ADU Pass
Dungannon
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Dungannon, Scott 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
PRE-SB531 (through June 30, 2027): A second dwelling on a Dungannon town parcel requires town-clerk consultation plus Scott County Building Office permit administration under the VUSBC. Town zoning lacks an ADU-specific category. POST-SB531 (July 1, 2027 forward): SB531 imposes a statewide by-right ADU pathway in single-family residential zones, caps the permit fee at $500, bans more-restrictive setbacks/height/coverage conditions, and bans familial-occupancy requirements. Dungannon will need to adopt or amend an ADU ordinance before that date or default to the statutory framework. The town sits within FEMA mapped Special Flood Hazard Areas along the Clinch River; floodplain-development compliance is mandatory.
Cost scenarios
| Scenario | Sq ft | Permit | Build | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| minimum | 200 | $1,200 | $44,000 | $45,200 |
| 600 | 600 | $1,200 | $132,000 | $133,200 |
| 1000 | 1,000 | $1,200 | $220,000 | $221,200 |
| maximum | 1,200 | $1,200 | $264,000 | $265,200 |
Fee breakdown (as of 2026-05)
Permitting process
Viability (permitted uses)
- Long-term rental: yes Long-term rental is generally permitted; the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (Va. Code Section 55.1-1200 et seq.) governs the tenancy.
- Short-term rental: with-restrictions Scott County levies a local Transient Occupancy Tax through the Commissioner of the Revenue at (276) 386-7692. STR registration with Scott County may be required for second-dwelling rentals. Dungannon does not maintain a separate STR ordinance. Demand is modest but present — anglers and Clinch River paddlers visit the area, and Natural Tunnel State Park is approximately 10 miles southwest.
- Office rental: with-restrictions Detached office rental to a non-resident tenant likely requires a home-occupation determination from the Scott County Zoning Administrator.
- Home office: yes Home occupation for the owner's business use is permitted as an accessory use to a residential parcel, subject to typical signage, customer-traffic, and outside-storage restrictions.
- Studio / workshop: yes Personal studio (art, music, woodworking) is a permitted accessory use.
- Agriculture: yes Agricultural accessory uses are generally permitted; Scott County's rural valley terrain supports small-scale farming, particularly cattle and tobacco historically and now diversified agriculture.
- Relative support: yes Family / multi-generational accessory dwelling is the most common pattern for second-dwelling approvals in Scott County.
Contacts
Staff: Dungannon Town Hall (Town Clerk / Mayor), Scott County Building and Zoning (Building Official (issues building permits for Dungannon parcels under the VUSBC)), Lenowisco Health District (VDH) (Environmental Health (well-septic for Lee, Scott, Wise counties))
Utilities
- Water: Town of Dungannon municipal water (limited service area within town corporate limits along Russell Street and adjacent streets); private wells outside the served area · 45d connect · $4,500
- Sewer: Town of Dungannon municipal sewer (limited service within town); private on-site septic outside served area; Lenowisco Health District (VDH) issues the well-septic permit · 60d connect · $8,500
- Electric: Powell Valley Electric Cooperative serves Scott County including Dungannon · 35d connect · $2,400
- Gas: No natural-gas distribution in Dungannon; bottled propane is the norm · 14d connect · $1,800
Property values & taxes
Construction timeline
Realistic total: best 9mo · typical 14mo · worst 24mo
Modular pathway inspectors are novice with modular
Financing
State ADU loans:
Insurance impact
HOA prevalence & preemption
Virginia has no HOA-ADU preemption. HOA covenants restricting ADUs are enforceable. HOA prevalence in rural Dungannon and Scott County more broadly is very low — parcels are predominantly fee-simple title without subdivision covenants.
Regulatory overlays (2)
- flood-zone
The Clinch River bisects Dungannon and a substantial share of town parcels along Russell Street and the river bank sit within FEMA mapped Special Flood Hazard Areas (Zone A or AE on Scott County FIRM). Floodplain Development Permit required; finished floor must clear Base Flood Elevation plus Virginia freeboard. Construction in the floodway is generally prohibited. (map) - other
Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act records and historic underground-mining maps must be reviewed for parcels in the Central Appalachian coalfield. Severed mineral rights are common in southwestern Virginia. Title work should include surface-rights and severed-mineral review before architectural design. (map)
Technical envelope (climate & building code)
Climate & energy code
Building code
Amendments:
- Amendment
Contractor market (aggregate)
Legal history (timeline)
Current ordinance: Town of Dungannon — no separately published zoning ordinance online; Scott County administers building permits under the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code (13 VAC 5-63), adopted 1925-01-01, last amended 1982-03-09
- 1925-01-01 — Town of Dungannon incorporated by Virginia charter (state-statute)
Dungannon was incorporated as a town in Scott County by Virginia Acts of Assembly charter, granting limited municipal authority under Title 15.2.
Effect: Established Dungannon's separate corporate existence within Scott County; town authority supersedes county zoning within corporate limits. - 1982-03-09 — Dungannon town charter recodified (1982) (state-statute)
Recodification of Dungannon's town charter on March 9, 1982 by the Virginia General Assembly.
Effect: Affirmed town authority and governance structure; baseline for current municipal operations. - 2026-04-13 — Virginia SB531 (Chapter 895) signed — statewide ADU mandate, effective July 1, 2027 (state-statute)
Governor Spanberger signed SB531 on April 13, 2026, enrolled as Chapter 895 of the 2026 Acts of Assembly. The act requires every Virginia locality to permit ADUs as a permitted accessory use in single-family residential zoning districts, caps the local permit fee at $500, prohibits setbacks more restrictive than the primary-dwelling or accessory-structure setbacks (whichever is less), prohibits height/setback/lot-size/coverage/frontage conditions more restrictive than those for single-family dwellings, and prohibits familial-occupancy requirements. Localities with an ADU ordinance on the books as of January 1, 2026 are exempt.
Effect: Forces a by-right ADU pathway in Dungannon and across Virginia effective July 1, 2027; supersedes the discretionary town-by-town review now in use.
Known issues (3)
- other — Confirm FEMA FIRM zone before architectural commitment; floodway parcels should be reclassified to non-residential use; floodplain-fringe parcels typically add $15,000-$45,000 to the project for foundation freeboard plus flood insurance premium.
- other — Allow 60-90 days for VDH well-septic permits; AOSS (alternative onsite sewage system) designs add 90-180 days and $15,000-$40,000 to project cost on marginal soils.
- other — Applicants planning ADU work in 2027 or later should target the post-SB531 framework. Applicants planning permit issuance before July 1, 2027 face today's discretionary review path through the town clerk and Scott County Building Office.
Scott County — county ADU rules and overlays
County ADU ordinance
Scott County does NOT have a standalone accessory-dwelling-unit (ADU) ordinance. The Scott County Zoning Ordinance regulates dwelling uses through per-district use tables and accompanying definitions; 'accessory dwelling unit' is not identified as a separate named use category in the county's publicly-listed ordinance resources, and county application materials do not publish an ADU-specific permit pathway. The operative framework is one principal dwelling per lot, with any second dwelling on an existing parcel routing through either (a) a Conditional Use Permit / Special Use Permit under the Zoning Ordinance — requires Planning Commission recommendation and Board of Supervisors approval after a Va. Code § 15.2-2204-compliant advertised public hearing, (b) subdivision of the parcel into two conforming lots under the Scott County Subdivision Ordinance followed by a standard zoning and building permit for a second principal dwelling on the new lot, or (c) a family-member / farm-labor path in agricultural contexts via the discretionary Special Use Permit route. Virginia has not enacted a statewide ADU preemption as of 2026-04-21 (per the adupass Virginia state-adu-research file: Virginia is a Dillon Rule state; the General Assembly has not passed an ADU bill through the 2026 regular session; Va. Code § 15.2-2280 et seq. leaves ADU regulation to localities). Scott County's silence on ADUs is therefore the binding local rule. Additionally, very large portions of the county — particularly the northwestern Powell Valley sector, the Clinch River corridor, and the agricultural river-valley bottoms — carry A-1 Agricultural zoning in which a single farm-family / farm-employee accessory dwelling is frequently approvable by Special Use Permit with owner-occupancy or family-member conditions attached.
County regulatory overlays
Scott County administers or is subject to four principal overlay regimes that bear on second-dwelling and accessory-structure projects: (1) Floodplain regulation within the Zoning Ordinance, tied to the FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map for Scott County — the overlay reaches the Clinch River corridor (which bisects the county east-to-west and carries the largest mapped floodplain), the Powell River (southwestern portion), Copper Creek (central), Stony Creek (eastern), and numerous tributaries of these ridge-and-valley stream systems. Compliance with FEMA NFIP 44 CFR § 60.3, FIRM base-flood-elevation, and Virginia freeboard requirements is required for any new residential structure in the mapped floodplain. (2) The Virginia Land Use (use-value) assessment program administered by the Commissioner of the Revenue under Va. Code § 58.1-3230 et seq. — Land Use enrollment is substantial in Scott County given the heavily agricultural and forested land base, so a very large share of prospective ADU projects will be on Land Use-enrolled parcels, with rollback-tax exposure under § 58.1-3237 that can run up to six years of use-value-vs-fair-market-value assessment difference. (3) Natural Tunnel State Park adjacency — the 1,000-acre state park near Duffield protects the nationally significant limestone natural tunnel (850 feet long, 100+ feet tall) through Purchase Ridge; parcels in the immediate park vicinity have heightened scrutiny under Special Use Permit review but no county-specific design-review overlay. (4) Jefferson National Forest (Clinch Ranger District) adjacency — the southeastern and southern reaches of Scott County include and abut U.S. Forest Service lands, introducing federal-land interface considerations for parcels adjoining forest boundaries. Scott has NO coastal-commission jurisdiction (inland southwestern Virginia; no tidal waters; far outside the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act Tidewater boundary), NO statewide WUI regulatory overlay (Virginia has none), NO seismic-retrofit overlay (well outside the Central Virginia Seismic Zone centered on Louisa County), and NO Part 150 airport-noise overlay (no commercial airport inside the county; the nearest general-aviation airport is Scott County / Virginia Highlands Airport / KVJI in Abingdon (Washington County) and Lonesome Pine Airport in Wise County). The county does not operate a county-administered local Architectural Review Board for historic districts.
County permitting (unincorporated parcels)
An accessory-dwelling or second-dwelling project on an unincorporated Scott County parcel routes through the Scott County Building & Zoning office at 190 Beech Street, Suite 102, Gate City. The same office handles the zoning-permit approval (required before any building permit can issue), any Special Use Permit (the likely path for a second dwelling given the absence of a by-right ADU category), Subdivision Plat Review (if the subdivision path is chosen), Board of Zoning Appeals variance review, building permit under the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code, and trade permits. Because nearly all rural Scott County parcels lack public water and sewer, the Lenowisco Health District (Virginia Department of Health local office covering Lee, Scott, and Wise counties, with a Scott County office in Gate City) issues the well-and-septic construction permit for such parcels; the VDH permit must be in hand before the county will issue the building permit. Zoning applications are submitted in person at the Building & Zoning office; the county does not operate an Accela-, Tyler-, or CivicGov-integrated online permit portal. Building-permit applications go to the same office. Payment by check, cash, or credit card at intake. Given the very small staff (typically one Building Official, one or two inspectors or combination code officials, and one Permit Technician / Zoning Administrator who may be the same person as the Building Official in smaller rural Virginia counties), direct phone consultation at (276) 386-6521 is the strongly-recommended first step.
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
- 24245
Post Office
- 18948 Veterans Memorial Hwy Ste 102, 24245