As Christmas trees start popping up throughout the region, Fairfax County is wrapping up a multiyear effort to revise regulations around trees used by developers.
At a meeting of the Board of Supervisors’ environmental committee on Nov. 25, county officials provided an update on proposed changes to the tree planting recommendations in its public facilities manual.
The public facilities manual is a guideline used for developers seeking county approval for projects. It serves only as a guide and is not a legal requirement mandating the use of certain trees, nor does it affect the average resident planting on their own property.
The effort to update the manual is part of the Resilient Fairfax program adopted by the board in 2022. Part of the initiative seeks to integrate climate change considerations into the county’s urban forestry program and update the public facilities manual accordingly.
As part of different zoning districts, developers are required to cover a certain portion of their property with tree canopy within 10 years. Under that requirement, they can receive credit for different types of tree plantings.
County staff evaluated 288 tree species for inclusion in the manual using 70 criteria, such as flooding resilience, insect resistance, soil tolerance and air quality benefits.
The trees fell into three categories: types staying in the manual, trees being added to the manual and those being removed.
Sixty-seven trees, such as red maple and common hackberry, will remain in the manual. Those species are highly common, non-invasive and scored well on the evaluations.
There will be 46 trees added to the manual, such as Shumard oak and Bur oak. Those trees were commonly requested and are mostly native.
In the third category, 34 trees are being removed, like the Douglas fir and European Larch.
Resilient Fairfax Program Manager Allison Homer said there’s no anticipated commercial impact from the species removals because those trees aren’t used anyway, with one exception: the Japanese Zelkova, an invasive plant.
Overall, the proposed revisions would increase the recommended tree species from 102 to 113.
“The amendment would provide more options and better options,” Homer said.
In addition to the changes in tree species recommendations, the public facilities manual update will address new uses for trees, such as street trees and trees in floodplains, and officially move the suggested tree planting window back a month to Oct. 1-May 31.
The county’s forest conservation staff adopted that time frame last year after a record-hot summer delayed the ideal period for planting trees and ensuring they can survive.
Staff plan to present a polished draft of the proposal to the Fairfax County Planning Commission’s environment committee on Jan. 15, 2026. Public hearings are expected to be held by the planning commission and Board of Supervisors next spring or summer.
