ADU Pass
King George County
ADU Pass helps homeowners in King George County, Virginia navigate the permit paperwork for building an accessory dwelling unit. We cover 2 cities and 2 ZIP codes in this county.
Map
County ADU details
County ADU ordinance
King George County's Zoning Ordinance (Appendix A of the Code of Ordinances) addresses Accessory Dwelling Units explicitly through Article IV permitted-use schedules and the Use Performance Standards in Attachment B. ADUs are permitted in certain residential and rural districts, with attached or internal ADUs generally available by right or with administrative approval, and detached ADUs typically requiring a Special Use Permit (SUP) in some residential districts. The ordinance imposes performance standards including a prohibition on tenancies of less than 30 days (i.e., short-term-rental use of an ADU is not permitted), size caps tied to a percentage of the principal dwelling's footprint or a fixed maximum square footage, and parking, setback, and connection-to-utility requirements. King George is one of the more codified ADU regimes in rural / exurban Virginia — applicants get a clearer regulatory path here than in counties that handle ADUs purely through Conditional Use Permits without standalone provisions. Confirm current ordinance text and the per-district treatment (R-1, R-2, A-1, etc.) with the Department of Community Development at 540-775-7111.
County permitting (unincorporated parcels)
King George County's Department of Community Development is a one-stop department combining planning, zoning, building, and code-enforcement functions. A typical ADU-like permit bundle includes: (1) pre-application zoning inquiry to determine whether the project qualifies for administrative approval (attached / internal ADU in a qualifying district) or requires a Special Use Permit (detached ADU in many residential districts), (2) zoning permit confirming use compliance and Article IV / Attachment B performance standards, (3) Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act review — King George IS a Tidewater locality fully subject to the CBPA — including Resource Protection Area (RPA) and Resource Management Area (RMA) buffer review, (4) building permit with stamped residential plans, (5) electrical, plumbing, and mechanical trade permits, (6) Virginia Department of Health (VDH) Three Rivers Health District construction permit for well and onsite septic for any parcel not served by King George County Service Authority public water and sewer (the KGCSA serves the Dahlgren and Route 3 corridors but not the entire county), (7) floodplain development permit if any portion of the parcel is within the FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area along the Potomac, Rappahannock, or their tributaries, and (8) erosion-and-sediment-control / land-disturbance permit. The Naval Support Facility Dahlgren is federal land and is NOT subject to county permitting; ADU projects on the federal installation are not in scope.
County assessor
King George County real estate is assessed by the Office of the Commissioner of the Revenue. The Commissioner prepares the land book annually, processes personal-property and business-tangible assessments, processes state income-tax returns, administers meals tax / business license / transient occupancy tax, and administers land-use, elderly-and-disabled, and disabled-veteran exemptions. An ADU or second-dwelling addition is captured through the supplemental real-estate-improvement process under Va. Code § 58.1-3292: the Commissioner of the Revenue receives the building-permit record and Certificate of Occupancy from Community Development and adds the ADU's assessed value to the parcel's land and improvement base, prorated to the completion date. The primary dwelling is NOT re-valued off-cycle as a result of the ADU addition. The county operates on the Virginia general-reassessment framework under Va. Code § 58.1-3252 and contracts the periodic general reassessment to an outside firm.
Assessment policy: An ADU is captured as a real-estate improvement under Va. Code Title 58.1 Subtitle III Chapter 32. On receipt of the building permit and Certificate of Occupancy from Community Development, the Commissioner of the Revenue prorates the supplemental assessment from the completion date through the end of the tax year under Va. Code § 58.1-3292. The ADU is added at its assessed fair-market value (typically derived from cost-approach residential cost multipliers calibrated to the current reassessment-cycle base) on top of the parcel's existing land and improvement value; the existing primary dwelling is NOT revalued off-cycle. There is no King-George-County-specific ADU assessment exemption. Standard Virginia real-estate tax-relief programs (elderly and disabled relief under Va. Code § 58.1-3210 as adopted locally, disabled-veteran exemption under Va. Code § 58.1-3219.5, and Land Use Assessment under Va. Code § 58.1-3230 et seq. for qualifying agricultural / forestal / horticultural / open-space land) apply per local-option rules; they do not create a separate carve-out for the ADU itself.
County overlays (4)
King George County administers a Floodplain Management Overlay District tied to FEMA Special Flood Hazard Areas along the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers and their tributaries, plus the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Overlay covering the entire county under the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act. The county also recognizes a substantial Naval Support Facility Dahlgren federal-land footprint (~4,320 acres) on the Potomac, which is outside county zoning jurisdiction but is reflected in airport / range-noise planning and in regional Coastal Resilience Master Plan coordination. Locally adopted Agricultural and Forestal Districts (state-enabled under Va. Code § 15.2-4300 et seq.) preserve farmland against incompatible adjacent development. King George has NO designated coastal-commission analog (none exists in Virginia), NO statewide WUI regulatory overlay, and NO seismic-retrofit overlay. The Dahlgren installation generates an FAA / Navy-coordinated airspace and weapons-test-range buffer; ADU siting near the installation should consult the regional planning materials.
Known county issues (5)
- other — ADU revenue models in King George must assume long-term-rental or family-occupancy use. Investors used to STR-driven ADU pro formas in other Virginia jurisdictions (Shenandoah Valley, Highland, mountain counties) should re-pro forma at long-term rental rates before committing to King George.
- other — On tidal-frontage parcels, the CBPA RPA is often the binding constraint on ADU siting — more binding than the zoning ordinance's use rules. Pull the county GIS to confirm RPA / RMA footprint before committing to a detached ADU. Exceptions to the RPA buffer for new residential structures are rarely granted.
- other — ADU pro formas on outlying parcels need to budget well-drilling and onsite-sewage cost ($15k-$50k typical, more for AOSS). KGCSA service-area parcels avoid that cost but pay connection / availability fees that should be confirmed before pricing the project. Existing primary-dwelling septic systems may not have capacity for a second dwelling, requiring upgrade before ADU permitting.
- other — Investor pro formas should recognize Dahlgren-driven rental demand as a tailwind for ADU economics in adjacent county subdivisions, while excluding the installation itself from ADU siting analysis. For parcels close to the installation perimeter, episodic test-range noise should be disclosed to prospective tenants.
- policy-review — Applicants planning an ADU project that won't be permitted before any new state effective date should confirm with Community Development whether the project would benefit (or could be delayed to benefit) from any post-effective-date streamlining. Verify current legislative status at lis.virginia.gov before committing to a permitting timeline.
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.