ADU Pass
Locustville
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Locustville, 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 in Accomack County under explicit ordinance standards; Locustville's inland Eastern Shore location reduces CBPA exposure relative to coastal Accomack communities. Private well and septic are universal; the Eastern Shore is one of only two US localities with sole-source-aquifer designation, so the Virginia Department of Health applies tighter standards on well permits. 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 | $600 | $48,000 | $48,600 |
| midpoint | 600 | $1,050 | $144,000 | $145,050 |
| maximum | 900 | $2,100 | $216,000 | $218,100 |
Fee breakdown (as of 2026-05)
Permitting process
Viability (permitted uses)
- Long-term rental: yes Permitted subject to county subordination-to-principal-dwelling requirement; small but steady tenant pool of retirees and seasonal residents.
- Short-term rental: with-restrictions Eastern Shore tourism (Chincoteague, Assateague, Wallops Island visitors) creates STR demand; Accomack County regulates STRs separately from ADU permits — confirm current STR ordinance.
- Office rental: unclear Commercial office rental in accessory structure typically requires rezoning in residential districts.
- Home office: yes Home occupation permitted under standard county conditions.
- Studio / workshop: yes Personal studio is a normal accessory use.
- Agriculture: yes Eastern Shore agricultural use is prevalent; Accomack County A-1 and AB zoning districts permit broad agricultural accessory uses including poultry houses (chicken industry is the Eastern Shore's largest agricultural sector).
- Relative support: yes Family-occupancy ADU is the canonical use case.
Incentives
Contacts
Utilities
- Water: Private well (Eastern Shore Virginia sole-source aquifer; Locustville is outside any public water service area)
- Sewer: Private septic (Virginia Department of Health regulated)
- Electric: A&N Electric Cooperative (Eastern Shore rural electric cooperative) · 30d connect · $2,100
- Gas: Propane delivered (no piped natural gas service on the Eastern Shore north of Salisbury MD) · 14d connect · $2,000
Property values & taxes
Construction timeline
Realistic total: best 8mo · typical 12mo · worst 18mo
Modular pathway inspectors are occasional with modular
Eastern Shore access via Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel (CBBT) from south or via Maryland from north; modular delivery sensitive to high-wind closures of CBBT.
Financing
State ADU loans:
Insurance impact
HOA prevalence & preemption
Rural inland Eastern Shore parcels have very low HOA density.
Regulatory overlays (2)
- wetland-overlay
Accomack County is entirely within CBPA jurisdiction. Most Locustville parcels in RMA; tributary-adjacent parcels in RPA with 100-ft buffer. - other
The Eastern Shore is federally designated as a sole-source aquifer; well permits and septic systems are subject to stricter VDH review for groundwater protection.
Technical envelope (climate & building code)
Climate & energy code
Building code
Amendments:
- Amendment
- Amendment
- Amendment
Contractor market (aggregate)
Legal history (timeline)
Current ordinance: Accomack County Code of Ordinances — Zoning
- 1859-01-01 — Locustville Academy built (other)
Locustville Academy constructed; added to the National Register of Historic Places 2016.
Effect: Establishes Locustville's Eastern Shore historic character; NRHP listing is honorary, does not impose private-property design review. - 2018-09-04 — Virginia DHCD Technical Memo on Accessory Dwelling Units under 2018 USBC (state-guidance)
DHCD technical memo clarifying the USBC's treatment of ADUs.
Effect: Establishes that ADUs are reviewed under Virginia Residential Code; informs Accomack County's plan-review treatment. - 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: Accomack County's accessory dwelling framework predates the January 1, 2026 grandfather cutoff.
Known issues (2)
- policy-review — Well drilling may require deeper casings and tighter setbacks from septic and adjacent wells; cost increases of 15-30 percent over inland Virginia norms.
- policy-review — Construction supplies and contractor labor carry 5-15 percent CBBT-toll premium versus inland Virginia.
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
- 23404
Post Office
- 28033 Drummondtown Rd, 23404