Henry County

The Henry County Department of Planning, Zoning, and Inspection is the sole permitting authority for building permits, zoning permits, and Special Use Permits on parcels within the unincorporated county (i.e., parcels outside the corporate limits of the City of Martinsville — a fully independent city, not a subdivision of the county — and outside the Town of Ridgeway). Henry County comprises approximately 382 square miles of predominantly rural Southside Virginia territory, bounded to the south by the North Carolina state line (Rockingham and Stokes counties in NC), to the east by Pittsylvania County, to the north by Franklin County, and to the west by Patrick County; the independent City of Martinsville sits as a donut hole in the south-central portion of the county. Major population concentrations outside Martinsville are in the Collinsville area (the CDP where the county administration building sits, immediately north of Martinsville), the Bassett area (northwest of Martinsville, a furniture-industry community straddling the Henry/Patrick county line), the Fieldale area (south/west of Collinsville, a former mill village), and the Ridgeway area (south of Martinsville, including the incorporated Town of Ridgeway). The vast remainder of the county is rural agricultural, timber, and scattered residential parcels administered by the county. For an ADU-style project in the unincorporated county, the typical sequence is: (a) zoning determination by the zoning administrator (permitted by right under a narrow family/kinship reading, permitted via Special Use Permit, or prohibited); (b) if SUP required, application to the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors under Va. Code §§ 15.2-2204, 15.2-2285, 15.2-2286; (c) building permit application to the county building official; (d) Virginia Department of Health West Piedmont Health District approval for well/septic where parcels are not served by public utilities; (e) VDOT entrance permit if a new or altered driveway enters a state-maintained road; (f) inspections through construction; (g) certificate of occupancy. Applicants should expect a substantially longer timeline than a first-dwelling build when an SUP is required, because the SUP process is a public-hearing process with statutory notice requirements (two successive weeks' advertisement and five-day final-notice under Va. Code § 15.2-2204).

Process overview: Henry County's ADU-style permitting process varies by project pathway: (1) Family-member dwelling / family subdivision — if the second dwelling is for an immediate family member of the primary-dwelling owner and qualifies under the county's family-dwelling or family-subdivision provisions, the zoning administrator may issue an administrative zoning approval followed by a standard building permit; this is the fastest path when eligible, typically 4-8 weeks end-to-end assuming no building-code or well/septic complications. (2) Special Use Permit for a rental or non-family second dwelling — the applicant submits a completed SUP application with site plan, statement of use, and the required filing fee to the Planning, Zoning, and Inspection Department. Staff conducts a zoning analysis and prepares a staff report. The Planning Commission holds a public hearing (advertised per Va. Code § 15.2-2204: once a week for two successive weeks, with final notice not less than five days before the hearing) and makes a recommendation. The Board of Supervisors then holds its own public hearing and votes. The entire SUP process typically takes 60-120 days from complete submission to Board decision; complex applications or those requiring ordinance interpretation can take longer. (3) Minor subdivision — if the applicant prefers to create a separate buildable lot and construct a fully separate dwelling, the subdivision ordinance (separate chapter of the county code) applies. Subdivision review runs through the subdivision agent and the Planning Commission; timelines vary from approximately 30 days (simple minor subdivision) to 6+ months (major subdivision requiring road approval, stormwater management, and VDOT entrance approval). Building permits for a second dwelling require compliance with the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code (USBC), the single statewide building code for Virginia localities; localities cannot adopt more stringent building-code amendments (Va. Code § 36-98). Well and septic approval (for unincorporated parcels not served by public utilities) is administered by the Virginia Department of Health West Piedmont Health District and is required before a building permit can be issued for a dwelling not connected to public water/sewer. Entrance-permit approval by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) Salem District Residency (covering Henry County) may be required where the new dwelling uses a new or altered driveway onto a state-maintained secondary road.

Impact fees: Virginia localities generally do not levy impact fees of the type used in California or Florida; Virginia Code does not broadly authorize impact fees for counties outside certain narrowly enumerated categories (road impact fees under Va. Code § 15.2-2317 through § 15.2-2327 are available only to counties meeting specific growth-rate and density criteria, which Henry — a population-declining, economically-transitioning Southside county — does not meet). Henry County does not appear on the list of counties that have adopted a road-impact-fee ordinance under that authority as of 2026-04-21. Cash proffers tied to rezoning applications were formerly common in fast-growth Virginia jurisdictions but are now constrained by Va. Code § 15.2-2303.4 (2016), which limits residential proffers. For an ADU built on an existing parcel without rezoning, the applicant pays building-permit fees (set by the county by ordinance and keyed to project valuation), any SUP application fee if applicable, connection or tap fees for water/sewer (if served by a public utility — applicable in parts of the Collinsville, Bassett, Fieldale, and Ridgeway service areas through the Henry County Public Service Authority; generally not applicable in the deep rural county), and state and local permit surcharges. Applicants should request a current fee schedule from the Planning, Zoning, and Inspection Department at application time. (schedule)

Henry County real property is assessed by the Henry County Commissioner of the Revenue's Real Estate division (and, during reassessment cycles, by contracted mass-appraisal vendors working under the direction of the Commissioner and the Board of Supervisors); tax bills are collected by the Henry County Treasurer. Virginia law requires general reassessment of real property at least once every four years for most counties (Va. Code § 58.1-3252), with more frequent cycles permitted; Henry County historically conducts a general reassessment on a multi-year cycle set by the Board of Supervisors and has generally contracted with a mass-appraisal vendor for cycle execution. Unlike California's Proposition 13 acquisition-value system, Virginia uses a fair-market-value assessment system: a parcel is assessed at 100% of fair market value as of the effective date of the reassessment, and that value stands until the next general reassessment (subject to supplemental assessment for new construction). When an ADU / accessory dwelling is added to an existing parcel, the new structure is added to the assessment roll at its contributory fair market value; the primary dwelling's assessed value is not automatically re-triggered by the ADU construction itself, but the parcel's overall assessed value rises by the ADU's contributory value. At the next general reassessment, both structures are re-valued at current fair market value together. The property-tax bill equals assessed value times the Board of Supervisors' adopted real-estate tax rate (set annually in the county budget process); Henry County's real-estate tax rate has historically sat in the mid-range among Virginia counties, reflecting the county's balance of moderate assessed-value base and the fiscal pressures of a county in long-term population and industrial decline. Henry County participates in Virginia's use-value taxation program under Va. Code § 58.1-3230 et seq. for qualifying agricultural, horticultural, and forestal land — a meaningful benefit for rural and timbered acreage in the county. Note that real property inside the City of Martinsville is assessed by the City of Martinsville's own assessor, NOT by the Henry County Commissioner of the Revenue, because Martinsville is an independent city; applicants holding property inside Martinsville corporate limits deal with the city, not the county.

Assessment policy: Virginia is a fair-market-value assessment state; a new ADU is added to the assessment roll at its contributory fair market value as a supplemental assessment effective from completion (building permit final inspection or certificate of occupancy) through the balance of the tax year. The primary dwelling's prior assessed value is not automatically reset by the addition of the ADU, but the parcel's total assessed value increases by the ADU's contributory value. At the next general reassessment (Henry County operates on a multi-year reassessment cycle set by the Board of Supervisors), both the primary dwelling and the ADU are re-valued at current fair market value. Owners electing to convert existing interior space (e.g., a basement apartment or detached-garage conversion) to a permitted ADU should expect the contributory value to reflect the creation of a second kitchen and second entry and the resulting increase in market-rent potential of the parcel; an owner adding a detached ADU typically sees a larger incremental assessment increase than one converting existing interior space. Property-tax rates are set annually by the Henry County Board of Supervisors in the county budget process; owners should confirm the current year's rate from the county's adopted budget because rates change annually.

Henry County administers or is subject to several overlay regimes that affect ADU siting on unincorporated parcels: (1) FEMA Special Flood Hazard Areas along the Smith River (the county's dominant waterway, flowing from Philpott Dam in the northwest through Bassett, past Martinsville, and south toward the North Carolina state line where it joins the Dan River), the lower reaches of Smith River tributaries (Leatherwood Creek, Mayo River tributaries, Marrowbone Creek), and scattered smaller-stream SFHAs across the county — administered through the county's floodplain overlay ordinance satisfying NFIP minimums; (2) Philpott Lake and Philpott Dam are a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers flood-control and hydropower project on the Smith River, with the reservoir straddling Henry, Franklin, and Patrick Counties; the project's taking line establishes a federal shoreline boundary that affects the county's northwestern parcels adjacent to the lake, and a USACE shoreline-use permit is required for any structure, dock, or shoreline alteration that crosses or occupies federal land; (3) Agricultural and Forestal Districts established under Va. Code § 15.2-4300 et seq. may be present in portions of the county with substantial agricultural or timbered holdings, providing participating landowners use-value taxation and subdivision-deferral protections in exchange for a commitment to keep land in agricultural or forestal use; (4) the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act does NOT apply — Henry County is not in the Tidewater area covered by Va. Code § 62.1-44.15:67 et seq., so Resource Protection Areas (RPAs) and Resource Management Areas (RMAs) do not apply (Henry drains to the Albemarle Sound via the Smith/Dan/Roanoke river system, outside the Chesapeake Bay watershed per the Act's Tidewater definition); (5) wildfire risk is tracked by the Virginia Department of Forestry, but Virginia does not have a California-style Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone regulatory overlay mandating ignition-resistant construction — the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code does not statewide-adopt the International Wildland-Urban Interface Code, and Henry County has not imposed a local WUI construction overlay; (6) Martinsville Speedway adjacency — the NASCAR-sanctioned short track at Martinsville Speedway sits inside the independent city of Martinsville on the southeastern edge of the city (and the city/county boundary), and race-weekend traffic, noise, and parking impacts spill well into adjacent Henry County neighborhoods; this is a practical consideration for ADU siting on nearby county parcels even though the track itself is not a county-administered overlay; (7) industrial-legacy environmental contamination — the county's long textile and furniture manufacturing history has left a number of former-industrial parcels with varying levels of environmental impairment (some remediated, some still under DEQ voluntary-remediation-program oversight), which does not impose a county-administered overlay but can affect financing and title for parcels at or near former plant sites. Henry County does not have a county-wide historic-district overlay of the California type; individual properties may be listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register or National Register (including the Patrick Henry Birthplace site across the border in Patrick County, and various mill-village resources in the Bassett and Fieldale areas) but registration does not itself impose regulatory constraints absent a separate local ordinance or federal-tax-credit election.

• FEMA National Flood Insurance Program — Special Flood Hazard Areas — Henry County participates in the National Flood Insurance Program and administers a county floodplain overlay ordinance meeting NFIP minimums. The principal Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) extents in the county are along the Smith River (the dominant waterway, flowing from Philpott Dam in the northwest through Bassett, past Martinsville, and south toward the North Carolina state line where it joins the Dan River), the lower reaches of Smith River tributaries including Leatherwood Creek and Marrowbone Creek, and scattered SFHAs along smaller streams across the county. An ADU sited in an SFHA must comply with NFIP elevation requirements (lowest finished floor at or above Base Flood Elevation plus any county freeboard), flood vent requirements on enclosed areas below BFE, anchoring requirements, and post-construction Elevation Certificate filing. Owners should confirm current-effective FIRM panel at the FEMA Map Service Center before design; FEMA has periodically updated Virginia county panels. Note that the Smith River below Philpott Dam is a tailwater fishery with regulated releases from the dam; the reach is nonetheless mapped as SFHA in places and owners should check the panels rather than assuming dam regulation eliminates flood hazard.
• Philpott Lake and Philpott Dam — USACE Wilmington District shoreline management — Philpott Lake is a USACE flood-control and hydropower reservoir on the Smith River, authorized under the Flood Control Act of 1944, with the dam completed in 1953. The reservoir straddles Henry County (southeast quadrant of the lake), Franklin County (east and northeast), and Patrick County (west); approximately 100 miles of shoreline wind along the three-county footprint. The USACE taking line around the lake establishes the federal project boundary; private parcels adjacent to the taking line are subject to USACE shoreline-use policies for any structure, dock, shoreline alteration, or access feature that crosses or occupies federal land. ADU-style projects on or near the taking line should coordinate with the USACE Philpott Lake project office in addition to Henry County Planning, Zoning, and Inspection before design. Philpott is operated as a flood-control and hydropower project; the Philpott powerhouse generates on release schedules set by USACE that drive the downstream Smith River trout fishery. The Philpott Lake shoreline permit regime is distinct from the FERC-licensed private-utility shoreline frameworks at Smith Mountain / Leesville lakes (on the neighboring Roanoke River in Franklin/Bedford/Pittsylvania counties) and the John H. Kerr Reservoir (USACE Wilmington District on the Roanoke/Staunton further east).
• Virginia Agricultural and Forestal Districts (local option under state law) — Henry County has substantial agricultural and forested acreage, particularly in the north-central and western portions of the county outside the Collinsville/Bassett/Fieldale urbanized corridor. Where AFD enrollment exists, enrollment is voluntary; participating landowners commit to keeping land in agricultural or forestal use for a period (typically 4-10 years) in exchange for use-value assessment (Va. Code § 58.1-3230 et seq.) and limited protection from certain governmental actions that would disrupt agricultural use. An ADU on an AFD-enrolled parcel is generally permitted if it is an accessory use to continued agricultural operation (e.g., a farm-labor dwelling or family dwelling), but non-agricultural commercial-rental ADUs may conflict with AFD purposes and trigger AFD committee review and potentially withdrawal from the district (with rollback-tax consequences on the withdrawn acreage). Owners should consult the Henry County AFD Advisory Committee (if one is constituted for the applicable district) and the zoning administrator before assuming ADU compatibility.
• Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code and VDOF wildfire risk (no WUI regulatory overlay) — Henry County includes significant wooded terrain (approximately two-thirds of the county is forested, much of it mixed hardwood-pine) with moderate wildfire exposure tracked by the Virginia Department of Forestry, but Virginia does not have a statewide Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone regulatory overlay that mandates WUI-rated construction materials on a per-parcel basis. Under Va. Code § 36-98 the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code is the single statewide building code; localities cannot impose more stringent local building-code amendments. Virginia has not statewide-adopted the International Wildland-Urban Interface Code. Owners in wildfire-exposed locations (particularly the county's timbered tracts in the Philpott Lake shoreline area and along the Smith River gorge) should follow defensible-space best practices and coordinate with VDOF outreach, but face no locality-imposed WUI construction overlay analogous to California Chapter 7A or Oregon WUI code.
• Martinsville Speedway adjacency (race-weekend traffic/noise impacts) — Martinsville Speedway is the NASCAR-sanctioned 0.526-mile short track that has operated since 1947, sitting inside the City of Martinsville's corporate limits on the southeastern edge of the city. The track is NOT inside Henry County jurisdiction for zoning or permitting purposes, but race-weekend traffic, noise, and parking impacts spill substantially into adjacent Henry County neighborhoods (Ridgeway Magisterial District, particularly along US 220 / Virginia Avenue corridors and VA 108). This is a practical ADU-siting consideration for nearby county parcels — short-term-rental ADU projects in particular may see strong race-weekend demand but should assess neighborhood covenants and any informal or codified event-parking arrangements before relying on that demand in a proforma. The track does not itself impose a regulatory overlay on the county.
• Industrial-legacy environmental impairment (former textile and furniture plant sites) — Henry County's history as a textile-and-furniture manufacturing center (Fieldcrest/Tultex in Martinsville and surrounding plants, American of Martinsville, Stanley Furniture, and the immediately-adjacent Bassett Furniture complex straddling the Henry/Patrick county line) has left a patchwork of former-industrial parcels with varying levels of environmental impairment. Some former sites have been remediated and redeveloped (notably several furniture and textile mill parcels repurposed for the Commonwealth Crossing Business Centre and other industrial-park redevelopment); others remain in various stages of voluntary cleanup or are privately held with Phase I/II ESA documentation. Henry County does not administer a county-level brownfields overlay; regulatory oversight is through the Virginia DEQ Voluntary Remediation Program and, for some sites, the Brownfields Restoration and Land Renewal Program. Owners considering an ADU on or near a former industrial parcel should obtain a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment and, if indicated, a Phase II before design — lenders will often require this independently, and environmental impairment can materially affect title insurability and construction financing.