ADU Pass
Churchland
Also known as Western Branch / Churchland side, Churchland District, Old Churchland, Riverside / Riverview, ZIP 23703
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Churchland — a USPS locale inside Portsmouth, Portsmouth city, Virginia — navigate the permit paperwork for building an accessory dwelling unit. This locale covers 1 ZIP code.
Locale-specific ADU details
Site (parcel physics)
Slope:
Soil:
Lot profile:
Geo-hazards:
Recent ADU permit activity
Utility capacity (upgrade likelihood)
Housing stock age:
Electric service drop:
Sewer lateral:
Water pressure:
Gas availability: available — Natural gas available along the Churchland Boulevard mainline and most interior streets; service coverage is more complete here than in newer Suffolk-side suburbs.
Locale property values
Churchland median home value runs above the Portsmouth citywide $195k median because the district holds the city's larger lot single-family stock (Western Branch suburban mid-century and post-1980s subdivisions) and is the most stable, middle-class section of the city. Property tax rate matches the Portsmouth citywide $1.31 per $100 assessed.
Locale overlays (2)
- flood-zone
A modest fraction of Churchland parcels (those backing onto the Western Branch of the Elizabeth River) intersect mapped FEMA SFHA. Most of the district sits on higher ground above BFE — significantly less SFHA exposure than Portsmouth's Olde Towne or Cradock areas. - wetland-overlay
Western Branch waterfront and Hoffler Creek tributary parcels trigger 100-ft RPA buffers. Interior Churchland parcels (the great majority) are subject only to lighter RMA performance standards.
Inherited from the city
These sections come from the city page. Click through to the Portsmouth ADU research for details.
- ADU legality
- legal history
- size range
- permitting process & fees
- permit forms
- contacts
- utilities
- incentives
- viability
- resale value impact
- construction timeline
- pre-approved plans
- financing
- service complexity
Portsmouth — city ADU rules and incentives
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.
City cost envelope
$201,600 all-in for a 625 sqft ADU (permit + build). Midpoint scenario.
Permit fee bundle: $1,600 (2026-05).
City viability (selected uses)
City incentives
City of Portsmouth — county ADU rules and overlays
County ADU ordinance
Portsmouth Zoning Ordinance Chapter 40.2 permits accessory dwelling units in R-15, R-10, R-7, R-5, and certain mixed-use districts subject to use-specific standards. Detached ADU size cap is typically 800-1000 sqft; attached internal ADUs are capped by percentage of principal dwelling. Owner-occupancy is required for ADUs in certain configurations. Off-street parking is required. Significant portions of the city sit in FEMA Special Flood Hazard Areas along the Elizabeth River and Western Branch; ADUs on such parcels require flood-zone elevation. Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act RPA buffers (100 ft from tidal waters) apply to most waterfront parcels.
County regulatory overlays
Portsmouth administers overlay regimes that bear on ADU projects: (1) Floodplain Management Overlay tied to FEMA Special Flood Hazard Areas along the Elizabeth River, Western Branch, and Paradise Creek — a substantial fraction of the city carries SFHA designation given Hampton Roads coastal-plain geometry; (2) Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area (CBPA) Resource Protection Area and Resource Management Area coverage on most parcels (Portsmouth is a Tidewater locality under Va. Code Section 62.1-44.15:67 et seq.); (3) Virginia Marine Resources Commission tidal-wetlands jurisdiction on Elizabeth River waterfront; (4) Olde Towne Portsmouth Historic District (NRHP-listed) with local Architectural Review Board oversight; (5) Park View Historic District. Naval-installation noise zones cover portions of the city near Norfolk Naval Shipyard.
County permitting (unincorporated parcels)
Because Portsmouth is an independent city (county-equivalent), there is no separate county permitting authority. The city handles all matters that would in a typical state involve both city and county. A typical ADU-like permit bundle includes a Zoning Permit, a Conditional Use Permit when required for certain ADU configurations, a Building Permit with stamped residential plans, electrical/plumbing/mechanical trade permits, an HRSD sewer-connection review (the entire city is within HRSD's service area), a Floodplain Development Permit if any portion of the parcel is within the mapped SFHA, and a Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act review.
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
- 23703
Post Office
- 3590 Towne Point Rd, 23703