ADU Pass
Manassas Park
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Manassas Park, No County, Virginia navigate the permit paperwork for building an accessory dwelling unit. This area covers 1 ZIP code.
Map
ADU details
ADU legality: unclear
Manassas Park is in a transitional posture: no local ADU ordinance yet, but SB 531 will impose by-right ADU permissibility statewide effective July 1, 2027. A homeowner today would need a use-permit interpretation or wait for the city ordinance to land or for the state preemption to take effect.
Cost scenarios
Fee breakdown (as of 2025-01)
Permitting process
Viability (permitted uses)
- Long-term rental: unclear Without an adopted ADU ordinance, long-term rental of a secondary dwelling is not explicitly authorized; would require special-use permit interpretation pending SB 531 implementation.
- Short-term rental: unclear Manassas Park does not have a published short-term rental ordinance distinct from its zoning code; STR operators face case-by-case zoning interpretation.
- Office rental: no Office rental to third parties not permitted in single-family residential zones in Manassas Park.
- Home office: with-restrictions Home occupation requires Commissioner of Revenue stamp and zoning compliance under Chapter 31; signage, customer traffic, and employee restrictions apply.
- Studio / workshop: yes Personal artist or workshop studio within an accessory structure under 256 sqft does not require a building permit (only zoning approval).
- Agriculture: no Manassas Park is fully urbanized at 2.5 sqmi land area; no agricultural zoning districts.
- Relative support: unclear Family-member accessory housing currently requires zoning interpretation; SB 531 will explicitly eliminate family-relation restrictions effective July 1, 2027.
Contacts
Utilities
- Water: City of Manassas Park Public Works (purchases wholesale from Manassas) · 30d connect · $6,000
- Sewer: Upper Occoquan Service Authority (UOSA) treatment · 30d connect · $7,000
- Electric: Dominion Energy Virginia · 28d connect · $2,200
- Gas: Washington Gas · 42d connect · $2,700
Property values & taxes
Construction timeline
Realistic total: best 8mo · typical 11mo · worst 16mo
Modular pathway inspectors are novice with modular
Manassas Park lots are small; modular transport via I-66 and US-29 feasible but space-constrained.
Financing
Insurance impact
HOA prevalence & preemption
Manassas Park's housing stock is dominated by planned-development townhouse and condo communities (Belmont, Blooms Crossing, City Center); HOA prevalence is significantly higher than typical Virginia cities. Virginia POAA does not preempt HOA ADU bans, so HOA covenants may continue to bar ADUs even after SB 531 takes effect.
Technical envelope (climate & building code)
Climate & energy code
Building code
Amendments:
- Amendment
- Amendment
Contractor market (aggregate)
Legal history (timeline)
- 2022-01-01 — Manassas Park Planning Commission begins ADU ordinance review (city-ordinance)
Planning Commission began reviewing proposed ADU amendments to Chapter 31; review spanned 2022-2024 across nine meetings.
Effect: Initial draft language for accessory dwelling units developed but not adopted. - 2024-08-27 — Manassas Park Governing Body Aug 27, 2024 agenda includes ADU discussion (city-ordinance)
Governing Body considered ADU ordinance items; review deferred pending 2025 General Assembly action on statewide minimum standards.
Effect: ADU draft deferred; council awaiting state-level direction. - 2025-03-01 — Manassas Park Planning Commission deferred ADU draft to March 2025 meeting (city-ordinance)
Committee voted unanimously to defer ADU draft to March 2025 meeting; no adoption recorded.
Effect: ADU ordinance still pending. - 2026-04-14 — Virginia SB 531 signed: statewide by-right ADUs effective July 1, 2027 (state-law)
Governor Spanberger signed SB 531 mandating localities permit ADUs in single-family zoning as a permitted accessory use, capping permit fees at $500, and preempting more-restrictive local height, setback, lot-size, and coverage rules.
Effect: Manassas Park likely will NOT qualify for the Jan 1, 2026 grandfathering exemption because the city had not adopted an ADU ordinance by that date; full state preemption will apply July 1, 2027.
Known issues (2)
- policy-review — ADU applicants today face case-by-case zoning interpretation. Owners may wish to wait for the city ordinance to land or for SB 531 preemption to take effect.
- other — Detached ADU feasibility is constrained by small typical lot sizes; HOA review may be required even after SB 531 takes effect.
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
- 20113
Post Office
- 2049 Old Centreville Rd, 20111