Hayes

Gloucester County's Zoning Ordinance (County Code Chapter 17) addresses accessory dwelling units through district-specific use schedules in Article 4 (Residential Districts: R-1 Single-Family Residential, R-2 Single-Family Residential Suburban, RR-1 Rural Residential, B-1 / B-2 Business with limited residential, and the planned-development districts) and the Supplementary Use Regulations in Article 9. Accessory single-family dwelling units (the ordinance's preferred term, sometimes denoted 'accessory family dwelling' or 'guest house' in older drafting) are permitted in most residential and rural-residential districts. Detached accessory dwellings on residential parcels in Gloucester County typically require either a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) or Special Exception under the per-district use schedule, with public-hearing review by the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors; attached or internal accessory dwellings (carved out of the principal dwelling without expanding its footprint) generally proceed through administrative zoning review subject to the Article 9 supplementary standards (typical floor-area cap in the 800-1,000 sqft range, one accessory dwelling per principal dwelling parcel, setback compliance, single connection to the parcel utility services with no separate metering on private wells, and an owner-occupancy condition often imposed by CUP resolution). All construction must comply with the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code (USBC, 13 VAC 5-63). The Planning and Zoning Department at Gloucester Court House administers zoning and the CUP process; the Building Official handles building permits and inspections; the Gloucester County Wetlands Zoning Board (a separately constituted local body under Va. Code § 28.2-1300 et seq.) administers tidal-wetlands permitting for projects affecting tidal wetlands or subaqueous bottom — a frequent issue in Gloucester given the county's roughly 220 miles of tidal shoreline. Confirm current ordinance text, per-district CUP-vs-administrative treatment, and the exact size cap with Planning and Zoning at 804-693-1224.

Gloucester County administers several county- and state-level overlay regimes that materially affect accessory-dwelling siting on its very shoreline-rich Middle Peninsula geography: (1) the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act (CBPA) Resource Protection Area (RPA) 100-foot buffer and the broader Resource Management Area (RMA), mandated by Va. Code § 62.1-44.15:67 et seq. and 9 VAC 25-830, and administered locally through the Gloucester County Chesapeake Bay Preservation provisions in Chapter 17 of the County Code — Gloucester is one of Virginia's most CBPA-impacted counties given its roughly 220 miles of tidal shoreline along the York River, Mobjack Bay (with the Ware River, North River, East River, and Severn River feeding into it), the Piankatank River, and the Guinea Marshes complex at the peninsula's southeast tip; (2) the Gloucester County Floodplain Management Ordinance covering FEMA Special Flood Hazard Areas (the county participates in the National Flood Insurance Program and maintains the standard Tidewater flood ordinance), with significant SFHA coverage along all tidal frontage and inland along Beaverdam Run, Aberdeen Creek, Timberneck Creek, Cedarbush Creek, and the named creek systems; (3) the Wetlands Zoning Board jurisdiction under Va. Code § 28.2-1300 et seq. — a locally constituted board with parallel and additional jurisdiction over any construction in or near tidal wetlands or subaqueous bottom; (4) the Naval Weapons Station Yorktown and Cheatham Annex Air Installation Compatible Use Zone (AICUZ) — the southern boundary of Gloucester County across the York River from Naval Weapons Station Yorktown produces some airspace and noise effect on southern Gloucester (Gloucester Point area), although the AICUZ contour impact is materially smaller than the well-known NAS Oceana / Langley AFB AICUZ effects further south and east; (5) the Gloucester County Historic District / Historic Preservation provisions covering the Gloucester Court House Historic District (a National Register Historic District around the colonial-era courthouse and Main Street commercial core) and several other locally significant historic resources — the Court House district affects accessory-dwelling siting on a small number of parcels in the immediate Court House area but does not produce countywide HALRB-style review; (6) Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) and US Army Corps of Engineers parallel federal/state jurisdiction over any project affecting waters of the US or state waters — frequent on Gloucester's heavily-indented shoreline. Coastal Commission jurisdiction does NOT apply (Virginia has no California-style Coastal Commission; CBPA, Wetlands Board, VMRC, and the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program are the functional analogs). Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones are NOT a Virginia regulatory category. Seismic retrofit zones do not apply in Virginia.

• Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act Resource Protection Area (RPA) 100-foot buffer and Resource Management Area (RMA) — Accessory-dwelling designs that cantilever over, or place impervious surface within, the 100-foot RPA buffer require an RPA Exception. The RPA Exception process in Gloucester involves a Water Quality Impact Assessment (WQIA) prepared by a qualified consultant, CBPA program staff review, and in more impactful cases Planning Commission review with a public hearing. Adding 45-90 days to the overall accessory-dwelling timeline for an RPA Exception is typical. The very high shoreline-to-acreage ratio of Gloucester (~220 miles of tidal shoreline for a 218-square-mile county, several times the typical Virginia shoreline density) means a substantial share of accessory-dwelling projects involve RPA review; waterfront parcels in Ware Neck, Guinea, Severn, Maryus, Susan, Bena, Achilles, Hayes, Gloucester Point, Petsworth, Cappahosic Beach, Glass, and the named neck-and-creek peninsulas should expect RPA review as a first-order siting constraint. Because Gloucester is classified for CBPA purposes as a 'Rural and Suburban' rather than 'Intensely Developed' locality (in contrast to Arlington's IDA classification), Gloucester's RPA / RMA framework is closer to the standard CBPA model — RPA is a hard 100-foot buffer with limited exceptions and RMA stormwater BMPs apply to new impervious surface throughout the RMA.
• Gloucester County Wetlands Zoning Board — tidal wetlands and subaqueous bottom permitting under Va. Code § 28.2-1300 et seq. — Accessory dwellings on waterfront parcels with planned shoreline-protection or access structures (bulkheads, riprap, living shorelines, piers, docks, boat ramps) require Wetlands Board permits. The Wetlands Board operates on a monthly hearing cycle; complete applications are typically heard 30-60 days after submission, with parallel VMRC and Army Corps review (Nationwide Permit or Individual Permit depending on project scope) running for 60-180 days. Best-practice timing places the Wetlands Board / VMRC / Army Corps applications in parallel with the CUP application so all permits are in hand before building permit application. Living shoreline alternatives are now strongly preferred by the Wetlands Board over hardened bulkheads following Virginia's Living Shorelines Act and VMRC's policy guidance — applicants proposing hardened bulkheads on shorelines where a living shoreline is technically feasible should expect challenging review and may need to demonstrate that conditions preclude a living-shoreline approach. The Joint Permit Application (JPA) is the standard intake document covering Wetlands Board, VMRC, Army Corps, and DEQ Virginia Water Protection Permit reviews; applicants should engage a Virginia-licensed coastal engineer or qualified shoreline consultant familiar with Middle Peninsula JPA practice.
• Gloucester County Floodplain Management Ordinance — FEMA NFIP participant — Accessory dwellings in an SFHA must have lowest floor elevated to or above Base Flood Elevation plus any locally-adopted freeboard, with flood vents on any enclosed area below BFE, structural anchoring to resist hydrodynamic and hydrostatic forces, breakaway walls in V zones (coastal high-hazard zones with wave action), and post-construction Elevation Certificate. The Gloucester County Floodplain Administrator (within Planning and Zoning) confirms BFE and zone designation for each parcel and reviews the design for ordinance compliance. Owners of waterfront parcels in the Hayes / Gloucester Point / Achilles corridor along the York River, in Ware Neck, Severn, Maryus, Susan, Bena, Cobbs Creek, Hartfield, and along the named tidal-creek systems should verify current FIRM status before accessory-dwelling design and engage a structural engineer familiar with V-zone and AE-zone Tidewater residential construction. Flood insurance is federally required for SFHA parcels with federally-backed mortgages. FEMA's Risk Rating 2.0 premium structure (effective 2021-2023 phased rollout) prices premiums on parcel-specific flood depth and structural features rather than the prior zone-based system, materially changing the premium economics for some Gloucester waterfront parcels (some owners saw substantial increases on legacy policies as the new rating phased in).
• Naval Weapons Station Yorktown / Cheatham Annex Air Installation Compatible Use Zone (AICUZ) and Felker Army Airfield airspace influence — Accessory-dwelling siting in Gloucester rarely encounters binding AICUZ or Part 77 constraints in practice because the typical detached accessory dwelling is one story or one-and-a-half stories, well within Part 77 surfaces, and because residential AICUZ noise-attenuation requirements apply only in the higher DNL contours which cover a limited footprint at the south end of the county. Owners of waterfront parcels in the southern Gloucester corridor (Gloucester Point, Hayes, Achilles) should verify AICUZ contour status with Planning and Zoning during pre-application consultation and consult the FAA 7460-1 obstruction-evaluation tool for any project at unusual height. The Naval Weapons Station Yorktown noise environment in Gloucester is dominated by occasional munitions-handling events rather than continuous aircraft operations, and is generally compatible with residential use — a meaningful contrast with the NAS Oceana / NAS Langley environments south and east.
• Gloucester Court House Historic District (National Register) and other Gloucester County historic resources — Accessory dwellings on parcels within the Gloucester Court House Historic District boundary are uncommon (the district is principally commercial and institutional rather than residential), but parcels immediately adjacent to the district or on contributing-structure parcels should consult with Planning and Zoning early about historic-context compatibility. Federal historic-rehabilitation tax credits under 26 USC § 47 and Virginia state historic-rehabilitation tax credits under Va. Code § 58.1-339.2 are available for income-producing rehabilitation of National Register-listed structures — a meaningful consideration if an accessory-dwelling project involves converting a historic accessory structure (e.g., a 19th-century smokehouse or carriage house on a National Register-listed property) into a rentable accessory dwelling, though the federal and state credit programs both require qualified rehabilitation expenditures meeting program standards. Most Gloucester accessory-dwelling projects (on parcels in Hayes, Gloucester Point, Ware Neck, Severn, Petsworth, Abingdon, and other non-Court-House communities) do not encounter historic-district review.

Because Gloucester County contains no incorporated towns, the county is the sole local permitting authority for every parcel in the county. Permitting is administered through two principal county departments at the Gloucester Court House government complex (6489 Main Street): the Department of Planning and Zoning handles zoning permits, Conditional Use Permits, Special Exceptions, site-plan review, subdivision review, Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act review, and floodplain-development review, and supports the Wetlands Zoning Board for tidal-wetlands permitting; the Building Official's office (within the Building Inspections function) handles building permits, USBC plan review, trade permits, and inspections through Certificate of Occupancy. A typical accessory-dwelling permit bundle in Gloucester involves: (1) pre-application zoning inquiry to determine whether the project qualifies for administrative approval (attached / internal accessory dwelling in a qualifying district) or requires a CUP (detached accessory dwelling, the more common case); (2) the CUP path if applicable (Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors public hearings); (3) zoning permit confirming use compliance and Article 9 supplementary-regulation compliance; (4) Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act review — Gloucester IS a Tidewater locality fully subject to the CBPA — including Resource Protection Area (100-foot buffer from perennial water bodies and tidal wetlands) and Resource Management Area buffer review; (5) Wetlands Zoning Board permit if any tidal wetlands or subaqueous bottom is affected, with parallel Virginia Marine Resources Commission and US Army Corps of Engineers review for waters-of-the-US permits; (6) Virginia Department of Health (VDH) Three Rivers Health District construction permit for well and onsite septic on parcels not served by Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD) sewer or by the county's small public-water service areas in the Gloucester Point / Hayes corridor — most of the county relies on private well and onsite septic; (7) HRSD sewer connection (where available) or county-water connection (where available); (8) building permit with stamped residential plans; (9) electrical, plumbing, and mechanical trade permits filed by Virginia-licensed contractors; (10) floodplain development permit if any portion of the parcel is within the FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area; (11) erosion-and-sediment-control / land-disturbance permit (Tidewater 2,500 sqft threshold under the CBPA); (12) sequenced inspections through Certificate of Occupancy.