Fallon

Churchill County regulates land use in the unincorporated portions of the county under Title 18 (Zoning) of the Churchill County Code, adopted by the Churchill County Board of Commissioners. Churchill County does NOT maintain a standalone, named accessory-dwelling-unit ordinance and Nevada has not preempted local ADU regulation through statewide statute (NRS Chapter 278 leaves zoning authority with cities and counties). Where ADUs (often called 'second dwellings,' 'guest houses,' 'in-law units,' 'farm-employee residences,' or 'caretaker residences' in rural Nevada) are permitted, they fall under the general accessory-use provisions of the applicable zoning district — primarily Open Space (OS), Agricultural (A-10, A-20, A-40 by minimum lot size), Rural Residential (RR), Single-Family Residential (R-1, R-2), and Multi-Family Residential (R-3) districts. The county sits in the Lahontan Valley of west-central Nevada, with Fallon (the county seat and Churchill County's only incorporated city) at its center; the county encompasses the Carson Sink, Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge, the eastern flank of the Stillwater Range, the Carson River terminal delta, and the Lahontan Reservoir on the county's western boundary with Lyon County. The economy is anchored by Naval Air Station Fallon (the U.S. Navy's premier 'Top Gun' / Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center training installation) and irrigated alfalfa, dairy, and seed-crop agriculture under the federal Newlands Reclamation Project (the first project authorized under the 1902 Reclamation Act). Second dwellings on agricultural parcels for ranch employees, family members, or caretakers are commonly permitted as accessory to the primary agricultural operation; in residential zones, second dwellings typically require a conditional use permit.

• Churchill County Code Title 18 (Zoning) — adopted under authority of NRS Chapter 278
• Churchill County Planning Department
• Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 278 — Planning and Zoning
• Churchill County Board of Commissioners

State-floor overlay: Nevada has no statewide ADU preemption statute. NRS Chapter 278 grants local governments primary zoning authority and does not floor or cap ADU regulation. Without state preemption, Churchill County has full discretion to permit, restrict, or prohibit ADUs by zoning district. There is no state mandate for ministerial review, no state cap on impact fees for ADUs, no state owner-occupancy prohibition, and no state minimum-size or by-right-by-zone allowance. The 2023 (82nd) and 2025 (83rd) Nevada Legislature regular sessions did not enact statewide ADU reform; reform energy concentrated on insurance (AB 376, wildfire) rather than ADU zoning.

Churchill County's overlay regimes that materially affect ADU siting on unincorporated parcels are: (1) Naval Air Station Fallon Air Installation Compatible Use Zone (AICUZ) and Accident Potential Zones (APZs) — NAS Fallon is the U.S. Navy's premier strike and air-warfare training installation ('Top Gun' successor program), and its noise contours and accident-potential zones extend several miles beyond the base perimeter into unincorporated Churchill County, materially affecting parcels in southeast and southwest Fallon; (2) FEMA Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHA) along the Carson River as it terminates in the Carson Sink and Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge, the Lahontan Reservoir on the western county boundary, and the various Newlands Reclamation Project canals (the Truckee Canal, the V-Line Canal, the L-Line Canal); (3) Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge and the surrounding Lahontan Valley wetlands — a federally-administered wildlife area at the Carson River terminus, with environmental compatibility considerations for adjacent private parcels; (4) Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) and rangeland fire considerations in the Stillwater Range, Clan Alpine Mountains, Sand Springs Range, and Desatoya Mountains in eastern Churchill County; (5) Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe Reservation and Colony lands at Stillwater (outside county jurisdiction); (6) Newlands Reclamation Project water-rights overlay administered by the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District (TCID) for the irrigated alfalfa, dairy, and seed-crop agricultural areas served by the federal Newlands Project (the first Reclamation Act project in the U.S., authorized 1902); (7) NAS Fallon's Bravo Range complexes (Bravo-16, Bravo-17, Bravo-19, Bravo-20) — extensive military training-range areas in the eastern and southern county that are off-limits to civilian development. Nevada has no analog to California's Coastal Commission and Churchill has no coastal exposure.

• Naval Air Station Fallon AICUZ and Accident Potential Zones (APZ-1, APZ-2, Clear Zone) — An ADU within the NAS Fallon AICUZ noise contours should incorporate noise-attenuation construction (STC-rated windows, forced-air HVAC with acoustic treatment, sealed exterior wall assemblies) — typically targeting interior 45 dB DNL where exterior is 65+ dB DNL. APZ-1 parcels generally cannot accommodate new residential development; APZ-2 can accept low-density residential including ADUs subject to density limits. Clear Zone parcels are off-limits for residential. NAS Fallon hosts the Navy's premier strike-warfare training program, including F/A-18 Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler operations, with fleet replacement squadron training, joint and combined exercises, and SEAL training rotations; aircraft operations are intense and the noise environment is significant on adjacent parcels. The ongoing NAS Fallon Range Train Complex (FRTC) modernization (Congressionally authorized 2022) involves expansion of training-range areas in the Bravo-17 complex, which has prompted JLUS updates; Churchill County is an active participant.
• FEMA Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHA) — National Flood Insurance Program — An ADU in an SFHA must be elevated to or above Base Flood Elevation plus the county's adopted freeboard (typically 1 foot), with flood vents on enclosures below BFE, anchoring against floatation and lateral forces, and a post-construction Elevation Certificate. Zone A (no published BFE) parcels — common in the rangeland fringe — require an engineer-commissioned BFE study. The Carson River sink terminal-delta hydrology is unusual: water has nowhere to drain to, and unusually wet years can flood vast areas of the Lahontan Valley as water backs up through the canal network and overtops natural drainage divides. Newlands Project canal-proximity floodplain mapping is increasingly important as canal infrastructure ages. NFIP flood insurance is required for federally-backed mortgages on SFHA parcels.
• Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge and Lahontan Valley Wetlands — An ADU on a parcel adjacent to Stillwater NWR or within the Lahontan Valley wetlands matrix should incorporate dark-sky lighting (downcast, full-cutoff fixtures), avoid raptor-collision hazards (no large reflective windows facing wetland approach corridors), and coordinate any agricultural-chemical use with refuge-adjacent buffer recommendations. The wetlands' migratory-bird value is internationally significant (designated a Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network site), and adjacent residential use should respect that ecological context.
• Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) — Bureau of Land Management Stillwater Field Office, Nevada Division of Forestry — An ADU in a fire-prone area of Churchill County should incorporate ignition-resistant exterior wall assemblies, Class A roofing, ember-resistant vents, and minimum 30-foot defensible space (Zone 1: 0-5 ft non-combustible; Zone 2: 5-30 ft lean/clean/green) where consistent with the local fire protection district's standards. Private wells with on-site water storage tanks (typically 2,500-5,000 gallons for fire-flow) are commonly required for parcels without hydranted municipal water. AB 376 (2025, effective 2026-01-01) authorizes wildfire-coverage exclusions in Nevada; ADU owners in WUI areas should plan for separate stand-alone wildfire coverage where available.
• Newlands Reclamation Project water-rights overlay (Truckee-Carson Irrigation District) — An ADU on a Newlands Project irrigated parcel should be designed to respect the parcel's water-right structure: (a) household-domestic water for the ADU is generally accommodated within existing rights, but heavy outdoor use (irrigation of additional landscape) requires coordination with TCID; (b) septic-system siting must respect canal and lateral setbacks (typically 100 feet from active canal centerlines); (c) any new or modified water connection to TCID-served water requires district approval. The irrigated agricultural status of these parcels is a defining characteristic and limits the scope of non-agricultural development; ADUs as workforce or family housing accessory to the primary agricultural use are commonly accepted, while ADUs as unrelated-party long-term or short-term rentals can raise compatibility questions.
• NAS Fallon training-range complex (Bravo-16, Bravo-17, Bravo-19, Bravo-20) and Federal lands proximity — An ADU on a private inholding within or adjacent to BLM lands should verify legal access (recorded easement or federal right-of-way grant), utility crossing permits if power, water, or sewer lines cross federal lands, and grazing-allotment proximity. ADUs near Bravo-range fence lines should anticipate occasional munition-noise exposure and the very small (but non-zero) risk of unexploded-ordnance encroachment from past range activity (Bravo-16 has had historic incidents; ranges operated by NAS Fallon are well-managed and overflight protocols are well-established). The federal-lands context shapes Churchill County's settlement pattern (concentrated in the irrigated Lahontan Valley around Fallon) and constrains ADU development to the established private-land matrix.

Churchill County Building Department issues building permits for residential structures (including second dwellings, accessory dwelling units, and guest houses) on parcels in unincorporated Churchill County, with zoning-compliance review provided by the Churchill County Planning Department. Central Nevada Health District (formerly Churchill County Health Department) and the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) administer on-site septic system permits, while the Nevada Division of Water Resources permits private wells; the substantial majority of unincorporated Churchill County's 4,929 square miles relies on on-site systems outside the City of Fallon's water and sewer service area. Churchill County contains one incorporated city — Fallon (county seat) — which permits its own ADUs and building activity inside city limits. Naval Air Station Fallon (NAS Fallon), the U.S. Navy's Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center ('Top Gun' successor program), is federal land and outside county zoning and permitting jurisdiction; military housing and contractor housing on NAS Fallon are governed by Navy authorities and federal law. The Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe Reservation and Colony land at Stillwater are similarly outside county jurisdiction and are governed by the tribe's own land-use authorities and federal trust law.