ADU Pass
Arlington
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Arlington, Shelby County, Tennessee navigate the permit paperwork for building an accessory dwelling unit. This area covers 1 ZIP code.
Map
ADU details
ADU legality: with-restrictions
Arlington allows accessory residential structures subject to setbacks, lot coverage, and (in many districts) Board of Zoning Appeals approval for a second dwelling unit. Building permits typically pulled through Shelby County Construction Code Enforcement; zoning approval issued at town hall (5854 Airline Rd; +1-901-867-2620).
Cost scenarios
| Scenario | Sq ft | Permit | Build | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| minimum | 300 | $750 | $75,000 | $75,750 |
| midpoint | 600 | $1,100 | $150,000 | $151,100 |
| maximum | 950 | $1,700 | $237,500 | $239,200 |
Fee breakdown
Viability (permitted uses)
- Long-term rental: yes 30+day rental of ADU permitted once zoning approval and CO obtained.
- Short-term rental: with-restrictions Town of Arlington does not publish a dedicated STR ordinance; STR generally allowed with business-tax license. BZA conditions on the underlying ADU may restrict STR. Confirm with Arlington town hall.
- Office rental: no ADU is residential by definition; commercial-office tenancy requires rezoning.
- Home office: yes Home occupation permitted in residential districts.
- Studio / workshop: yes Personal artist/workshop use is a permitted accessory residential use.
- Agriculture: with-restrictions Arlington's R-AG and outer residential districts permit limited keeping; central residential districts more restrictive.
- Relative support: yes Multigenerational ADU is a common rationale for BZA special-exception approval in Arlington.
Utilities
- Water: Town of Arlington Water Department / MLGW service-area for parts of Arlington · 21d connect · $2,800
- Sewer: Town of Arlington Wastewater / Shelby County Sewer (varies by parcel) · 30d connect · $4,200
- Electric: Memphis Light, Gas and Water (MLGW) - TVA wholesale · 14d connect · $1,500
- Gas: Memphis Light, Gas and Water (MLGW) for natural gas in MLGW area; Atmos Energy in some surrounding areas · 21d connect · $1,300
Property values & taxes
Construction timeline
Realistic total: best 7mo · typical 11mo · worst 17mo
Financing
Insurance impact
HOA prevalence & preemption
Arlington's newer residential subdivisions (built 2000+) are typically HOA-governed and frequently restrict accessory dwellings; older central Arlington fee-simple. TN has no statute voiding HOA ADU bans.
Regulatory overlays (2)
- flood-zone — Loosahatchie River SFHA Zones AE/A through northern Arlington / Shelby County; FEMA Map 47157C · +14d · +7% cost
Lowest-finished-floor elevation requirements apply along the Loosahatchie River. (map) - seismic-retrofit-zone — New Madrid Seismic Zone influence area covering all of West Tennessee including Shelby County · +7d · +4% cost
Seismic Design Category D1 per ASCE 7-22 in Shelby County. ADU foundation and lateral system designed to D1. (map)
Technical envelope (climate & building code)
Climate & energy code
Building code
Amendments:
- Amendment
- Amendment
- Amendment
Legal history (timeline)
Current ordinance: Town of Arlington Zoning Ordinance, adopted 2000-01-01, last amended 2024-01-01
- 2000-01-01 — Town of Arlington Zoning Ordinance baseline (city-ordinance)
Establishes Arlington zoning districts within corporate limits, regulating location, height, bulk, number of stories, size, lot occupancy; lists conforming and non-conforming use rules; establishes Board of Appeals; assigns enforcement.
Effect: Operative zoning text for Arlington town parcels; accessory buildings governed by setbacks-of-accessory-buildings provisions. - 2020-01-01 — TN Statewide Residential Building Code adoption (IRC 2018 with TN amendments) (state-law)
TN State Fire Marshal's Office continues administration of Statewide Residential Building Code, opt-in for many Shelby municipalities.
Effect: Construction baseline for Arlington ADUs.
Known issues (1)
- split-jurisdiction (since 2000-01) — Applicants must clear two doors: zoning approval at Arlington town hall on Airline Rd, and building permit at Shelby County's Mullins Station Rd office. New ADU applicants frequently miss this and arrive at one only. (source)
Shelby County — county ADU rules and overlays
County ADU ordinance
Shelby County, TN (911,000 residents including Memphis) operates the Memphis-Shelby County Office of Planning and Development as a joint city-county planning agency. The Memphis-Shelby County Unified Development Code (UDC) governs zoning across both jurisdictions. ADUs are permitted in some residential districts subject to specific conditions.
State-floor overlay: Tennessee has not enacted statewide ADU preemption.
County regulatory overlays
Shelby County administers flood-hazard, and (where mapped) coastal, wildland-fire, historic, and airport overlays that shape ADU project feasibility. The most consistent overlay across the county is FEMA NFIP floodplain regulation; other overlays apply to specific geographies inside the county.
- FEMA NFIP Special Flood Hazard Areas in Shelby County — A new ADU in a mapped SFHA must be elevated to or above the Base Flood Elevation; cost impact on the project is often material.
- Historic districts and individually-listed historic resources
County permitting (unincorporated parcels)
Shelby County issues building permits for parcels in unincorporated territory through its development services / planning department, with separate review tracks for zoning conformance, building-code compliance, on-site sewage where applicable, floodplain compliance, and addressing. Inside incorporated municipalities, city departments handle their own permits; the county's authority is geographically limited to unincorporated territory. An ADU permit application is typically processed as a residential building permit with a zoning verification step against the county's ordinance for the parcel's zoning district.
Federal (United States) — ADU-relevant rules and programs
Federal ADU law
The United States has no federal statute that directly regulates accessory dwelling unit entitlement or design. Land-use authority over ADUs resides with states and local governments under the traditional police power. Federal engagement is limited to financing (Fannie/Freddie/FHA/VA/USDA), flood insurance (FEMA/NFIP), and discretionary housing programs (HUD), which are recorded in sibling sections of this file.
Federal financing programs
Federal housing-finance agencies and GSEs set nationwide underwriting rules that govern whether an ADU can be financed, appraised, and counted toward mortgage qualifying income. The relevant actors are Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA (HUD), VA, and USDA Rural Development.
Federal tax credits
There is no ADU-specific federal tax credit. ADUs may incidentally qualify for existing federal energy-efficiency and clean-energy tax credits when the ADU construction includes qualifying measures.
Federal housing programs
HUD administers several discretionary programs that can fund ADU-related activity at the grantee's election, but none is an ADU-specific program.
ZIP Code
- 38002
Post Office
- 5885 Airline Rd, 38002