ADU Pass
McCoy
ADU Pass helps homeowners in McCoy, 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
Montgomery County's ADU framework applies to McCoy. ADU projects here often involve rural-residential parcels along the New River or wooded uplands; well/septic siting on Appalachian terrain is a typical constraint.
Cost scenarios
Fee breakdown (as of 2025-07)
Permitting process
Viability (permitted uses)
- Long-term rental: yes Long-term rental of permitted ADU is allowed; Virginia Tech grad-student and faculty demand reaches McCoy area as commute is reasonable.
- Short-term rental: with-restrictions Montgomery County permits STRs in many zones subject to county STR rules; New River frontage and Virginia Tech proximity (10 miles) drive STR demand on football weekends.
- Office rental: no Office rental to third parties not permitted in residential zones.
- Home office: yes Home occupations permitted under county code with standard restrictions.
- Studio / workshop: yes Personal artist/workshop studio is a permitted accessory use.
- Agriculture: yes Montgomery County's rural-agricultural zones permit ag uses by right; many McCoy parcels are in agricultural zoning.
- Relative support: yes Family-member housing in accessory structures is a traditional use; SB 531 will eliminate family-relation restrictions in 2027.
Contacts
Utilities
- Water: Private well (no public water in McCoy area); some parcels on Montgomery County Public Service Authority where available · 45d connect · $8,000
- Sewer: Private septic with VDH New River Health District permitting; no public sewer · 60d connect · $15,000
- Electric: Appalachian Power Company (AEP) · 28d connect · $2,400
- Gas: Propane (no natural-gas distribution in rural Montgomery County) · 14d connect · $1,800
Property values & taxes
Construction timeline
Realistic total: best 8mo · typical 12mo · worst 18mo
Modular pathway inspectors are occasional with modular
Rural McCoy roads accommodate standard modular delivery from I-81 corridor; some narrow turns at river access points.
Financing
State ADU loans:
Insurance impact
HOA prevalence & preemption
Rural McCoy area has minimal HOA presence; most parcels are deeded individually. Virginia POAA does not preempt HOA ADU bans where they exist.
Regulatory overlays (1)
- flood-zone
McCoy sits along the New River; FEMA flood zones cover river-frontage parcels. Elevated finished floor construction required in AE zones.
Technical envelope (climate & building code)
Climate & energy code
Building code
Amendments:
- Amendment
Contractor market (aggregate)
Legal history (timeline)
Current ordinance: Montgomery County Virginia Zoning Ordinance (accessory dwelling provisions), adopted 2005-01-01, last amended 2023-01-01
- 1906-01-01 — McCoy post office established (historical)
McCoy post office (ZIP 24111) established 1906; community has remained unincorporated.
Effect: Defines McCoy as a named place in Montgomery County; no separate municipal government. - 2017-07-01 — Adjacent Blacksburg adopts accessory apartment ordinance (city-ordinance)
Town of Blacksburg adopted accessory-apartment ordinance effective July 1, 2017 (owner-occupancy required). Blacksburg rules do NOT apply to McCoy directly, but reflect Montgomery County's planning climate.
Effect: Regional movement toward ADU acceptance; McCoy itself remains under county rules. - 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: Montgomery County's existing ADU provisions likely qualify for partial grandfathering; SB 531 will preempt any more-restrictive setback/lot-coverage rules effective July 1, 2027.
Known issues (2)
- other — ADU siting must address flood-zone elevation; uplands parcels avoid the issue.
- policy-review — Detached ADUs add 60-90 days and public-hearing review.
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
- 24111
Post Office
- 6100 Centennial Rd, 24111