ADU Pass
Maxie
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Maxie, 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
ADU projects in Maxie face minimal regulatory friction at the county level (Buchanan County is largely permissive) but maximum practical friction from well/septic siting on mountainous Appalachian terrain.
Cost scenarios
Fee breakdown (as of 2025-07)
Permitting process
Viability (permitted uses)
- Long-term rental: yes Long-term rental allowed; thin rental market.
- Short-term rental: unclear Rural Maxie has minimal STR demand; no published county STR ordinance.
- Office rental: no Office rental to third parties not a typical residential use.
- Home office: yes Home occupations are routine under Buchanan County's permissive framework.
- Studio / workshop: yes Personal studio/workshop is a normal accessory use.
- Agriculture: yes Agricultural and silvicultural uses are by-right throughout Buchanan County's rural areas.
- Relative support: yes Family-member housing on accessory parcels is a traditional Appalachian land-use pattern.
Contacts
Utilities
- Water: Private well (no public water in Maxie area) · 30d connect · $7,500
- Sewer: Private septic with VDH Cumberland Plateau District permitting · 75d connect · $16,000
- Electric: Appalachian Power Company (AEP) · 35d connect · $3,000
- Gas: Propane (no natural-gas distribution) · 14d connect · $1,800
Property values & taxes
Construction timeline
Realistic total: best 8mo · typical 12mo · worst 18mo
Modular pathway inspectors are novice with modular
Maxie's mountainous access via narrow rural roads strongly limits module size and increases transport cost.
Financing
State ADU loans:
Insurance impact
HOA prevalence & preemption
Almost no HOAs in rural northern Buchanan County. Virginia POAA does not preempt HOA ADU bans where they exist.
Regulatory overlays (2)
- flood-zone
Maxie area drainages (Levisa Fork tributaries) include FEMA-mapped flood zones; ADU siting on valley floors requires elevated finished floor. - other
Coal-mining context: while no longwall mine sits directly under Maxie, the Buchanan County coalfield's general subsidence and mineral-rights-severance issues apply across the region.
Technical envelope (climate & building code)
Climate & energy code
Building code
Amendments:
- Amendment
Contractor market (aggregate)
Legal history (timeline)
- 1914-01-01 — Maxie post office established (historical)
Maxie post office established in 1914, formalizing the unincorporated community's identity.
Effect: Defines Maxie as a named place; no incorporated municipal government has ever existed here. - 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.
Effect: Buchanan County will need to adopt an ADU ordinance by July 1, 2027; the county is unlikely to qualify for grandfathering given absence of a dedicated ADU ordinance.
Known issues (2)
- other — ADU feasibility hinges on a soil/septic evaluation; some parcels are non-buildable.
- other — Project timelines depend on traveling contractor availability.
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
- 24628
Post Office
- 1793 Bull Creek Rd, 24628