reads U (use permit).
ConditionalMulti-Family Residential Site plan approval required (ACZO §7.14)
AllowedSTR - Short-Term Rentals By-right (P) in the ACZO accessory use tables, subject to an accessory homestay permit issued by the zoning administrator (ACZO §12.9.12). The permit application requires proof that the property is the applicant's permanent residence (ACZO §12.9.12.B.2).
"Conditional" means the use generally requires a public hearing or special-exception approval — a very different timeline and risk profile from a by-right permit.
This is the zone. What about the parcel?
Zone rules are the starting point — the answer for a specific property also depends on lot
size, overlays, existing improvements and site conditions. Run a free address lookup to see
what applies to one property.
Standards as recorded by Zonescore: Arlington County Zoning Ordinance (ACZO), Effective June 13, 2026
Values are read from the Arlington County Zoning Ordinance (ACZO). Where a district allows more density through site plan approval than by right, both are shown -- they are very different entitlement paths.