Herndon's own permit for a wall
The Town of Herndon is one of Fairfax County's three towns, and it issues its own building permits through its Building Inspections office. The Town's list of work that needs one names all additions, all alterations, all decks, all garages, detached sheds over 256 square feet or more than one story, and retaining walls over 3 feet. Applications go through Cityworks, the system the Town now uses to apply for and issue permits.
Two more Town rules come before a permit can be applied for. A contractor needs a business license from the Town's finance department once its work in the town adds up past the Town's yearly limit, and the license has to be in hand before the permit application. And all outstanding property taxes, levies and fees on the property have to be paid to the finance department first.
The Herndon Historic District
Most new construction and renovation in town needs the approval of either the Historic District Review Board or the Architectural Review Board, but the Town says single family houses outside the Historic District are exempt from that review. For a house inside the district, an outside change starts with the Historic District Property Modification Form, after a look at the Town's Process Guide and Reference Guide. Town staff then decide whether the change is exempt, reviewed by staff, or sent to the board; most changes are reviewed by staff, and the larger ones go to the board. The design, form and materials of a change are guided by the Herndon Historic District Guidelines, the Herndon Downtown Pattern Book and the Herndon Zoning Ordinance.
The Historic District Review Board has seven local citizens appointed by the Town Council, among them a historian member and an architect or architectural historian, and it has jurisdiction over all structures in the district. It meets once a month, with work sessions as called, and its members serve three-year terms.
Inside the historic district or not?
Send us the street address; we look it up on the Town's district map before the wall is drawn.
How we plan a Herndon retaining wall
Our shop on Gum Spring Road lies some 10 miles from Herndon in a straight line. On the first visit we check the house against the Town's historic district map, measure the wall's height, since 3 feet is where the Town's permit begins, and look at the slope it will hold. For a wall that needs the permit, the drawings go into the Town's Cityworks system; for a house in the district, the property modification form goes in first. How the base, drainage and courses of a wall are built is on our retaining walls page.
Herndon projects we also take on
- Seating walls and paver patios
- Composite decks and screened porches
- Basement remodeling and egress windows