Prince William County, VA · Prince William County Zoning Ordinance (Chapter 32)
B-1, General Business District. The B-1 District is intended to implement the regional commercial center and general commercial land use classifications of the Comprehensive Plan. It is generally intended to provide areas for community-scale retail, office, and institutional uses in appropriate areas. The purpose of this district is to also promote retail employment opportunities and to enhance the tax base of Prince William County. The B-1 District is not designed to implement the non-retail employment based land uses reflected in the Comprehensive Plan; non-retail uses, however, are permitted within the district to complement and support the retail purposes. Description abridged from Sec. 32-401.10 of the Prince William County Zoning Ordinance -- sentences carrying figures are omitted here so this text can never contradict the standards table, which carries a citation on each value. Read that section for the district's own words in full.
Development standards in B-1
Maximum FAR
0.4
32-401.14
Maximum height
45 ft
32-401.14
Maximum lot coverage
85%
32-401.14
Front setback
not recorded
not in our sources — check the ordinance
Read from Prince William County Code Chapter 32 (Zoning), effective through 2025-09-09.
How complete is this market? Across 147,740 parcels we answer 97.3% 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. A further 3,451 properties inside the county line are zoned by an incorporated town with its own ordinance, not by the county, so this county ordinance does not govern them and they are not counted above or below — which is why we publish this market as Prince William County (excl. incorporated towns). Look one of those up and we will tell you which town governs it.
Permitted uses in B-1
AllowedRetail B-1 is the GENERAL business district (Sec. 32-401.10), implementing the regional commercial centre classification: a retail store under 80,000 sq ft is by right (Sec. 32-401.11) and over 80,000 by Special Use Permit (Sec. 32-401.13). Served with the note 'Small-scale convenience' before S171 -- B-2's description on B-1.
AllowedRestaurant (Sec. 32-401.11)
AllowedOffice (Sec. 32-401.11)
ConditionalSTR - Short-Term Rentals Prince William's Zoning Ordinance has no 'short-term rental' use -- the phrase does not appear in Chapter 32. What it has is a bed and breakfast inn, defined in Part 100 and expressly available 'for transient occupancy', with standards at Sec. 32-300.15; and 'short-term lodging', which Part 100 defines narrowly as time-share units. (A lodging house is NOT a route to it -- Part 100 excludes 'accommodations used for transient occupancy' from that term.) This district's own use list carries one of those uses, so transient lodging is available here subject to that section's terms -- check whether it is by right, secondary or by Special Use Permit for your parcel. (Sec. 32-401.11)
Not AllowedIndustrial Not listed among this district's permitted, secondary or special uses. A use not specified in a zoning district is prohibited there (Sec. 32-200.03).
"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.