Upperville

Clarke County does NOT maintain a standalone accessory-dwelling-unit ordinance with dedicated definitional and dimensional standards. ADUs in Clarke County are regulated indirectly through the Zoning Ordinance's treatment of 'accessory uses,' 'accessory structures,' 'guest house / guest cottage,' and 'family-occupied second dwelling' in combination with the per-district use schedules. The relevant districts are AOC (Agricultural-Open-Conservation, the principal large-lot rural district covering most of the county), FOC (Forestry-Open-Conservation, smaller upland blocks especially near the Blue Ridge), R-R (Rural Residential), R-S (Rural Suburban), and a few small commercial and industrial districts near Berryville and Boyce. In the AOC and FOC districts, which cover the great majority of county acreage, a 'family-member dwelling' or farm-labor tenant dwelling is typically permitted subject to minimum lot area (commonly 5 to 25 acres depending on the family-member relationship and the district), demonstrated agricultural or family-member use, and Zoning Administrator approval; a fully independent second dwelling for non-family occupancy typically requires a Special Use Permit from the Board of Supervisors after Planning Commission recommendation. The AOC district has a 'sliding-scale' subdivision provision that determines maximum residential density based on parent-tract acreage, with progressively more restrictive ratios as parcel size increases - this is unusual among Virginia rural counties and reflects Clarke County's strong land-conservation politics dating back to the 1980 adoption of the original Clarke County Comprehensive Plan that explicitly aimed to protect the rural-residential character. In the R-R and R-S districts (smaller residential parcels closer to Berryville and Boyce), accessory-structure rules apply with district-specific setback standards. Applicants should confirm current ordinance text with the Zoning Administrator before committing to a project pro forma - the ordinance has been amended periodically and specific ADU-like allowances vary by district. Clarke County is one of Virginia's most heavily-easemented rural counties: a substantial fraction of farmland (more than half of the county by some estimates) is under conservation easement held by the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, the Potomac Conservancy, the Land Trust of Virginia, or smaller conservation entities. Easement-encumbered parcels frequently have additional contractual restrictions on dwelling-unit count, building footprint, and accessory-structure placement that are SEPARATE from and TIGHTER than the zoning ordinance allowances. Applicants on easement-encumbered parcels must obtain easement-holder approval BEFORE pursuing zoning approval - this is a recurrent gotcha in Clarke County ADU pro formas.

Clarke County administers several overlay regimes that bear materially on ADU projects, and the county's distinctive land-conservation politics produce a uniquely heavy easement-and-historic-overlay layer compared to most Virginia rural counties. The relevant overlays are: (1) a Floodplain Overlay District tied to FEMA Special Flood Hazard Areas, with material coverage along the Shenandoah River, Spout Run, and the smaller tributary creeks; (2) conservation-easement encumbrance across a substantial fraction of county acreage - more than half of Clarke County's farmland is under easement held by the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, the Potomac Conservancy, the Land Trust of Virginia, or smaller conservation entities, and easement-holder consent is contractually required for ADU and other modifications independent of zoning approval; (3) locally-adopted historic overlays including the Berryville Historic District (administered by the Town of Berryville, not the county), the Millwood Historic District anchored by the 1782 Burwell-Morgan Mill, the Long Branch Historic House and Farm vicinity, the Audley vicinity, and numerous individually-listed NRHP plantations and village cores including the Carter Hall plantation house (built 1792, NRHP-listed) and the Saratoga plantation (NRHP-listed); (4) the Appalachian Trail National Scenic Trail corridor along the Blue Ridge crest, with NPS-administered viewshed considerations on parcels visible from the AT; (5) state parkland at the Sky Meadows State Park (in neighboring Fauquier County but with viewshed reach into Clarke), and the Blandy Experimental Farm / State Arboretum of Virginia (a 700-acre research farm and arboretum near White Post, owned by the University of Virginia and the only state arboretum); (6) the Virginia Department of Forestry coordinated activity along forested Blue Ridge parcels, although Virginia has no statewide WUI overlay. Clarke County is NOT a Tidewater locality under the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act (the Tidewater designation generally applies east of the Fall Line, and Clarke is well west of the Fall Line), so the CBPA RPA / RMA framework does NOT apply directly. The county's strong land-conservation politics, however, mean that voluntary water-quality and viewshed protection programs are extensive even without the CBPA framework. Clarke County has NO California-style coastal commission, NO CalFire-equivalent WUI regulatory overlay, and NO seismic-retrofit overlay.

• Floodplain Overlay District
• Conservation easement encumbrance (Virginia Outdoors Foundation, Potomac Conservancy, Land Trust of Virginia)
• Millwood Historic District, Long Branch Historic House and Farm vicinity, Carter Hall, Saratoga, and the Berryville Historic District (town-administered)
• Appalachian Trail National Scenic Trail viewshed corridor

Clarke County's Department of Planning and Zoning handles zoning permits, Special Use Permits, site plan review, subdivision review, and conservation-easement coordination for every parcel in the county except those inside the Towns of Berryville and Boyce (which administer their own zoning and permitting) and the small federal/state parcels. Building Inspections issues building permits and trade permits for the same non-town territory. A typical ADU-like permit bundle (where a second dwelling is permitted) includes: (1) easement-holder consent, where applicable - this is frequently the FIRST step on Clarke County rural projects because more than half of the county's farmland is under conservation easement and the easement holder's consent is contractually required before the county can issue zoning approval, (2) a Special Use Permit from the Board of Supervisors with Planning Commission recommendation, unless the parcel qualifies for an AOC / FOC family-member or farm-labor dwelling allowance, (3) a Zoning Permit confirming use compliance and district setback compliance, (4) a Building Permit with stamped residential plans, (5) Electrical, Plumbing, and Mechanical trade permits, (6) a Virginia Department of Health Lord Fairfax Health District construction permit for well and/or septic on parcels not served by public water or sewer (which is the great majority of parcels - public water and sewer are limited to portions of Berryville and Boyce and a small number of nearby parcels), (7) a Floodplain Development Permit if any portion of the parcel is within the mapped Special Flood Hazard Area along the Shenandoah River, Spout Run, or other tributaries, (8) limited Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act review - Clarke County is NOT a Tidewater locality (the Tidewater designation generally applies to counties east of the Fall Line, and Clarke is well west of the Fall Line in the Shenandoah Valley) so the CBPA RPA / RMA framework does not apply directly, but Clarke voluntarily participates in some Bay-watershed water-quality programs given that the Shenandoah River drains to the Potomac and ultimately to the Chesapeake Bay, (9) Historic District review if the parcel is within a designated local historic overlay (notably the Berryville Historic District administered by the town, the Long Branch Historic House and Farm vicinity, the Audley vicinity, and the Millwood Historic District anchored by the Burwell-Morgan Mill).