ADU Pass
Clifford
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Clifford, No County, Virginia navigate the permit paperwork for building an accessory dwelling unit. This area covers 1 ZIP code.
Map
ADU details
ADU legality: allowed-with-restrictions
Clifford is an unincorporated CDP in Amherst County and one of the oldest settlements in the county, with the Clifford-New Glasgow Historic District covering most of the village. Amherst County is in the process of drafting a dedicated ADU ordinance (announced early 2026); existing accessory-use rules permit ADUs subject to building permit, septic approval, and zoning conformance. Most parcels will additionally trigger Virginia Department of Historic Resources review by virtue of the historic-district overlay.
Cost scenarios
| Scenario | Sq ft | Permit | Build | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| minimum | 256 | $1,000 | $71,680 | $72,680 |
| 600 | 600 | $1,200 | $174,000 | $175,200 |
| midpoint | 628 | $1,200 | $182,120 | $183,320 |
| maximum | 1,000 | $1,300 | $300,000 | $301,300 |
Fee breakdown (as of 2026-05)
Permitting process
Viability (permitted uses)
- Long-term rental: yes Long-term rental of accessory dwelling permitted under current zoning.
- Short-term rental: with-restrictions Amherst County does not have a dense STR regulatory framework; verify any specific parcel restrictions with Community Development. Blue Ridge Parkway and Lynchburg-area tourism support STR demand.
- Office rental: no ADU must remain a dwelling unit.
- Home office: yes Home occupation permitted under County standards.
- Studio / workshop: yes Personal artist/workshop use permitted.
- Agriculture: yes Most Clifford parcels are zoned agricultural; livestock and crop production are permitted with right-to-farm protections.
- Relative support: yes Family-occupancy is the most common Clifford accessory-dwelling pattern.
Contacts
Utilities
- Water: Private well (Virginia Department of Health Central Virginia District approval required) · 45d connect · $9,000
- Sewer: Private septic system (VDH Central Virginia District approval required) · 60d connect · $13,000
- Electric: Central Virginia Electric Cooperative (CVEC) · 28d connect · $1,700
- Gas: Propane (no natural-gas distribution in Clifford) · 14d connect · $1,800
Property values & taxes
Construction timeline
Realistic total: best 7mo · typical 10mo · worst 16mo
Modular pathway inspectors are occasional with modular
Rural Amherst County road network; verify route widths.
Financing
State ADU loans:
Insurance impact
HOA prevalence & preemption
Clifford is rural unincorporated land; HOAs are rare.
Regulatory overlays (1)
- historic-district
Clifford-New Glasgow Historic District (NRHP 1987, DHR ID 005-5042) covers the historic village. Most Clifford parcels are inside the boundary.
Technical envelope (climate & building code)
Climate & energy code
Building code
Amendments:
- Amendment
Contractor market (aggregate)
Legal history (timeline)
Current ordinance: Amherst County Zoning Ordinance - existing accessory-use sections (ADU-specific ordinance under development), adopted 1990-01-01, last amended 2025-12-01
- 1987-01-01 — Clifford-New Glasgow Historic District added to National Register of Historic Places (historic-designation)
DHR ID 005-5042. District encompasses 43 contributing buildings dating from c. 1772-1961 including St. Mark's Episcopal Church (c. 1816), the Saddlery (1814), and the Clifford Ruritan Building (c. 1938).
Effect: Triggers Virginia DHR review for federally funded or licensed projects within the district boundary; informs but does not directly impose local design review. - 2026-02-01 — Amherst County draft ADU ordinance announced (county-ordinance)
Amherst County Director of Community Development announced drafting of a dedicated ADU ordinance for the Planning Commission's first read prior to public hearing process.
Effect: Pre-public-hearing stage; no current ordinance change in force as of 2026-05-13.
Known issues (1)
- policy-review — Amherst County is actively drafting a dedicated ADU ordinance (announced 2026-02). Rules may change materially in the next 12-24 months; check with Community Development before committing to a design.
County: no attribution (synthetic bucket)
No county
This city sits in the state's "no county" bucket — its ADU rules derive directly from state law and city ordinance without a county intermediary. No county-level sections apply.
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.
ZIP Code
- 24533
Post Office
- 120 Turkey Mountain Rd, 24533