Mathews County

A typical ADU-like permit bundle in Mathews County 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 6 / Supplemental District Regulations performance standards, (3) Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act review — Mathews IS a Tidewater locality fully subject to the CBPA — including Resource Protection Area (RPA) and Resource Management Area (RMA) buffer review, (4) Wetlands Zoning Board permit if any tidal wetlands or subaqueous bottom is affected (this is common in Mathews given the heavy shoreline density), (5) building permit with stamped residential plans and USBC-compliant detail, (6) electrical, plumbing, and mechanical trade permits, (7) Virginia Department of Health (VDH) Three Rivers Health District construction permit for well and onsite septic for parcels not served by Mathews County Public Utilities (the county provides limited public water in some served areas; sewer service is very limited; most parcels rely on private well and onsite septic), (8) floodplain development permit if any portion of the parcel is within the FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area, and (9) erosion-and-sediment-control / land-disturbance permit (Tidewater 2,500 sqft threshold).

Mathews County real estate is assessed under the supervision of the Office of the Commissioner of the Revenue, an elected Constitutional Officer with a four-year term who serves as the chief tax assessor. The Commissioner administers the land book annually, processes personal-property and business-tangible assessments, processes state income-tax returns, administers tax relief for elderly / disabled / veterans, and assesses all new construction and changes to improvements on real estate. The periodic general reassessment is contracted to an outside firm. 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 the Building Official 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.

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 the Building Official, the Commissioner of the Revenue's office initiates the supplemental assessment under Va. Code § 58.1-3292, prorated from the completion date through the end of the tax year. The ADU is added at its assessed fair-market value (typically derived by the contracted reassessment firm using cost-approach residential cost multipliers) on top of the parcel's existing land and improvement value; the existing primary dwelling is NOT revalued off-cycle. There is no Mathews-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, Land Use Assessment under Va. Code § 58.1-3230 et seq. for qualifying agricultural / forestal / horticultural / open-space land) apply per local-option rules.

Mathews County administers a Floodplain Overlay tied to FEMA Special Flood Hazard Areas — given the county's heavy shoreline density and low elevations, a substantial share of parcels are in-mapped SFHA. The Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Overlay covers the entire county under the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act. The Wetlands Zoning Board administers tidal-wetlands permitting under Va. Code § 28.2-1300 et seq., a parallel review with state Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) and federal Army Corps of Engineers. Mathews County is a Coastal Resilience Master Plan focus locality given its low elevations, dense shoreline, and exposure to coastal flooding and sea-level rise. Locally adopted Agricultural and Forestal Districts (Va. Code § 15.2-4300 et seq.) preserve farmland on a renewable-petition basis. Mathews has NO designated coastal-commission analog beyond the Wetlands Zoning Board / VMRC / Army Corps stack, NO statewide WUI regulatory overlay, and NO seismic-retrofit overlay. There are no FAA Part 150 commercial-airport noise zones reaching the county.

• Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Overlay (RPA / RMA) and Wetlands Zoning Board jurisdiction
• Floodplain Overlay District
• Agricultural and Forestal District (state-enabled, locally-adopted)