Mineral

Louisa County has a notably permissive by-right accessory-dwelling regime for a rural Virginia county: 'Accessory apartment' is listed as a permitted-by-right residential use in Sec. 86-97.1 (A-1 Agricultural), Sec. 86-98.1 (A-2 Agricultural General), Sec. 86-101.1 (R-1 Residential Limited), and Sec. 86-102.1 (R-2 Residential General) with no Conditional Use Permit required. In C-1 Light Commercial (Sec. 86-105.3) and C-2 General Commercial (Sec. 86-106.3) districts an accessory apartment is permitted only with a Conditional Use Permit subject to Section 86-443. The Article I Section 86-2 definition (as amended through the 10-31-19 consolidated zoning ordinance revision) defines 'Accessory apartment/dwelling unit' as 'a separate, independent dwelling unit located on the same property as the primary dwelling unit' subject to four size paths: (1) an interior unit within a single-family dwelling that may equal the existing finished square footage of the primary dwelling (e.g., basement, attic, additional level); (2) an attached unit that may equal the existing finished square footage of the primary dwelling IF the lot is at least double the minimum lot area; (3) a detached unit within an accessory structure less than 1,500 square feet finished floor space AND no more than one half the finished square footage of the primary dwelling; or (4) an attached unit no more than one half the finished square footage of the primary dwelling (the smaller-lot path). Occupancy is limited to one family or up to three unrelated persons, cannot be rented in less than six-month increments, and the PRIMARY dwelling unit must be occupied by the owner or an immediate family member. Only one accessory dwelling unit is permitted per lot, and manufactured homes, mobile homes, RVs, camping trailers and other traditionally temporary structures are explicitly not permitted as accessory dwelling units. Because Louisa adopted its accessory-dwelling framework before July 1, 2026 and does NOT require a special use permit for ADUs in A-1/A-2/R-1/R-2 (where most of the county's residential parcels sit), Louisa's existing ordinance is comfortably in the grandfathered / self-compliant class under Virginia SB 531 (2026 Regular Session, effective July 1, 2027, signed by Governor Spanberger on 2026-04-14), which will require localities to permit ADUs by-right in single-family residential districts, cap ADU permit fees at $500, and prohibit consanguinity-of-occupancy requirements in districts where the state preemption reaches.

Louisa County administers five principal overlay regimes that bear on accessory-dwelling and second-dwelling projects: (1) the Lake Anna Shoreline Use and Design Standards under Chapter 86 Article IV Division IV Section 86-225 et seq., adopted 2015-06-15 (Res. 2015-170), governing all development on parcels bordering Lake Anna including the Waste Heat Treatment Facility (WHTF) side — the most consequential county-specific overlay because Dominion Energy owns the shoreland strip between the property line and the waterline at normal pool; (2) the Louisa County Airport Zoning Ordinance under Chapter 86 Article IV Section 86-137 et seq., adopted 2005-08-01 (Res. 05.098), governing height limits in the approach, transitional, horizontal, and conical zones around the Louisa County Airport (KLKU) and the Lake Anna Airport (7W4), with zone maps dated 1984 and 2005 respectively incorporated by reference; (3) the Growth Area Overlay Districts (Chapter 86 Sec. 86-70.2 et seq.) applied to designated growth areas near the Towns of Louisa and Mineral, the Ferncliff/I-64 corridor, Gum Spring/Route 522, and the Lake Anna commercial nodes, which impose tighter setback regulations and a special exception path (Sec. 86-34) for projects that cannot meet them; (4) the Land Use (use-value) assessment program under Va. Code Sec. 58.1-3230 et seq. administered by the Real Estate Assessment Office, which does not restrict ADU construction but can be breached by one, removing the deferred-assessment benefit and triggering rollback taxes; (5) the Central Virginia Seismic Zone (VEMA / USGS hazard designation, NOT a regulatory overlay in Virginia but seismic design provisions of the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code are calibrated to the zone) — Louisa is the EPICENTER of the August 23, 2011 magnitude-5.8 Mineral earthquake, the largest recorded Virginia earthquake, which caused $80.6 million in Louisa damages ($63.8 million to public schools, $14.7 million to residences) and triggered the first-ever U.S. earthquake-induced nuclear plant shutdown at Dominion's North Anna Nuclear Generating Station. Louisa County does NOT currently have a local floodplain overlay integrated with FEMA NFIP compliance: the county was SUSPENDED from the National Flood Insurance Program on 2016-10-31 (FEMA CID 510092C, status '10/31/16(S)') after the Board of Supervisors declined to adopt FEMA-required ordinance updates, so NFIP flood insurance is not available for unincorporated parcels and federal disaster assistance in flood hazard areas is constrained. The Town of Louisa (CID 510378C) and Town of Mineral (CID 510377C) remain NFIP-participating. Louisa has no coastal-commission jurisdiction (no tidal waters; outside the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act Tidewater boundary), no statewide WUI regulatory overlay (Virginia has none), no seismic-retrofit overlay, no Part 150 airport-noise zone (the county-owned airports do not generate Part 150 footprints), and no county-operated historic-district design-review overlay (Louisa has multiple National Register sites including the Louisa Court House Historic District and numerous Cuckoo/Cuckooville-area sites but no local ARB with exterior-alteration jurisdiction).

• Lake Anna Shoreline Use and Design Standards (Chapter 86 Article IV Division IV)
• Louisa County Airport and Lake Anna Airport Zoning (Chapter 86 Article IV Section 86-137 et seq.)
• Non-NFIP Floodplain Status (FEMA Suspended 2016-10-31)
• Growth Area Overlay Districts (Chapter 86 Sec. 86-70.2)
• Land Use (use-value) assessment program

An accessory-dwelling project on an unincorporated Louisa County parcel routes entirely through the Community Development Department at 1 Woolfolk Avenue in the county seat. Zoning review confirms district eligibility (A-1, A-2, R-1, R-2 by-right; C-1/C-2/I-1/I-2 by CUP) and Section 86-2 size/unit/owner-occupancy compliance; building permit review enforces the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code (13 VAC 5-63); erosion and sediment control review applies for disturbances over 10,000 sqft (or any disturbance on Lake Anna waterfront per the Lake Anna Shoreline Agreement in Lieu); and the Thomas Jefferson Health District (VDH local office covering Louisa, Fluvanna, Greene, Nelson, and Charlottesville/Albemarle) issues the well-and-septic construction permit for parcels not served by public utilities. On Lake Anna waterfront parcels, the Lake Anna Shoreline Use and Design Standards review is an additional administrative layer coordinated with Dominion Energy (which owns the shoreland between the property line and the waterline at normal pool). Short-term rental operation of the primary dwelling (but NOT of the ADU) is permitted by-right in A-1/A-2 zoning and requires registration with the County per the 2024 STR ordinance.