ADU Pass
Iron Gate
No County portion
Also in: Alleghany County
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Iron Gate, 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
Iron Gate operates under a two-tier system: Iron Gate Town zoning approval first, then Alleghany County Building Permit. ADUs are permitted subject to Alleghany's secondary-scale rules and Iron Gate's town compliance letter. Detached ADUs may need special use permit through county. Small town (population 324) means low permit volume and personalized review.
Cost scenarios
| Scenario | Sq ft | Permit | Build | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| minimum | 200 | $600 | $50,000 | $50,600 |
| 600 | 600 | $900 | $150,000 | $150,900 |
| midpoint | 600 | $900 | $150,000 | $150,900 |
| maximum | 1,000 | $1,150 | $250,000 | $251,150 |
Fee breakdown (as of 2026-05)
Permitting process
Viability (permitted uses)
- Long-term rental: with-restrictions Long-term rental allowed; thin year-round tenant pool given small population.
- Short-term rental: with-restrictions Iron Gate / Alleghany permit STRs with zoning compliance and transient occupancy tax. Modest STR demand for Jackson River fishing, Allegheny Mountains scenic tourism, Greenbrier-Sweet-Springs adjacent visitors.
- Office rental: no Office rental not permitted in residential districts.
- Home office: yes Home occupation permitted under Iron Gate / Alleghany zoning.
- Studio / workshop: yes Personal studio is a permitted accessory use.
- Agriculture: with-restrictions Town limits residential; surrounding Alleghany A-1 allows agricultural accessory structures.
- Relative support: with-restrictions Multigenerational ADUs allowed per Alleghany's secondary-scale rule.
Contacts
Utilities
- Water: Town of Iron Gate municipal water OR private well (some peripheral parcels) · 30d connect · $3,500
- Sewer: Town of Iron Gate sewer OR private septic (some parcels) · 45d connect · $7,500
- Electric: Dominion Energy Virginia or Appalachian Power (AEP) · 30d connect · $2,400
- Gas: Propane delivered; no natural gas mains in Iron Gate · 14d connect · $1,900
Property values & taxes
Construction timeline
Realistic total: best 9mo · typical 13mo · worst 19mo
Modular pathway inspectors are novice with modular
Mountain roads in Alleghany County (US-220, VA-696) limit oversized loads; narrow town streets of Iron Gate are a constraint for modular delivery.
Financing
State ADU loans:
Insurance impact
HOA prevalence & preemption
Iron Gate is too small to have significant HOA presence; most parcels are independent rural or river-front homesteads.
Regulatory overlays (1)
- flood-zone
Iron Gate is on the Jackson River; some parcels in FEMA Zone AE floodplain. Flood-resistant construction required for affected parcels per VUSBC.
Technical envelope (climate & building code)
Climate & energy code
Building code
Amendments:
- Amendment
- Amendment
Contractor market (aggregate)
Legal history (timeline)
Current ordinance: Alleghany County Zoning Ordinance (Iron Gate concurrent), adopted 2019-10-01, last amended 2023-01-01
- 1889-01-01 — Town of Iron Gate established (Town Hall established 1889) (local-ordinance)
Iron Gate Town Hall established in 1889 in Alleghany County's New River Valley along the Jackson River, near the western Alleghany Mountains.
Effect: Establishes Iron Gate as an incorporated Virginia town with concurrent zoning authority. - 2019-10-01 — Alleghany County Zoning Ordinance revision (local-ordinance)
Alleghany County Planning Commission worked on zoning ordinance revisions including accessory-structure and accessory-dwelling provisions.
Effect: Current operative county zoning framework with ADU rules. - 2026-04-13 — Virginia SB531 signed by Governor Spanberger (state-law)
Statewide ADU by-right mandate; effective July 1, 2027.
Effect: Alleghany's existing ADU framework likely qualifies for SB531 exemption; net effect on Iron Gate uncertain.
Known issues (3)
- policy-review — Adds 1-2 weeks for small-town zoning letter; relatively straightforward for accessory structures.
- policy-review — Encourages internal ADU conversion (basement, attic, garage) over detached cottages.
- other — Adds flood-resistant construction cost ($15K-$30K) for affected parcels.
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
- 24438
Post Office
- 511 Market St, 24448