Oyster Point

Also known as Oyster Point of Newport News, City Center at Oyster Point, Oyster Point Business Park, Mid-Newport News, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility

ADU Pass helps homeowners in Oyster Point — a USPS locale inside Newport News, No County, Virginia — navigate the permit paperwork for building an accessory dwelling unit. This locale covers 1 ZIP code.

1 ZIP code

Locale-specific ADU details

Site (parcel physics)

Slope:

Mean slope2%
Parcels over 12% slope1%

Soil:

Dominant classEmporia-Bojac sandy loam (Coastal Plain)
Expansive clay risk12%
Liquefaction risk18%

Lot profile:

Median lot size9,200 sqft
Median lot width70 ft
Median existing FAR0.22
Parcels with alley access5%
Flag-lot parcels3%

Geo-hazards:

Seismic designationB
Parcels in FEMA SFHA8%
Bedrock depth (median)120 ft
Groundwater depth (median)7 ft

Recent ADU permit activity

Window12 months ending 2025-12-31
Approved / withdrawn / denied0 / 0 / 0

Utility capacity (upgrade likelihood)

Housing stock age:

% built pre-19608%
% built pre-198035%
Median year built1,988

Electric service drop:

% overhead service35%
Panel-upgrade likelihood25%

Sewer lateral:

Replacement likelihood12%
Typical replacement cost$8,500

Water pressure:

ZoneNewport News Waterworks central pressure district
Typical PSI60 psi
Sprinkler trigger PSI40 psi

Gas availability: available — VNG serves the Oyster Point residential ring; some all-electric pockets in newer net-zero-oriented HOAs.

Locale property values

Median value$320,000
Median tax$3,744/yr
Effective rate1.2%

Residential Oyster Point: 1960s-1980s ranches and split-levels on 0.18-0.30 acre lots, 1,800-2,500 sqft. Commercial-core City Center condos and townhomes are a separate sub-market priced $250K-$450K. ADU-eligible parcels are limited to the surrounding residential subdivisions.

Locale market rent

Sq ftRent
400$1,325/mo
600$1,655/mo
1,000$2,050/mo

Locale HOA prevalence

% parcels under HOA65%

Sharply higher than Denbigh because Oyster Point's residential subdivisions were largely platted as planned communities alongside the 1980s-2000s commercial buildout. Port Warwick (the New Urbanist neighborhood) has the strongest design covenants in the city.

Locale overlays (4)

  • wetland-overlay — CBPA RPA buffers along Lake Maury (Mariners' Museum Park lake), Salters Creek headwaters, and small drains affect a meaningful share of the southwestern Oyster Point residential parcels. Interior subdivisions in RMA only. · +21d · +7% cost
  • flood-zone — Limited FEMA AE strips along Salters Creek; most of the Oyster Point residential ring sits in Zone X. · +21d · +8% cost
  • airport-noise-zone — Newport News / Williamsburg International Airport (KPHF) Part 150 contours and Joint Base Langley-Eustis aviation operations reach northern Oyster Point parcels. Most central / southern Oyster Point sits outside the DNL 65 contour.
  • other — Oyster Point's commercial core (City Center, Oyster Point Business Park) sits within multiple Planned Development overlay districts that explicitly do NOT allow ADU as a permitted use. Residential ADU activity is limited to the surrounding R-zoned subdivisions.
    The PD overlays are a defining constraint on which Oyster Point parcels are ADU-eligible at all.

Inherited from the city

These sections come from the city page. Click through to the Newport News ADU research for details.

  • ADU legality
  • legal history
  • size range
  • permitting process & fees
  • permit forms
  • contacts
  • utilities
  • incentives
  • resale value impact
  • construction timeline
  • pre-approved plans
  • financing
  • insurance impact
  • service complexity
Newport News — city ADU rules and incentives

ADU legality: allowed-with-restrictions

By-right ADU permitting in all single-family-permitting districts under the October 2024 ordinance, but STR is prohibited (no Airbnb / VRBO) and minimum lease is 30 days. CBPA, coastal flooding, and Fort Eustis aviation noise contours affect specific neighborhoods.

City cost envelope

$182,400 all-in for a 600 sqft ADU (permit + build). Midpoint scenario.

Permit fee bundle: $2,400 (2026-05).

City viability (selected uses)

Long-term rentalwith-restrictions
Short-term rentalno
Home officeyes
Relative supportyes
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

  • 23612

Post Office

  • 739 Thimble Shoals Blvd Ste 501, 23606