Lynchburg

Campbell County regulates accessory dwelling units through its county Zoning Ordinance (Chapter 30 of the Campbell County Code), administered by the Campbell County Community Development Department under the authority of the Campbell County Board of Supervisors. Virginia is a Dillon Rule state and the General Assembly has not enacted any statewide ADU preemption; Campbell County's authority to regulate or prohibit ADUs derives solely from the general zoning enabling statute at Va. Code § 15.2-2280 and the ordinance-content provisions of § 15.2-2286. Campbell County is a Piedmont county south of Lynchburg (county seat Rustburg, population approximately 55,000) functionally peripheral to the Lynchburg MSA. The county's zoning ordinance establishes use districts (Agricultural A-1, Residential R-1, R-2, R-3, Business B-1 and B-2, Industrial M-1 and M-2, and Planned Unit Development) and specifies permitted, accessory, and special-use lists for each district. A second dwelling on a single residential parcel is not a by-right permitted use in standard residential districts; ADU-style projects typically proceed either (a) through the county's family subdivision / family dwelling provisions (limited to conveyances or dwellings for immediate family members), (b) through a discretionary Special Use Permit approved by the Board of Supervisors following Planning Commission recommendation, or (c) by recording a family or minor subdivision to place the second dwelling on its own lot. Campbell County has not adopted a standalone ministerial ADU ordinance of the California / Oregon / Washington type; the practical effect is that a homeowner cannot rely on an 'ADU by-right' framework, and each ADU-style project is subject to district-specific analysis and, in the common case of non-family rental occupancy, a discretionary Special Use Permit process. Note that two incorporated towns — the Town of Altavista and the Town of Brookneal — sit within Campbell County; parcels inside either town's corporate limits are governed by the respective town zoning ordinance (the town administers its own zoning, subdivision, and permit process), not by the county ordinance. The independent City of Lynchburg borders Campbell County to the north and is a separate jurisdiction entirely.

• Campbell County Code Chapter 30 — Zoning Ordinance
• Campbell County Community Development Department — Planning, Zoning, and Building Inspections
• Campbell County Board of Supervisors — adopting body for zoning ordinance amendments and Special Use Permits
• Campbell County Planning Commission
• Virginia Code Title 15.2 Chapter 22 (Planning, Subdivision of Land and Zoning)

State-floor overlay: Virginia has not enacted any statewide ADU preemption statute. Virginia is a Dillon Rule state (see Commonwealth v. County Bd. of Arlington County, 217 Va. 558 (1977)); localities have only those powers expressly granted by the General Assembly. The general zoning enabling statute at Va. Code § 15.2-2280 grants counties, cities, and towns broad authority to regulate land use, and § 15.2-2286 enumerates the specific ordinance provisions that may be included. Neither statute, nor any section of Title 15.2 Chapter 22 Article 7, mandates that a locality permit ADUs, requires ministerial review of ADU applications, caps parking requirements, caps fees, or voids owner-occupancy requirements. Campbell County is therefore free to permit, restrict, or prohibit second dwellings under its zoning ordinance within the ordinary constitutional limits on land-use regulation. ADU preemption bills have been introduced in the Virginia General Assembly in multiple recent sessions (2022-2025) without enactment; the statewide regulatory picture at the county level is unchanged.

Campbell County administers or is subject to several overlay regimes that affect ADU siting on unincorporated parcels: (1) FEMA Special Flood Hazard Areas along the Staunton River (which forms the county's long southern boundary with Halifax, Charlotte, and Pittsylvania Counties and includes the backwaters of Leesville Lake), the James River (short northern-boundary stretch near Lynchburg), Otter River, Falling River, Beaver Creek, Big Otter River, and various smaller tributaries, administered through the county's floodplain ordinance satisfying NFIP minimums; (2) Leesville Lake shoreline management overlay — the lower pool of Appalachian Power Company's Smith Mountain Pumped Storage Project (FERC Project No. 2210) extends into Campbell County on the county's western edge, and shoreline development on Leesville Lake frontage parcels is subject to Appalachian Power's Shoreline Management Plan in addition to county zoning; (3) Agricultural and Forestal Districts established under Va. Code § 15.2-4300 et seq., providing participating landowners use-value taxation and subdivision-deferral protections in exchange for a commitment to keep land in agricultural or forestal use; (4) the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act does NOT apply — Campbell County is not in the Tidewater area covered by Va. Code § 62.1-44.15:67 et seq., so Resource Protection Areas (RPAs) and Resource Management Areas (RMAs) do not apply; (5) wildfire risk is tracked by the Virginia Department of Forestry, but Virginia does not have a California-style Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone regulatory overlay mandating ignition-resistant construction — the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code does not statewide-adopt the International Wildland-Urban Interface Code; (6) the Staunton River State Park and Staunton River Battlefield State Park (the latter partly in Campbell County / partly in Charlotte County) are state-owned parklands; state park boundaries do not regulate adjacent private parcels, but scenic or conservation easements may apply to individual nearby parcels. Campbell County does not have a county-wide historic-district overlay; individual properties may be listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register or National Register but this listing does not itself impose regulatory constraints on private rehabilitation absent a separate local ordinance or federal-tax-credit election.

• FEMA National Flood Insurance Program — Special Flood Hazard Areas — Campbell County participates in the National Flood Insurance Program and administers a county floodplain ordinance meeting NFIP minimums. The principal Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) extents in the county are along the Staunton River (the long southern county boundary and the backwaters of Leesville Lake impounded by the Leesville Dam), the James River along the short northern boundary near Lynchburg, the Otter River and Falling River systems, and their larger tributaries. An ADU sited in an SFHA must comply with NFIP elevation requirements (lowest finished floor at or above Base Flood Elevation plus any county freeboard), flood vent requirements on enclosed areas below BFE, anchoring requirements, and post-construction Elevation Certificate filing. Owners should confirm current-effective FIRM panel at the FEMA Map Service Center before design; FEMA has periodically updated Virginia county panels.
• Leesville Lake Shoreline Management Plan (Appalachian Power / FERC Project No. 2210) — Leesville Lake is the lower reservoir of Appalachian Power Company's Smith Mountain Pumped Storage Project, impounded by the Leesville Dam on the Staunton River; the upper reservoir is Smith Mountain Lake. Leesville Lake is operated under the same FERC license (Project No. 2210) as Smith Mountain Lake and is subject to the same Shoreline Management Plan framework administered by Appalachian Power. Campbell County shares Leesville Lake frontage with Pittsylvania County and Bedford County. For lake-frontage parcels in Campbell County, the Appalachian Power SMP is the controlling additional permit beyond county zoning: accessory structures within the FERC project boundary (approximately the licensed project elevation contour) require an SMP permit, and structures above the project boundary but on lake-frontage parcels remain subject to county zoning and any subdivision covenants. Owners of Leesville Lake frontage parcels (primarily in the Leesville and Lynch Station areas in western Campbell County) should contact Appalachian Power Shoreline Management as well as Campbell County Community Development at the earliest planning stage.
• Virginia Agricultural and Forestal Districts (local option under state law) — Campbell County has established Agricultural and Forestal Districts under the state AFD Act. Enrollment is voluntary; participating landowners commit to keeping land in agricultural or forestal use for a period (typically 4-10 years) in exchange for use-value assessment (Va. Code § 58.1-3230 et seq.) and limited protection from certain governmental actions that would disrupt agricultural use. An ADU on an AFD-enrolled parcel is generally permitted if it is an accessory use to continued agricultural operation (e.g., a farm-labor dwelling or family dwelling), but non-agricultural commercial-rental ADUs may conflict with AFD purposes and trigger AFD committee review. Owners should consult the Campbell County AFD Advisory Committee and the zoning administrator before assuming ADU compatibility.
• Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code and VDOF wildfire risk (no WUI regulatory overlay) — Campbell County's western edge abuts the Blue Ridge foothills and includes moderate wildfire exposure tracked by the Virginia Department of Forestry, but Virginia does not have a statewide Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone regulatory overlay that mandates WUI-rated construction materials on a per-parcel basis. Under Va. Code § 36-98 the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code is the single statewide building code; localities cannot impose more stringent local building-code amendments. Virginia has not statewide-adopted the International Wildland-Urban Interface Code. Owners in wildfire-exposed locations should follow defensible-space best practices but face no locality-imposed WUI construction overlay analogous to California Chapter 7A or Oregon WUI code.
• Staunton River State Park and Staunton River Battlefield State Park adjacency — Staunton River State Park (in Halifax County at the Campbell County border) and Staunton River Battlefield State Park (partly in Campbell County at Clover and partly in Charlotte County) are state-owned parklands managed by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. State park boundaries do not impose regulatory constraints on adjacent private parcels, but the parks are a culturally and ecologically significant presence on the Staunton River corridor. Individual parcels along the river corridor may carry recorded scenic or conservation easements held by the Virginia Outdoors Foundation or other conservation trusts; owners should check title and any recorded easements before designing an ADU on river-adjacent land.

The Campbell County Community Development Department is the sole permitting authority for building permits, zoning permits, and Special Use Permits on parcels within the unincorporated county (i.e., parcels outside the corporate limits of the Town of Altavista and the Town of Brookneal). Campbell County comprises approximately 508 square miles of mixed rural, agricultural, and suburban territory in the Virginia Piedmont, south of the independent City of Lynchburg. The county's only incorporated places are the Town of Altavista and the Town of Brookneal; all other populated places (Rustburg the county seat, Concord, Evington, Gladys, Lynch Station, Naruna, Leesville, Hat Creek, Spring Hill, Timberlake, Yellow Branch, and numerous smaller unincorporated communities) are administered by the county. For an ADU-style project in the unincorporated county, the typical sequence is: (a) zoning determination by the zoning administrator (permitted by right under a narrow family/kinship reading, permitted via Special Use Permit, or prohibited); (b) if SUP required, application to the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors under Va. Code §§ 15.2-2204, 15.2-2285, 15.2-2286; (c) building permit application to the county building official; (d) inspections through construction; (e) certificate of occupancy. Applicants should expect a substantially longer timeline than a first-dwelling build when an SUP is required, because the SUP process is a public-hearing process with statutory notice requirements (two successive weeks' advertisement and five-day final-notice under Va. Code § 15.2-2204).