ADU Pass
Garrisonville
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Garrisonville, 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
ADUs permitted but with the unusual 25-percent-of-primary-dwelling-floor-area cap (one of the more restrictive in NoVA). Practical effect: a 2,400 sqft home maxes at 600 sqft ADU. HOA covenants in Aquia Harbour and similar PDs may further restrict.
Cost scenarios
| Scenario | Sq ft | Permit | Build | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| minimum | 200 | $1,800 | $84,000 | $85,800 |
| 600 | 600 | $2,000 | $252,000 | $254,000 |
| midpoint | 500 | $1,950 | $210,000 | $211,950 |
| maximum | 800 | $2,200 | $336,000 | $338,200 |
Fee breakdown (as of 2026-05)
Permitting process
Viability (permitted uses)
- Long-term rental: yes Long-term rental of permitted ADU is allowed.
- Short-term rental: with-restrictions Stafford permits STRs subject to county registration and transient occupancy tax; many Garrisonville HOAs (Aquia Harbour notably) prohibit by covenant.
- Office rental: with-restrictions Office rental to third parties not permitted in residential zones.
- Home office: yes Home occupation permitted under Stafford Chapter 28 with restrictions.
- Studio / workshop: yes Personal artist/workshop studio is a permitted accessory use.
- Agriculture: with-restrictions Outer western Garrisonville parcels may abut A-1 agricultural zones; central Garrisonville is residential/PD only.
- Relative support: yes Multigenerational family-member occupancy explicitly permitted.
Contacts
Utilities
- Water: Stafford County Utilities (eastern Garrisonville on public water); private well in unconnected pockets · 35d connect · $7,500
- Sewer: Stafford County Utilities; private septic in less-dense pockets · 40d connect · $8,500
- Electric: Dominion Energy Virginia (most parcels); Rappahannock Electric Cooperative on western edges · 30d connect · $2,100
- Gas: Columbia Gas of Virginia (limited coverage); propane delivered elsewhere · 45d connect · $2,400
Property values & taxes
Construction timeline
Realistic total: best 7mo · typical 11mo · worst 16mo
Modular pathway inspectors are occasional with modular
I-95 corridor offers wide-load access; Aquia Harbour and similar gated HOAs may not permit construction-load access without HOA permit.
Financing
State ADU loans:
Insurance impact
HOA prevalence & preemption
Aquia Harbour (5,000-home gated community), Stafford Lakes Village, Hampton Oaks, and many other Garrisonville-area PDs have ADU-restrictive HOA covenants. Aquia Harbour HOA notably prohibits detached structures beyond approved fence/shed envelopes.
Regulatory overlays (1)
- other
MCB Quantico AICUZ (Air Installation Compatible Use Zone) noise contours and accident potential zones extend into eastern Garrisonville. New residential construction in 65+ DNL contour requires acoustic treatment per Stafford zoning Sec. 28-39.
Technical envelope (climate & building code)
Climate & energy code
Building code
Amendments:
- Amendment
- Amendment
- Amendment
Contractor market (aggregate)
Legal history (timeline)
Current ordinance: Stafford County Code Chapter 28 (Zoning Ordinance), adopted 2016-05-03, last amended 2024-11-01
- 2016-05-03 — Stafford County Zoning Ordinance Chapter 28 update (county-ordinance)
Board of Supervisors adopted comprehensive update to Chapter 28 establishing current ADU framework with 25-percent-of-floor-area cap and one-per-lot rule.
Effect: Established the restrictive ADU framework that governs Garrisonville parcels. - 2024-11-01 — Stafford County building permit fee schedule update (county-ordinance)
New fee schedule effective November 1, 2024 governing building permit fees applicable to ADU permits.
Effect: Increases applicable fees from prior schedule; aligns with SB531 $500 cap considerations for non-exempt locales.
Known issues (2)
- other — Adds $5,000 to $12,000 to ADU build cost in noise-affected eastern Garrisonville.
- other — Limits typical ADU size to 500-600 sqft for median Garrisonville homes.
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
- 22463
Post Office
- 524 Garrisonville Rd, 22463