Chesterfield County

Because Chesterfield County contains no incorporated towns or cities, the entire county's ~437 square miles of land area is 'unincorporated' for permitting purposes and the Chesterfield County Planning Department and Building Inspection office are the single point of contact for every residential ADU permit in the county. ADU permits follow a two-track process under the post-ZOMod 2026 ordinance: (a) an accessory dwelling that meets all the recommended conditions in Section 19.2-32-15 (12,000 sqft lot, size cap, family occupancy, parking, setbacks, design) goes through a streamlined administrative path with a $100 application fee and public notification rather than a full CUP hearing cycle; (b) an ADU that deviates from any recommended condition requires a full Conditional Use Permit, which involves Planning Department case-manager review, pre-application meeting, Technical Review Committee, a community meeting if the district commissioner requires one, a Planning Commission public hearing, and a Board of Supervisors public hearing. CUP processing typically takes four to six months. All ADUs, regardless of approval pathway, require building permits through Building Inspection and trade permits (electrical, plumbing, mechanical), and parcels not served by public water and sewer (common in rural Matoaca and southern Chesterfield) must demonstrate adequate septic capacity through the Virginia Department of Health / Chesterfield County Health Department.

Process overview: ADU approval in Chesterfield County follows: (a) applicant contacts a Planning Department planner via 804-748-1050 or planning@chesterfield.gov for a pre-application discussion and confirms parcel zoning and lot-size eligibility (12,000 sqft minimum under the ZOMod ADU framework); (b) applicant verifies whether the ADU design meets all recommended conditions of Section 19.2-32-15 (size, parking, setbacks, family occupancy, design) — if yes, the administrative / streamlined path applies with a $100 ADU application fee; if no, a Conditional Use Permit is required with the full CUP process and fee; (c) for CUP applications, applicant submits through ELM with site plan, floor plans, elevations, and supporting materials, followed by Technical Review Committee internal review (typically 30-45 days), a community meeting if the district planning commissioner requires one, Planning Commission public hearing with staff recommendation, and Board of Supervisors public hearing and decision — the CUP track typically takes 4-6 months; (d) for the streamlined administrative path, applicant submits the ADU permit package with a neighbor-notification affidavit; Planning staff confirms compliance with Section 19.2-32-15 conditions, processes the $100 fee, and approves administratively (typically 30-60 days); (e) once zoning approval is in hand (either path), applicant submits the building permit application through ELM with construction documents; Building Inspection completes structural, electrical, plumbing, mechanical, and energy-code plan review under the 2021 Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code; (f) for parcels not on public water and sewer, the Virginia Department of Health — Chesterfield office reviews septic capacity and issues the on-site sewage disposal permit; (g) construction, inspections (footing, framing, rough-in, final), and Certificate of Occupancy. Resource Protection Area (RPA) buffers under the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act and Floodplain Management Ordinance add parallel sub-reviews for parcels in those overlays.

Impact fees: Virginia counties have narrow statutory authority to charge development impact fees (Va. Code Section 15.2-2317 et seq., with most fee authority limited to roads and requiring specific Board of Supervisors adoption and formula-driven computation); Chesterfield's fee schedule is materially less dense than California counties. The core costs of an ADU permit in Chesterfield are (i) the zoning application fee — $100 for an ADU meeting recommended conditions under ZOMod, or the standard CUP fee (several thousand dollars) if a CUP is required; (ii) building permit fees under the adopted residential fee schedule, which are cost-recovery based and scale with valuation; (iii) trade permit fees (electrical, plumbing, mechanical); (iv) water and sewer connection / availability fees through Chesterfield County Utilities for parcels on public service (single-family residential connection fees cover meter, tap, and availability charges, with detached-ADU connections typically incurring an incremental availability fee though many ADUs are served off the primary dwelling's existing service); and (v) for off-public-service parcels, septic system permit and construction cost through the Virginia Department of Health. Chesterfield does NOT charge a California-style per-square-foot impact fee schedule on ADUs. School impact fees are not authorized for general locality use in Virginia. (schedule)

The Chesterfield County Department of Real Estate Assessments maintains parcel-level assessment records for all real property in the county. Virginia mandates assessment at 100% fair market value under Code of Virginia Title 58.1; unlike California's Proposition 13 acquisition-value system, Virginia localities reassess periodically using mass-appraisal methods. Chesterfield reassesses real estate ANNUALLY — notices are mailed by February 1 each year showing assessed values as of January 1. An ADU addition is captured in the following year's annual reassessment as a market-value adjustment reflecting both the physical improvement and comparable-sales evidence; there is no California-style 'supplemental roll' separate from the main annual roll. Because Chesterfield reassesses annually, an ADU completed mid-year will appear in the next year's notice. This annual-cycle approach means the full assessed-value increase takes effect sooner than in California (no 6-12 month supplemental lag) but is also more visible: the owner sees the entire ADU value bump as a line item on the next annual notice. Virginia has no Prop 13 cap; the statewide real-estate-tax rate Chesterfield sets applies to full fair market value (the 2024-2025 real estate tax rate was $0.91 per $100 assessed value, one of the lowest in the Richmond MSA).

Assessment policy: Virginia Code Title 58.1 requires assessment at 100% fair market value. Chesterfield County reassesses annually, with January 1 as the effective date and notices mailed by February 1. For ADU additions, the assessor incorporates the new improvement into the next annual assessment cycle — there is no separate supplemental notice as in California. Typical Chesterfield ADU assessed-value increments for 700-1,200 sqft detached ADUs range from roughly $110,000 to $220,000 in the post-2024 market, producing a property-tax increment of roughly $1,000 to $2,000 per year at the $0.91 per $100 assessed value Chesterfield real estate tax rate (plus any applicable special district fees). The primary dwelling's assessed value is also revisited each year per Title 58.1, so any market appreciation of the primary dwelling is captured alongside the ADU addition. Unlike Proposition 13 jurisdictions, Virginia provides no acquisition-value cap, no 2% annual-growth cap, and no separate 'new construction supplemental' assessment with its own appeal window.

Chesterfield County administers several county- and state-level overlay regimes that materially affect ADU siting: (1) the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act (CBPA) Resource Protection Area (RPA) 100-foot riparian buffer, mandated by Va. Code Section 62.1-44.15:67 et seq. and administered locally by Chesterfield through the zoning and subdivision ordinances — RPA buffers protect all tidal and perennial non-tidal waters in the county and prohibit most new impervious surface within the 100-foot buffer; (2) the Flood Plain Management Ordinance (FEMA NFIP participant since March 1983, ordinance first adopted February 23, 1983) covering FEMA Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHA) along the James River, Appomattox River, Swift Creek, Falling Creek, Proctors Creek, Pocoshock Creek, and numerous smaller tributaries, with the February 2024 effective FIRM panels providing the current regulatory floodplain map; (3) the Resource Management Area (RMA) buffer — the wider 'second-tier' CBPA buffer applied county-wide to 'intensely developed areas' as a Chesapeake Bay water-quality overlay; (4) airport noise and safety zones around the Richmond Executive-Chesterfield County Airport (FCI) and the broader Richmond International Airport (RIC, just across the James River in Henrico County, with its approach corridors crossing into northern Chesterfield); (5) airport noise and safety overlays around Defense Supply Center Richmond (DSCR) / Fort Lee airspace in the eastern county. Coastal Commission jurisdiction does NOT apply (Virginia has no California-style Coastal Commission; the CBPA is the functional analog). Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones are NOT a Virginia regulatory category — Chesterfield has no WUI overlay comparable to California's CAL FIRE VHFHSZ system, though wildland fire risk exists in the rural Matoaca district. Historic districts in Chesterfield are locally designated; the notable ones are Historic Chesterfield Courthouse (around the 1749 courthouse complex) and several National Register properties.

• Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act Resource Protection Area (RPA) — 100-foot buffer — ADU designs that cantilever over, or place impervious surface within, the 100-foot RPA buffer require an RPA Exception, which involves a Water Quality Impact Assessment, staff review, and Planning Commission public hearing. Adding roughly 30-60 days to the overall ADU timeline for an RPA Exception is typical. Owners with creek-adjacent parcels along Swift Creek, Falling Creek, or Proctors Creek should confirm RPA status via the county parcel viewer before design.
• Chesterfield County Flood Plain Management Ordinance — FEMA NFIP participant — ADUs in an SFHA must have lowest floor elevated to or above Base Flood Elevation plus Chesterfield's freeboard, flood vents on any enclosed area below BFE, structural anchoring, and a post-construction Elevation Certificate. The substantial-improvement trigger (>50% of structure value) means a garage conversion or attached-unit addition to an existing flood-prone structure can cascade into full-structure floodplain compliance. Owners along Swift Creek, Falling Creek, the James, and the Appomattox should verify current FIRM status (2024 effective panels) before ADU design. Flood insurance is federally required for SFHA parcels with federally-backed mortgages.
• Airport noise and safety zones — Richmond Executive-Chesterfield County Airport (FCI) and Richmond International Airport (RIC) approach corridors — ADU siting inside the FCI Airport Overlay District is subject to height limits (typically 35 feet or the district base height, whichever is lower, within the approach / departure surfaces), noise attenuation considerations for DNL 65+ dB areas, and avigation easement recording for new residential parcels. The overlay does not prohibit ADUs but does constrain detached two-story ADU designs in the approach corridors. Owners in southern Matoaca and around FCI should verify Airport Overlay status before a two-story detached ADU design.
• Historic Chesterfield Courthouse area and locally-designated historic overlay districts — An ADU on a parcel within a locally-designated historic overlay district requires design review — typically staff review for minor additions, with Historic Preservation Committee review for more substantial proposals. Parcels that are individually National Register-listed but not in a local overlay are not subject to local design review for ADU additions (the National Register is informational / tax-credit-eligibility, not regulatory). Owners near the Courthouse complex should confirm overlay status before ADU design.