New Hope

Augusta County regulates accessory dwelling units primarily through accessory-use provisions in its zoning ordinance rather than through a standalone ADU chapter. The county's residential and general-agriculture districts permit one accessory dwelling unit on a qualifying lot subject to minimum lot size, setback, and public-health requirements (well and septic sizing), with the ADU treated as subordinate to the primary dwelling. The county does not operate a Northern-Virginia-style ADU ordinance with an explicit size cap; instead, ADU feasibility is driven primarily by (1) the district's minimum lot area, (2) onsite-sewage capacity under Virginia Department of Health rules, and (3) the Uniform Statewide Building Code's residential-occupancy requirements. The county's ADU posture is materially more permissive on rural acreage than in the small residential R-1/R-2 subdivisions, where setback and lot-area minimums often make a second dwelling infeasible without a variance. Short-term rental is a separately regulated use under the county's zoning ordinance. Confirm the current accessory-dwelling section text and any by-right vs. Special Use Permit classification with the Augusta County Community Development department before pricing a project.

Augusta County administers three overlay regimes that bear materially on ADU projects: (1) a Floodplain Overlay District tied to FEMA Special Flood Hazard Areas along the Middle River, South River, North River, Christians Creek, and other Shenandoah Valley drainages; (2) Scenic Corridor / Agricultural-Preservation overlays reflecting the county's Shenandoah Valley agricultural heritage and the visual character of US 11 / I-81 / the Shenandoah National Park / George Washington National Forest gateway routes; and (3) a public water-and-sewer service-area framework run by the Augusta County Service Authority (ACSA) inside the county's designated Urban Service Areas (Fishersville, Stuarts Draft, Verona, Weyers Cave, and adjoining growth areas) that sharply separates ADU feasibility inside vs. outside those service areas. Augusta County has NO coastal-commission jurisdiction (it is entirely inland, outside the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act boundary), NO CalFire-equivalent WUI regulatory overlay (Virginia has no statewide WUI program; the Virginia Department of Forestry coordinates wildfire response without a permit-constraining overlay), NO seismic-retrofit overlay (standard IRC/IBC provisions as adopted in the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code govern), and NO FAA Part 150 airport-noise overlay for a commercial airport (Shenandoah Valley Regional Airport / KSHD is a commercial airport partly in Augusta County but has no Part 150 noise-exposure overlay imposed on surrounding parcels).

• Augusta County Floodplain Overlay District
• Augusta County Urban Service Area / Public Water and Sewer Overlay
• Scenic Corridor / Agricultural-Preservation Context (I-81, US 11, Shenandoah National Park / George Washington National Forest gateway)

Augusta County's Department of Community Development issues ADU building permits for every parcel in the county except those inside the independent cities of Staunton and Waynesboro (each of which operates its own building department) and, for zoning matters, those inside the Town of Craigsville and the Town of Grottoes where the town has displaced the county code. All unincorporated CDPs including Fishersville, Stuarts Draft, Verona, Weyers Cave, Churchville, Mount Sidney, New Hope, Crimora, and Lyndhurst route through the county. A typical Augusta County ADU permit bundle includes: (1) a Zoning Permit from the county Zoning Division confirming district eligibility, setbacks, and any overlay triggers, (2) a Building Permit with stamped residential plans filed with the Building Inspections Division, (3) Electrical, Plumbing, and Mechanical trade permits, (4) a Virginia Department of Health onsite-sewage / well construction permit from the Central Shenandoah Health District for parcels not served by public water and sewer (the majority of county parcels), (5) a Floodplain Development Permit if any portion of the parcel is within the mapped 100-year floodplain under the county's Floodplain Overlay, and (6) any town-level review if the parcel is inside Craigsville or Grottoes.