ADU Pass
Portsmouth
No County portion
Also in: Portsmouth city
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Portsmouth, 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
Portsmouth permits ADUs in residential zoning districts under Chapter 40.2. The city sits in Hampton Roads with extensive flood exposure (Elizabeth River, Western Branch, Chesapeake Bay watershed) — FEMA AE and AE Coastal zones cover significant portions of older neighborhoods. Naval Medical Center Portsmouth and Norfolk Naval Shipyard drive sustained demand for second-unit housing. SB531 (July 2027) will simplify by-right permitting; Portsmouth's pre-2026 ordinance likely qualifies for grandfathering.
Cost scenarios
| Scenario | Sq ft | Permit | Build | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| minimum | 250 | $1,300 | $76,250 | $77,550 |
| 600 | 600 | $1,600 | $192,000 | $193,600 |
| midpoint | 625 | $1,600 | $200,000 | $201,600 |
| maximum | 1,000 | $1,900 | $335,000 | $336,900 |
Fee breakdown (as of 2026-05)
Permitting process
Viability (permitted uses)
- Long-term rental: yes Long-term rental permitted on Portsmouth SFR parcels with ADU. Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Norfolk Naval Shipyard, and Tidewater Community College Portsmouth Campus drive sustained year-round rental demand.
- Short-term rental: with-restrictions Portsmouth regulates STRs under Chapter 40.2; permits required and operator standards apply. Olde Towne historic district and Naval Medical Center Portsmouth drive STR demand. Cruise-ship calls at Portsmouth Marine Terminal add additional STR demand on event weekends.
- Office rental: no ADU must remain a dwelling unit under Ch 40.2.
- Home office: yes Home occupation permitted under Ch 40.2 standards.
- Studio / workshop: yes Personal studio / workshop use permitted as a normal accessory use.
- Agriculture: with-restrictions Urban agriculture limited; livestock generally prohibited in residential districts.
- Relative support: yes Family-occupancy ADU is a canonical Portsmouth use case (in-law suite, military family housing).
Incentives
Contacts
Utilities
- Water: Portsmouth Department of Public Utilities (Lake Kilby / Lake Cohoon / Lake Meade reservoirs) · 21d connect · $4,000
- Sewer: Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD) — sanitary sewer; Portsmouth Public Utilities operates collection system · 28d connect · $5,500
- Electric: Dominion Energy Virginia · 28d connect · $1,900
- Gas: Virginia Natural Gas · 28d connect · $1,600
Property values & taxes
Construction timeline
Realistic total: best 8mo · typical 12mo · worst 17mo
Modular pathway inspectors are occasional with modular
I-264 and US-17 handle modular delivery into Portsmouth; older neighborhoods (Olde Towne, Port Norfolk) have narrow streets and overhead utility constraints. Elevated coastal foundations complicate modular set.
Financing
Insurance impact
HOA prevalence & preemption
Older Portsmouth neighborhoods (Olde Towne, Park View, Port Norfolk) are dominated by individually-owned parcels with no HOAs but with overlapping CofA review where historic. Newer subdivisions (Churchland, Western Branch outliers) under HOAs.
Regulatory overlays (3)
- coastal-commission
Significant CBPA RPA along Elizabeth River shoreline (100-ft tidal buffer); RMA covers most of Portsmouth in the broader Bay watershed. - flood-zone
Significant portions of Portsmouth fall within FEMA AE / AE Coastal / VE zones (Elizabeth River, Western Branch, Paradise Creek). FEMA freeboard and elevated foundations are routine on the older waterfront neighborhoods. NFIP premiums often $1,500-$4,000/year on AE/VE parcels. - historic-district
Three locally-designated historic districts plus several NRHP listings. CofA review required for exterior changes visible from public way in Olde Towne and Park View; Cradock NRHP-only.
Technical envelope (climate & building code)
Climate & energy code
Building code
Amendments:
- Amendment
- Amendment
Contractor market (aggregate)
Legal history (timeline)
Current ordinance: Portsmouth City Code Chapter 40.2 Zoning Ordinance (as amended through Ord 25-226c), last amended 2025-06-10
- 1988-01-01 — Virginia Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act adopted (state-law)
CBPA enacted; established RPA (100-ft tidal buffer) and RMA overlays. Portsmouth has extensive tidal frontage along the Elizabeth River.
Effect: Significant regulatory layer for any waterfront construction along Portsmouth's Elizabeth River shoreline. - 2023-12-12 — Portsmouth Zoning Ordinance Chapter 40.2 — comprehensive amendment (city-ordinance)
Portsmouth City Council adopted a comprehensive amendment to the Chapter 40.2 zoning ordinance December 12, 2023, including refinements to accessory dwelling standards and short-term rental provisions.
Effect: Operating ADU framework for Portsmouth through 2025; further refined by 2025 amendments (Ord 25-226c). - 2025-06-10 — Portsmouth Ordinance 25-226c — amend and reordain Chapter 40.2 (city-ordinance)
Ordinance 25-226c further amended Chapter 40.2 in 2025 to address accessory dwelling standards, parking requirements, and short-term rental regulations.
Effect: Current operating ADU rule for Portsmouth as of 2026-05. - 2026-04-14 — Virginia SB531 signed — statewide by-right ADU mandate (state-law)
Effective July 1, 2027: by-right ADU in SFR zones, $500 permit-fee cap, consanguinity-restriction prohibition.
Effect: Portsmouth's pre-2026 ordinance likely qualifies for grandfathering; SB531's $500 fee cap will significantly reduce typical Portsmouth ADU fees come July 2027.
Known issues (2)
- other — Recurrent tidal flooding (often called 'sunny day flooding') affects low-lying Portsmouth streets including parts of Olde Towne — sea-level-rise projections show worsening over the build-life of a new ADU. Elevated foundations and resilience-focused design strongly recommended.
- policy-review — Portsmouth City Council continues to refine Ch 40.2 — multiple amendments since 2023. STR and accessory-dwelling provisions are active topics; verify the current ordinance text before committing to plans. (source)
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
- 23705
Post Office
- 431 Crawford St Fl 1, 23704
Locale Names
- Portside