ADU Pass
Lackey
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Lackey, 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 apartment by-right in single-family zones with the smaller of 1,000 sqft or 35 percent of primary cap. Owner-occupancy typically required. Naval Weapons Station Yorktown adjacency creates encroachment / AICUZ noise overlay constraints on some Lackey parcels; military-clear-zone restrictions may apply.
Cost scenarios
| Scenario | Sq ft | Permit | Build | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| minimum | 200 | $580 | $64,000 | $64,580 |
| 600 | 600 | $780 | $192,000 | $192,780 |
| midpoint | 600 | $780 | $192,000 | $192,780 |
| 1000 | 1,000 | $950 | $320,000 | $320,950 |
| maximum | 1,000 | $950 | $320,000 | $320,950 |
Fee breakdown (as of 2026-05)
Permitting process
Viability (permitted uses)
- Long-term rental: yes Accessory apartment long-term rental permitted by-right per York County code; owner-occupancy of principal dwelling typically required.
- Short-term rental: with-restrictions York County permits STR with registration and transient occupancy tax. Lackey adjacency to Yorktown/Williamsburg tourism (Historic Triangle) supports modest STR demand; Naval Weapons Station blast/noise considerations apply to some parcels.
- Office rental: no Third-party office rental in residential accessory apartment not permitted.
- Home office: yes Home occupation permitted in York County residential zones with standard restrictions.
- Studio / workshop: yes Personal artist/studio use of accessory structure permitted.
- Agriculture: with-restrictions Lackey parcels are mostly residential R-zoned; agricultural use limited.
- Relative support: yes Multigenerational accessory apartment use is a primary intended use case of the York County ordinance.
Contacts
Utilities
- Water: Newport News Waterworks (most Lackey parcels) or York County / James City Service Authority depending on parcel · 35d connect · $4,800
- Sewer: Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD) for treatment; York County collection system for many Lackey parcels · 60d connect · $9,500
- Electric: Dominion Energy Virginia · 30d connect · $1,800
- Gas: Virginia Natural Gas (limited Lackey coverage); propane fallback · 21d connect · $1,500
Property values & taxes
Construction timeline
Realistic total: best 7mo · typical 11mo · worst 17mo
Modular pathway inspectors are experienced with modular
I-64 and Route 17 corridors provide good access; tidewater road network is well-suited to modular drops. Tidal-zone parcels may need crane access from upland staging.
Financing
State ADU loans:
Insurance impact
HOA prevalence & preemption
Some Lackey-area subdivisions have HOAs; original Lackey community parcels often pre-date HOA structure. Check parcel-specific covenants.
Regulatory overlays (3)
- other
AICUZ (Air Installations Compatible Use Zones) overlay applies to Lackey parcels near Naval Weapons Station Yorktown; certain noise zones restrict residential expansion. Encroachment Partnership Program may affect some parcels. - wetland-overlay
Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act RPA buffers apply to York River and tributary parcels. Many Lackey parcels are within 100 ft of tidal water and require CBPA review. - flood-zone
Portions of Lackey along the York River and tidal creeks are in FEMA Zone AE; new construction requires flood-resistant design.
Technical envelope (climate & building code)
Climate & energy code
Building code
Amendments:
- Amendment
- Amendment
- Amendment
Contractor market (aggregate)
Legal history (timeline)
Current ordinance: York County Code Chapter 24.1 (Zoning) — Accessory Apartment provisions, adopted 1995-01-01, last amended 2024-01-01
- 1918-08-07 — Naval Mine Depot (now Naval Weapons Station Yorktown) established (federal-action)
Federal government acquired land by eminent domain along the Yorktown-Williamsburg Road for naval munitions facility. Many Black landowners and tenants displaced from the original Lackey community.
Effect: Establishes the federal military adjacency that still constrains Lackey land-use today (AICUZ overlay, blast/noise standoffs). - 1995-01-01 — York County Zoning Ordinance Chapter 24.1 adopted (county-ordinance)
Current zoning code adopted 1995 (amended many times since); establishes accessory-apartment by-right framework in single-family residential districts.
Effect: Codifies Lackey accessory-apartment permission; 1,000 sqft / 35 percent cap with SUP escalation to 49 percent. - 2026-04-14 — Virginia SB531 signed by Governor Spanberger (state-bill)
Statewide ADU mandate effective July 1, 2027.
Effect: York County's existing accessory-apartment ordinance pre-dates the SB531 deadline; the county qualifies for the grandfather exemption.
Known issues (2)
- other — Owners should obtain AICUZ verification from York County Planning before designing ADU; some parcels are blocked from new residential construction entirely.
- other — Reduces buildable backyard envelope on waterfront Lackey parcels; engineered drainfields may be required where septic still exists.
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
- 23694
Post Office
- 2028 Old Williamsburg Rd, 23694