ADU Pass
Blackstone
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Blackstone, Nottoway 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
Blackstone is an incorporated town inside Nottoway County. The town handles zoning approval; Nottoway County handles building permits. SB 531 statewide preemption takes effect 2027-07-01 with a $500 fee cap and by-right ADU mandate in single-family districts. Until then, town and county frameworks remain authoritative for the parcel.
Cost scenarios
| Scenario | Sq ft | Permit | Build | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| minimum | 200 | $2,150 | $41,600 | $43,750 |
| 600 | 600 | $2,150 | $124,800 | $126,950 |
| maximum | 900 | $2,150 | $187,200 | $189,350 |
Fee breakdown (as of 2026-05)
Permitting process
Viability (permitted uses)
- Long-term rental: yes Long-term rental of an ADU is generally permitted in residential districts; Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (Va. Code Section 55.1-1200 et seq.) governs.
- Short-term rental: with-restrictions STR is treated as a use of the underlying residential classification; Virginia Transient Occupancy Tax administered by the Nottoway County Commissioner of the Revenue applies. Fort Barfoot training-cycle traffic (Guard weekend drills, two-week annual training, mobilization rotations) creates episodic STR demand from visiting families that has been the predominant STR market driver in Blackstone.
- Office rental: with-restrictions Detached office rental requires home-occupation approval under the town zoning ordinance.
- Home office: yes Home occupation is permitted in town residential districts with restrictions on signage, customer traffic, and outside storage.
- Studio / workshop: yes Personal studio (artist, music, woodworking) is a permitted accessory use in town residential districts.
- Agriculture: with-restrictions Town residential districts have limited agricultural allowances; some fringe parcels in lower-density town districts permit limited keeping of animals.
- Relative support: yes Family / multi-generational accessory dwelling is the most common ADU pattern in Blackstone, often supporting Fort Barfoot service-member families.
Incentives
Contacts
Staff: Philip Vannoorbeeck (Town of Blackstone Zoning Administrator), Jennifer Daniel (Town of Blackstone — Zoning Permits and New Business Licenses), Nottoway County Building Inspections (Nottoway County Building Official (county building-permit authority for parcels inside Blackstone town limits))
Utilities
- Water: Town of Blackstone municipal water (treated supply serves most parcels inside corporate limits) · 30d connect · $4,200
- Sewer: Town of Blackstone municipal sewer (serves most corporate-limit parcels); a small number of fringe parcels remain on private septic · 40d connect · $5,800
- Electric: Town of Blackstone Electric Department (municipal electric utility — Blackstone operates its own electric distribution, one of a small number of Virginia towns with municipal electric service) · 21d connect · $1,850
- Gas: Bottled propane is the local norm for residential heating outside the limited natural-gas distribution loop near the Blackstone commercial core · 10d connect · $1,750
Property values & taxes
Construction timeline
Realistic total: best 8mo · typical 13mo · worst 22mo
Modular pathway inspectors are occasional with modular
Financing
Insurance impact
HOA prevalence & preemption
Blackstone's town core is predominantly non-HOA single-family residential; HOA prevalence is limited to a small number of post-2000 subdivision pockets on the fringe.
Regulatory overlays (2)
- historic-district
Blackstone's town core contains a National Register Historic District reflecting its early-20th-century railroad and college-town heritage (the town was historically associated with Blackstone College for Girls, a Methodist institution that operated through the mid-20th century). Town design review may apply to facade-visible exterior changes; interior conversions and detached rear-yard ADUs typically have lower review friction. (map) - other
Fort Barfoot is the Virginia Army National Guard Maneuver Training Center occupying the eastern portion of Nottoway County immediately adjacent to Blackstone. Episodic noise from large-caliber weapons ranges and demolition training reaches Blackstone during active training cycles; the DoD Army Compatible Use Buffer program occasionally purchases development rights on adjacent parcels. (map)
Technical envelope (climate & building code)
Climate & energy code
Building code
Amendments:
- Amendment
Contractor market (aggregate)
Legal history (timeline)
Current ordinance: Town of Blackstone Zoning Ordinance (Code of Ordinances Part II Chapter 9 Zoning, administered via Municode) layered with Nottoway County Zoning Ordinance for building-permit administration, adopted 1990-01-01, last amended 2024-06-01
- 1979-01-01 — Va. Code Section 15.2-2280 zoning authority codified (Dillon Rule baseline) (state-statute)
Virginia delegated zoning authority to counties, cities, and towns without an ADU-specific preemption.
Effect: Each Virginia locality regulates ADUs through its own zoning ordinance; ADUs are not automatically permitted statewide. - 2005-07-21 — Nottoway County Zoning Ordinance adopted (current ordinance base) (county-ordinance)
Nottoway County Board of Supervisors adopted the comprehensive zoning ordinance that governs unincorporated county parcels and provides the building-permit framework that the Town of Blackstone projects route through after town zoning approval.
Effect: Established the A-1, R-1, R-2 district framework; the ordinance was reformatted and republished through April 2025 amendments but retained the accessory-dwelling provisions. - 2023-03-24 — Fort Pickett redesignated Fort Barfoot (federal-action)
The Naming Commission process under the FY2021 National Defense Authorization Act redesignated the Virginia Army National Guard Maneuver Training Center from 'Fort Pickett' to 'Fort Barfoot' (honoring Medal of Honor recipient MSG Van T. Barfoot).
Effect: Labeling-only change for Blackstone's housing-demand context; the installation footprint, training mission, and adjacent-parcel land-use considerations are unchanged. - 2026-04-13 — Virginia SB 531 signed into law (statewide ADU by-right preemption) (state-statute)
Governor Spanberger signed SB 531, requiring every Virginia locality to permit ADUs as an accessory use in single-family residential zoning districts, capping permit fees at $500, barring setbacks more restrictive than those for primary dwellings or other accessory structures, and grandfathering localities that had an ADU ordinance on the books as of January 1, 2026.
Effect: Effective July 1, 2027. Blackstone's town zoning ordinance and Nottoway County's zoning ordinance will need to be reviewed for SB 531 compliance ahead of the effective date. Blackstone's current accessory-apartment posture would need to align with by-right administrative review and the $500 fee cap unless Nottoway County's January 2026 ordinance text qualifies for the grandfather clause.
Known issues (2)
- other — Plan 3-4 additional weeks beyond comparable single-jurisdiction projects in similar-sized Virginia towns. Pre-application coordination with both town zoning and county building offices is essential.
- policy-review — Projects permitted before July 1, 2027 follow current town and county frameworks. Projects permitted after may see streamlined administrative review and a lower fee ceiling if local conforming amendments are adopted.
Nottoway County — county ADU rules and overlays
County ADU ordinance
Nottoway County permits an 'accessory dwelling' (sometimes labeled 'accessory apartment' or 'accessory family dwelling' in older ordinance text) as a supplementary use to a single-family detached dwelling on parcels of sufficient size in the county's Agricultural (A-1) and primary residential (R-1, R-2) districts. The Nottoway framework follows the common Southside-Virginia rural-county pattern: one ADU per parcel; the ADU must be clearly accessory (subordinate in size and use) to a principal single-family dwelling; a base size cap typically in the 800-1,000 square-foot range with potentially larger caps available on qualifying agricultural parcels of sufficient acreage; configuration options including attached, interior-conversion, and detached on most rural parcels; the ADU must meet the principal-dwelling setbacks for the underlying district rather than reduced accessory-structure setbacks; and the ADU cannot be subdivided off or sold separately from the principal dwelling. Because Virginia has no statewide ADU preemption (see state file stateAduLaw, citing Va. Code § 15.2-2280 et seq. as the local-zoning enabling statute and the absence of any enacted ADU floor), Nottoway's ordinance is the authoritative regime on every parcel in the unincorporated county; parcels inside the Town of Blackstone, the Town of Burkeville, or the Town of Crewe follow those towns' own ordinances instead. The ordinance text varies in terminology across amendment cycles ('accessory dwelling', 'accessory apartment', 'accessory family dwelling' have all appeared); confirm the current text with the Nottoway County Planning office before relying on a specific size threshold or configuration rule.
County regulatory overlays
Nottoway County administers a smaller overlay portfolio than tidewater or Northern Virginia counties: (1) the Floodplain Overlay District tied to FEMA-mapped Special Flood Hazard Areas along the Nottoway River (south boundary with Lunenburg and Brunswick Counties), the Little Nottoway River, Sandy River, West Creek, and other interior streams; (2) Fort Barfoot (formerly Fort Pickett) federal/state-military reservation proximity — the Maneuver Training Center occupies a substantial portion of the eastern county and crosses into Brunswick, Dinwiddie, and Lunenburg as well, with associated noise / access / encroachment considerations on adjacent private parcels; and (3) limited historic-resource sensitivity around Nottoway Court House (the historic county seat with 19th-century courthouse and supporting buildings), Blackstone's town core, and scattered National Register properties. Nottoway is NOT a Tidewater Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area locality — the CBPA program reaches Tidewater localities under Va. Code § 62.1-44.15:67 et seq., and Nottoway sits inland in the Southside Piedmont, well west of the Tidewater Chesapeake Bay drainage area used to define CBPA jurisdiction. Nottoway has no coastal-commission jurisdiction, no CalFire-equivalent WUI regime (Virginia has none), and no seismic-retrofit overlay.
County permitting (unincorporated parcels)
The Nottoway County Building Official issues residential building permits for every parcel in the unincorporated county. Parcels inside the Town of Blackstone, the Town of Burkeville, or the Town of Crewe route through those towns' own permitting instead. An ADU permit bundle on an unincorporated-county parcel typically includes: (1) a Zoning Compliance verification / Zoning Permit from Planning and Zoning confirming the ADU meets the supplementary-regulation standards (size cap, one-per-parcel, principal-dwelling setbacks, district eligibility), (2) a Building Permit from the Building Official with stamped plans, (3) trade permits for Electrical, Plumbing, and Mechanical filed by licensed Virginia contractors, (4) a Virginia Department of Health construction permit for well and/or septic on the majority of parcels — Nottoway's public water/sewer footprint is limited to town areas, so most rural parcels require a VDH evaluation, (5) a Floodplain Development Permit if any portion of the parcel is within a FEMA-mapped Special Flood Hazard Area per the county's Floodplain Ordinance (mapping along the Nottoway River corridor — south county boundary with Lunenburg and Brunswick — and along Sandy River, West Creek, and Little Nottoway River drainages), and (6) for parcels directly adjoining or inside the Fort Barfoot (formerly Fort Pickett) military reservation boundary, additional coordination with the Virginia Army National Guard garrison may apply for access, utility crossings, and encroachment concerns even though Fort Barfoot itself is federal/state-military land outside county zoning reach.
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
- 23824
Post Office
- 400 S Main St, 23824