A portico in Virginia Run
Virginia Run Community Association, at 15355 Wetherburn Court in Centreville, has an Architectural Review Board that sets standards for owners making improvements or changes to their property. Its standards speak to a portico's floor directly: porch and portico flooring or decking may be stone, brick, concrete, stamped concrete, composite or wood lumber. Some projects need approval before they start, while others are preapproved as long as they follow the standards, and the association's advice for anything unclear is to apply, since starting a project without prior approval can bring an assessment.
The board meets monthly, generally on the first Tuesday. An application is due the Friday before, at the onsite Management Office by 4:00 PM. The standards give the board 45 days: if it does not approve, modify or disapprove a correctly filed application in writing within that time, approval is deemed granted. An owner who disagrees with a decision may appeal to the board or the association's Board within ten days of the notice.
A portico in the Centreville Historic Overlay District
Fairfax County created the Centreville Historic Overlay District in 1986 for a crossroads village of the late 1700s, and in 2007 it grew from 17 acres to 84. The district sits in the northeast corner of Route 28 and Route 29, with Braddock Road as its defining street, and it is bordered by Route 29, Sully Road, Pickwick Road and Wharton Lane. Mount Gilead, a roadside inn built around 1785, is the only building left from the village of Newgate.
Inside the district, the county's Architectural Review Board approves exterior work, and by the county's own answers about its historic districts, that approval is needed only for exterior alterations that require a building permit. The county's draft guidelines for the district, which the board is preparing to adopt, spell out what that covers: new exterior stairs or stoops, new additions, decks and screened-in porches, retaining walls over three feet and swimming pools, but not on-grade patios, driveways or fences. A portico is a roof on posts at the front door, so in the district we plan one for the board's review, with any new stoop or steps drawn alongside it. Some projects are approved at a single meeting while others take two or three, there is no application fee, and every application cites the district's design guidelines.
Inside the district, or in Virginia Run?
Send us the address, and we will check which review the portico needs before the design starts.
How we plan a Centreville portico
At the first visit we find out which reviews the house falls under: an association such as Virginia Run, the historic district, both or neither. In Virginia Run we choose the portico's floor from the board's list and file in time for the Friday deadline; in the district we draw the roof, posts and stoop for the county's board. The portico itself, from the footings to the roof, is on our porticos page.
Who issues the permit in Centreville?
Fairfax County's Department of Land Development Services. Centreville is not one of the county's three incorporated towns, so no town permit comes before the county's, and the county's permit is covered on our Fairfax County page.
Also taken on in Centreville
- Front stoops and home additions
- Travertine patios, paver patios and composite decks
- Three-season rooms and screened porches