ADU Pass
Jersey
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Jersey, 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
Accessory dwellings permitted in King George County subject to performance standards. The 30-day-minimum tenancy rule effectively excludes Airbnb-style use. Most Jersey parcels are on private well and septic, requiring Virginia Department of Health approval for added bedroom load. Post-July 2027 SB531 will impose statewide by-right framework with the $500 permit fee cap.
Cost scenarios
| Scenario | Sq ft | Permit | Build | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| minimum | 200 | $650 | $56,000 | $56,650 |
| midpoint | 600 | $1,150 | $168,000 | $169,150 |
| maximum | 900 | $2,400 | $252,000 | $254,400 |
Fee breakdown (as of 2026-05)
Permitting process
Viability (permitted uses)
- Long-term rental: yes Long-term rental permitted with proper permits; demand from Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren commuter pool.
- Short-term rental: no King George County Article IV expressly prohibits accessory dwelling rental for tenancies under 30 days, effectively excluding Airbnb / VRBO use.
- Office rental: no Office rental in residential or agricultural zones not permitted.
- Home office: yes Home occupation permitted under standard county conditions with limits on traffic and signage.
- Studio / workshop: yes Personal artist studio is a normal accessory use.
- Agriculture: yes A-1 zoning broadly permits agricultural accessory uses; Jersey area is rural farmland.
- Relative support: yes Multigenerational accessory dwelling is the canonical use case; SB531 post-2027 will further remove any family-relation requirement.
Incentives
Contacts
Utilities
- Water: Private well (most Jersey parcels outside the King George County Service Authority public-water service area)
- Sewer: Private septic (Virginia Department of Health regulated; no public sewer in Jersey)
- Electric: Dominion Energy Virginia (most parcels); Rappahannock Electric Cooperative for some western parcels · 30d connect · $2,300
- Gas: Propane (no piped natural gas service to Jersey) · 14d connect · $2,100
Property values & taxes
Construction timeline
Realistic total: best 8mo · typical 12mo · worst 18mo
Modular pathway inspectors are occasional with modular
Jersey is served by US Route 301 and VA Route 218; modular delivery feasible on rural state highways.
Financing
State ADU loans:
Insurance impact
HOA prevalence & preemption
Rural Jersey parcels have very low HOA density; nearly all are non-restricted rural lots.
Regulatory overlays (1)
- wetland-overlay
King George County is within the CBPA. Parcels near Rappahannock River tributaries fall in RPA with 100-ft buffer; most rural parcels fall in RMA with impervious-surface and BMP requirements.
Technical envelope (climate & building code)
Climate & energy code
Building code
Amendments:
- Amendment
- Amendment
- Amendment
Contractor market (aggregate)
Legal history (timeline)
Current ordinance: King George County Zoning Ordinance Article IV, Attachment B, adopted 2014-06-17, last amended 2023-05-16
- 2014-06-17 — King George County Zoning Ordinance comprehensive rewrite (local-ordinance)
King George County adopted a comprehensive zoning ordinance rewrite including accessory dwelling use-performance standards in Article IV Attachment B.
Effect: Established current framework for accessory dwellings tied to primary dwelling, with 30-day minimum tenancy rule. - 2026-04-14 — Virginia SB531 signed by Governor Spanberger (state-law)
Statewide ADU by-right mandate; caps permit fees at $500; effective July 1, 2027.
Effect: King George County's accessory dwelling framework predates the January 1, 2026 grandfather cutoff and may qualify as a pre-existing ordinance, though the STR-prohibition rule could be challenged under the new by-right framework.
Known issues (2)
- policy-review — STR-driven payback scenarios are not viable; long-term rental is the only revenue path.
- policy-review — Site selection on RPA-adjacent parcels constrained; design changes may be required.
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
- 22481
Post Office
- 12079 Jersey Rd, 22481