Prince William —

Prince William County is close to finishing a ten-year strategy for its rural economy, and the two levers it has named are the two that decide whether a farm can host anything: tax treatment and zoning.

The county hired Agritecture LLC to run its Agribusiness and Agritourism Study, which began in September 2025 after three directives from the Board of County Supervisors starting in February 2024. The firm is led by founder and chief executive Henry Gordon-Smith, with systems analyst Brakeley Bryant.

Agritecture told the county it found seven gaps holding back growth in agribusiness and agritourism. Four recommendations came out of them:

• address farm tax treatment
• update county zoning
• support working farmers
• make long-term infrastructure investments

The county has published the four recommendations. It has not published the seven gaps.

What zoning means here

The study will assess the future effectiveness of Prince William’s Arts and Agritourism Overlay District, adopted in February 2021, which widened by-right uses on rural land to include arts-related activity. Agritecture is expected to recommend amendments to the zoning ordinance, changes to the overlay map, and incentive programs.

Those are the provisions that determine whether a property can add a tasting room, an event space, overnight rooms or a restaurant, and what it must do about parking, road access, hours and outdoor events to keep them.

The county has not released the specific amendments, tax changes or incentives under consideration.

What the meetings produced

Three community meetings ran July 27 to 29, from 6:30 to 8:30 each evening, at Brentsville Hall in Manassas, the Winery at La Grange in Haymarket and the Harbour View Event Center in Woodbridge. More than 100 residents and business owners attended across the three.

The county’s own account describes the conversations as “often spirited in nature,” covering historic farming, land preservation and tourism. An earlier session at Windy Knoll Farm on April 29 drew more than 50. An online survey closed September 1.

The final work is to include baseline research, peer-community comparisons, sector assessments, overlay district recommendations, incentive programs, a phased implementation plan and estimated staffing and funding. Recommendations were scheduled to be complete in August, with implementation planning through October, and a presentation to the Board of County Supervisors this fall.

The fourth locality this year

Prince William is not doing this alone or first. Loudoun County is rewriting its rural zoning, with wineries, breweries and distilleries scheduled for November 9. Greene County supervisors are weighing an event cap. Clarke County adopted event restrictions in 2023, was sued by a farm brewery, and settled this year without a court ruling on whether the restrictions were lawful.

The difference is the order of operations. Loudoun, Greene and Clarke each moved on rules first and heard from operators after. Prince William commissioned the study, held four public sessions and ran a survey before drafting anything.

What that produces is still unknown, because the recommendations are not public yet.