Skippers

Greensville County does NOT maintain a standalone accessory-dwelling-unit ordinance with dedicated definitional and dimensional standards. ADUs in Greensville 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 (the principal large-lot rural district covering most of the county), A-2 Agricultural Limited, R-1 and R-2 Residential, R-MF Multifamily Residential (limited footprint), B-1 and B-2 Business, M-1 Industrial, and a few specialized districts. In the A-1 and A-2 Agricultural 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, 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 and R-2 Residential districts (smaller residential parcels closer to Jarratt and the Emporia fringe), accessory-structure rules apply with district-specific setback standards. Applicants should confirm current ordinance text with the Department of Planning before committing to a project pro forma. Greensville County's economic profile is dominated by tobacco-belt agriculture (historically), forestry, the Greensville Correctional Center (a major employer), and I-95 corridor commercial activity (truck stops, distribution, and services) - the county has experienced sustained population stagnation, with current population approximately 11,000.

Greensville County administers limited overlay regimes that bear on ADU projects. The relevant overlays are: (1) a Floodplain Overlay District tied to FEMA Special Flood Hazard Areas, with material coverage along the Meherrin River, the Nottoway River drainage to the north, Three Creek, Fontaine Creek, and other blackwater-creek tributaries; (2) Section 404 Clean Water Act jurisdictional wetlands across portions of the county where blackwater-creek and bottomland-hardwood systems create federally-jurisdictional wetlands; (3) state land at the Greensville Correctional Center (a Virginia Department of Corrections facility) and other state-managed parcels; (4) limited local historic resources, primarily NRHP-listed plantations and rural-vernacular buildings scattered across the county. Greensville County is generally NOT a designated Tidewater locality under the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act (the county is in the Roanoke River / Albemarle Sound drainage rather than the Chesapeake Bay watershed; verify current CBPA status with the Department of Planning). Greensville has NO California-style coastal commission, NO CalFire-equivalent WUI regulatory overlay, and NO seismic-retrofit overlay.

• Floodplain Overlay District
• Section 404 Clean Water Act jurisdictional wetlands
• Local historic resources

Greensville County's Department of Planning handles zoning, Special Use Permits, site plan review, subdivision review, and Floodplain Overlay administration for every parcel in the county except those inside the Town of Jarratt and the City of Emporia (which administer their own permitting). 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 / A-2 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 Crater 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 service is limited to the Emporia fringe 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 Meherrin River, the Nottoway River drainage, Three Creek, or other tributaries, (7) limited Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act applicability - Greensville County is generally NOT a designated Tidewater locality under the CBPA (the Tidewater designation generally applies east of the Fall Line, and Greensville is in the southern Coastal Plain which is sometimes designated and sometimes not depending on the watershed analysis; verify current CBPA status with the Department of Planning before assuming applicability), and (8) US Army Corps of Engineers permit where federal waters or jurisdictional wetlands are involved (the southern Virginia Coastal Plain has substantial Section 404 jurisdictional wetlands particularly along the Roanoke River drainage and the smaller blackwater-creek systems).