Tourism Zone Incentive

The City of Fredericksburg has created several designated tourism zones within the City limits in an effort to attract more investment into areas prioritized in the City’s Comprehensive Plan (Comp Plan). Qualified new or expanding businesses that are interested in locating in one of these zones may be eligible for incentives.

For Tourism Zone projects, the incentive value, for up to a 10-year term, is generated from among the following:

  • Reduction or waiver of BPOL taxes
  • Performance grants on tax revenue generation from meals, lodging, admissions, local sales, machinery and tools and business personal property taxes, as applicable
  • Reduction or waiver of permit fees and/or water and sewer availability fees

Please refer to the specific provisions in the respective ordinances. For more information about the City Incentive Program: City Incentive Application.

Applicants are encouraged to contact the Department of Economic Development and Tourism prior to submitting the application by calling 540-372-1216 or writing to the Director, Bill Freehling.

Tourism Zones

The 3 Tourism Zones are:

  • Eagle Village
  • Celebrate Virginia South - Central Park
  • Downtown - Princess Anne Street

View a map of Tourism Zones (PDF). For a more detailed view visit FredGIS.

Eligibility

In the Eagle Village and Celebrate Virginia South-Central Park Tourism Zones, in order to qualify for incentives, new or expanding businesses must make a capital investment of at least $500,000 or create at least 25 jobs.

For the Downtown - Princess Anne Street Tourism Zone, the eligibility requirements for new or expanding businesses are as follows:

  • Existing businesses located in the City that are expanding, a minimum of 5 new jobs or at least a $125,000 capital investment.
  • New businesses locating in the City, a minimum of 10 jobs or at least a $250,000 capital investment

The City of Fredericksburg’s Tourism Zones ordinances outline the eligibility requirements for projects to be considered for incentives.

Each project must submit a project description and financial projections, along with an incentive application, to the City of Fredericksburg’s Department of Economic Development and Tourism. Once the application is received, the City of Fredericksburg will review and score each project based on a weighted scale, which addresses the areas of interest described above. Each project will then be given a recommended incentive package, which will include the amount and duration of the incentive. City Council has final approval authority for each agreement. Annual performance reports are required from each company receiving an incentive agreement.

Scope of Incentives

The level of incentives is determined based on the size of the capital investment, the number of jobs created and how the project meets the following areas of interest to the City of Fredericksburg:

  • BPOL tax generation
  • Connection to the City’s Pathways Plan
  • Environmental Innovation
  • Historic Preservation
  • Incorporation of public art into the project
  • Increase in local sales tax generation
  • Use of the Economic Development Authority in financing the project