ADU Pass
Narrows
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Narrows, Giles County, Virginia navigate the permit paperwork for building an accessory dwelling unit. This area covers 1 ZIP code.
Map
ADU details
ADU legality: allowed-with-restrictions
Narrows ADU permitting follows the Town's zoning ordinance inside corporate limits. The New River SFHA and the Karst Resource Protection Overlay are the dominant constraints.
Cost scenarios
| Scenario | Sq ft | Permit | Build | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| minimum | 200 | $1,675 | $58,800 | $60,475 |
| 600 | 600 | $1,675 | $176,400 | $178,075 |
| midpoint | 550 | $1,675 | $161,700 | $163,375 |
| maximum | 900 | $1,675 | $264,600 | $266,275 |
Fee breakdown (as of 2026-04)
Permitting process
Viability (permitted uses)
- Long-term rental: yes Long-term rental generally permitted under the locally-applicable ADU pathway; Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (Va. Code Section 55.1-1200 et seq.) governs.
- Short-term rental: with-restrictions Giles County regulates STRs through zoning and a county Transient Occupancy Tax. STR demand here is materially higher than most far-southwest VA counties because of Mountain Lake Lodge tourism, Virginia Tech / Blacksburg overflow, and AT through-hiker traffic at the Pearisburg gap.
- Office rental: with-restrictions Detached office rental requires home-occupation permit.
- Home office: yes Home occupation permitted with signage and traffic limits.
- Studio / workshop: yes Personal studio is a permitted accessory use.
- Agriculture: yes Agricultural / Rural districts expressly permit farm structures and livestock subject to setbacks.
- Relative support: yes Family / multi-generational accessory dwelling is the most accessible ADU pathway and is recognized in agricultural and residential districts.
Contacts
Staff: Planning Counter (Zoning Administrator / Planning Permit Intake), Building Inspections (Building Official)
Utilities
- Water: Town of Narrows municipal water · 30d connect · $6,500
- Sewer: Town of Narrows municipal sewer · 45d connect · $9,500
- Electric: Appalachian Power Company (AEP) · 30d connect · $2,400
- Gas: Bottled propane · 14d connect · $1,800
Property values & taxes
Construction timeline
Realistic total: best 8mo · typical 12mo · worst 20mo
Modular pathway inspectors are occasional with modular
Financing
Insurance impact
HOA prevalence & preemption
Virginia has no HOA-ADU preemption. Newer subdivisions in suburban areas carry HOA covenants that often restrict accessory dwellings; rural parcels are typically not in an HOA.
Regulatory overlays (3)
- other
Giles County administers a Karst Resource Protection Overlay reflecting the extensive cave-and-karst geology (New River Cave, Eggleston Cave, Mountain Lake area cave network). Documented or suspected sinkholes, sinking streams, springs, or cave entrances trigger additional setback and stormwater requirements; AOSS septic frequent on karst-affected parcels. (map) - flood-zone
Giles County's New River corridor carries substantial SFHA coverage. Floodplain Development Permit required when any portion of parcel intersects SFHA. (map) - other
Substantial portions of Giles County are federal land (Jefferson National Forest, Mountain Lake Wilderness Area, Peters Mountain Wilderness Area). Parcels adjacent to NF land may carry coordination requirements with the US Forest Service. (map)
Technical envelope (climate & building code)
Climate & energy code
Building code
Amendments:
- Amendment
Legal history (timeline)
Current ordinance: Giles County Code Chapter 70 (Zoning Ordinance) with Karst Resource Protection Overlay, adopted 1985-01-01, last amended 2024-06-01
- 1979-01-01 — Va. Code Section 15.2-2280 zoning authority codified (Dillon Rule baseline) (state-statute)
Virginia delegated zoning authority to counties, cities, and towns without an ADU-specific preemption.
Effect: Each Virginia locality regulates ADUs through its own zoning ordinance; ADUs are not automatically permitted statewide.
Giles County — county ADU rules and overlays
County ADU ordinance
Giles County does NOT maintain a standalone accessory-dwelling-unit ordinance with dedicated definitional and dimensional standards. ADUs in Giles 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 A-1 Agricultural, R-1 and R-2 Residential, R-R Rural Residential, B-1 and B-2 Business, M-1 Industrial, and a few specialized districts. In the A-1 Agricultural district, which covers the great majority of county acreage outside the towns and the National Forest, a 'family-member dwelling' or farm-labor tenant dwelling is typically permitted subject to minimum lot area, 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. In the R-1, R-2, and R-R Residential districts (smaller residential parcels in the towns and along the New River and Mountain Lake corridors), 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 Giles County Karst Resource Protection Overlay is a distinctive feature - the county adopted karst-protection provisions in recognition of the extensive cave-and-karst geology, which creates groundwater-protection concerns for any project involving onsite-sewage or significant earth-disturbing activity on karst-affected parcels.
County regulatory overlays
Giles County administers several overlay regimes that bear materially on ADU projects. The relevant overlays are: (1) a Floodplain Overlay District tied to FEMA Special Flood Hazard Areas, with material coverage along the New River, Walker Creek, Stony Creek, Wolf Creek, Sinking Creek, and other tributaries; (2) a Karst Resource Protection Overlay - a distinctive Giles County feature reflecting the extensive cave-and-karst geology of the county, with sinkholes, sinking streams, springs, and known cave entrances scattered across substantial portions of the county; (3) federal land at the Jefferson National Forest, which covers a substantial fraction of the county and includes the Mountain Lake Wilderness Area, the Peters Mountain Wilderness Area, and the Appalachian Trail corridor; (4) the Appalachian Trail National Scenic Trail corridor, which crosses Giles County at multiple points including the Pearisburg town gap (one of the major resupply / zero-day stops on the entire AT) and the Mountain Lake / Salt Pond Mountain area; (5) limited local historic overlays including the Pearisburg Historic District and scattered NRHP-listed properties. Giles County is NOT a Tidewater locality under the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act (the county is in the New River / Ohio River drainage, not the Chesapeake Bay drainage). Giles has NO California-style coastal commission, NO CalFire-equivalent WUI regulatory overlay, and NO seismic-retrofit overlay.
County permitting (unincorporated parcels)
Giles County's Department of Planning and Zoning handles zoning permits, Special Use Permits, site plan review, subdivision review, and Karst Resource Protection Overlay administration for every parcel in the county except those inside the incorporated towns. Building Inspections issues building permits and trade permits for the same non-town territory. A typical ADU-like permit bundle includes: (1) a Special Use Permit from the Board of Supervisors with Planning Commission recommendation, unless the parcel qualifies for an A-1 family-member or farm-labor dwelling allowance, (2) a Zoning Permit confirming use compliance and district setback compliance, (3) a Building Permit with stamped residential plans, (4) Electrical, Plumbing, and Mechanical trade permits, (5) a Virginia Department of Health New River 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 the towns and a few service-district extensions), (6) a Floodplain Development Permit if any portion of the parcel is within the mapped Special Flood Hazard Area along the New River, Walker Creek, Stony Creek, or other tributaries, (7) Karst Resource Protection Overlay review for parcels with documented or suspected cave / karst features - this is a distinctive Giles County requirement reflecting the extensive cave-and-karst geology of the county, (8) US Forest Service coordination if the parcel is adjacent to Jefferson National Forest land (which covers a substantial fraction of the county), and (9) Historic District review if the parcel is within a designated local historic overlay (notably the Pearisburg Historic District).
Virginia state — ADU law and programs
State ADU law
Virginia has NOT enacted a statewide ADU preemption law. Virginia is a Dillon Rule state — localities possess only those powers expressly granted by the General Assembly — and the statutes granting zoning authority (Va. Code § 15.2-2280 et seq.) leave ADU regulation to local ordinances. ADU permission, setbacks, parking, size, and owner-occupancy rules therefore vary by county, independent city, and town. Virginia is unique in that it has 38 independent cities that function as counties (neither in nor subordinate to the surrounding county), meaning 'the county' for any given Virginia property may be an independent city rather than a true county. Several ADU preemption bills have been introduced in recent General Assembly sessions (2022 through 2025) without enactment; none have advanced past committee as of the Assembly's 2026 regular session adjournment.
State financing programs
Virginia does not operate an ADU-specific statewide loan, grant, or forgivable-loan program. Virginia Housing (formerly the Virginia Housing Development Authority, VHDA — rebranded 2020) administers general first-time-homebuyer, down-payment-assistance (DPA), mortgage-credit-certificate, and rehabilitation products that can be applied to ADU-adjacent purchases or improvements when eligibility criteria are met, but none target ADU construction as a distinct product. The Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) administers federal HOME and CDBG pass-through funds that local jurisdictions can direct toward ADU-adjacent rehab, but there is no state-level ADU-dedicated line item. Federally available products (FHA 203(k), Fannie Mae HomeReady and HomeStyle Renovation, Freddie Mac CHOICERenovation) remain the primary ADU financing path for Virginia homeowners.
State housing programs
Virginia does not run a state-level pre-approved-ADU-plan catalog, statewide impact-fee-waiver statute for ADUs, or streamlined-review mandate. State-level programs that touch ADU-adjacent policy are coordinated primarily through the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) and Virginia Housing, and act by funding or assisting local jurisdictions rather than by preemption. Local ADU activity — Arlington County's Accessory Dwellings program (detached ADUs permitted since 2008, liberalized 2020), Alexandria's accessory-dwelling ordinance, Fairfax County's accessory-living-unit program, and Charlottesville's 2021 zoning-code changes — is authorized under the localities' Va. Code § 15.2-2280 zoning authority, not by state mandate.
- DHCD Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program — Federal CDBG funds administered by DHCD to eligible non-entitlement Virginia localities for community-revitalization, housing-rehab, and infrastructure projects. Not ADU-specific. Participating localities can direct CDBG funds toward housing-rehab projects where local policy supports ADUs.
- DHCD HOME Investment Partnerships Program — Federal HOME funds administered by DHCD to Virginia participating jurisdictions and non-profits for affordable-housing acquisition, rehab, and new construction. Not ADU-specific; can be directed to ADU-adjacent rehab at local discretion.
- Virginia Housing Commission — Permanent advisory commission of the General Assembly that studies housing-policy questions and recommends legislation. Has periodically studied ADU preemption and missing-middle housing without recommending statewide enactment as of 2026-04-21.
- Local ADU ordinances under Va. Code § 15.2-2280 authority — Not a state program — listed here because Virginia ADU policy is executed entirely at the locality level under the § 15.2-2280 zoning grant. A homeowner seeking to build an ADU consults the zoning ordinance of the specific county, city, or town where the parcel is located.
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
- 24124
Post Office
- 305 Main St, 24124