File photo: rural Virginia farmland.
Prince William County opened applications July 1 for its first-ever Purchase of Development Rights (PDR) program window — a voluntary tool that lets landowners sell the development rights on their property to the county in exchange for compensation, permanently protecting the land from future subdivision or construction. The application period runs through August 31.
It's a long time coming: the Board of County Supervisors originally adopted the PDR program back in 2021, but this summer marks the first time the county has actually opened it up for applications.
How it works
Landowners with 20 or more contiguous acres of agricultural (A-1 zoned) land can apply to sell their development rights to the county. If accepted, the county places a permanent open-space easement on the property — meaning it can never be subdivided or developed — while the landowner keeps ownership and can continue using the land for agriculture, forestry, gardening, beekeeping, and similar purposes.
Applications will be reviewed for completeness and eligibility, then evaluated and ranked through the county's selection process. Final decisions on which properties actually get funded rest with the Board of County Supervisors and depend on available funding — so not every eligible applicant is guaranteed a spot in this first round. Property owners who aren't selected can reapply in future application periods.
“We are grateful to the Board of County Supervisors for its vision and leadership in establishing the Purchase of Development Rights Program,” County Executive Chris Shorter said in a county announcement. “This important tool provides eligible landowners with a voluntary conservation option while helping advance the county's Strategic Plan goal of smart growth.”
Already a live issue in county politics
The timing puts PDR squarely in the middle of an active fight over the county's rural area. This week, the Coalition to Protect Prince William County has been citing the newly opened PDR program in its opposition to two proposed rural-area rezonings — a combined roughly 550 acres across the “Manassas Preserve” assemblage on General Trimbles Lane and the “Catharpin Valley Estates” proposal — arguing that PDR can only succeed as a preservation tool if the county also declines to approve rezonings that convert open space into denser housing development.
That tension is likely to keep surfacing as more of these rural-area cases come before the Board of County Supervisors in the months ahead.
How to apply
Application materials, eligibility requirements, and submission instructions are available at pwcva.gov/pdr-program. Landowners with questions can contact the Planning Office at [email protected] or (703) 792-6930. The application window closes August 31.
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