Prince William County introduces New Policy to address Abandoned Building Permits

When it comes to managing more than 10,000 new construction and renovation projects each year, the sheer volume can be excessive. Not to mention, each project has numerous variations and specifications in permitting requirements, that must undergo the regulatory approval process. Now multiple those 5 times and that's roughly how many abandoned building permits remain logged to-date. 

To safely and effectively closeout building permits due to the excess abandoned work, Prince William County has developed new policies and procedures, that will go in effect, Tuesday, May 31^st, 2022. The new policy is intended to improve quality control, reduce costs, save time, and most importantly, implement building safety protocols for abandoned work sites.

Customers with abandoned building permits, experiencing project delays, disruption to their work site, or who need to close building permits are encouraged to update contact information in ePortal, request a permit reinstatement or submit an application for a permit extension by Monday, May 23^rd, 2022.

As Prince William County population is projected to grow to 520,000 by 2030, according to the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, it is even more imperative that building permits are proactively managed and clear guidance is established for customers who have to close or reinstate permits, that is in accordance with the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code (VUSBC), and specifically, section 108.8 Time Limitation of Application and section 110.6 Abandonment of Work.

All information is accessible online and provides the necessary Abandoned Building Permits & Applications process and procedures for building permits and applications, including an application extension request form, a permit extension request form, and a permit reinstatement request form.

To learn more, visit Abandoned Building Permits & Applications and the Commercial Development Committee for the informational session presented on April 20^th.  For more information and assistance please contact Building Development at [email protected], (703) 792-6930. For questions on ePortal contact: [email protected] or (703) 792-6875.