Tazewell County

ADU Pass helps homeowners in Tazewell County, Virginia navigate the permit paperwork for building an accessory dwelling unit. We cover 14 cities and 16 ZIP codes in this county.

16 ZIP codes

14 Cities

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County ADU details

County ADU ordinance

Tazewell County does NOT maintain a standalone accessory-dwelling-unit ordinance. The county's regulatory posture is moderate — more structured than Russell or Buchanan counties given Tazewell's higher population and town infrastructure, but lighter than Tidewater Virginia. ADUs are regulated indirectly through the Zoning Ordinance's treatment of 'accessory use,' 'accessory structure,' 'guest house,' and 'family-member dwelling' in combination with the per-district use schedules where zoning applies. In zoned areas (typically the higher-density corridors near the towns and the principal valley-floor agricultural areas), an A-1 or A-R district 'family-member dwelling' or farm-labor tenant dwelling is typically permitted subject to minimum lot area requirements; a fully independent second dwelling for non-family occupancy on a single lot typically requires a Special Use Permit. In residential districts, accessory structures are typically permitted by-right; an independent second dwelling typically requires SUP review. Many ridge-and-hollow parcels and the Burke's Garden interior have light-touch zoning where the principal regulatory touchpoints are USBC building permit and VDH onsite-sewage. Mine-subsidence concerns from historic underground coal mining apply on portions of the county, particularly around Pocahontas and the major coalfield communities. Applicants should confirm current ordinance text and zoning status of the specific parcel with the Tazewell County Department of Community Development before committing to a project pro forma.

County permitting (unincorporated parcels)

Tazewell County's Department of Community Development handles zoning permits, Special Use Permits, site plan review, subdivision review, and floodplain-overlay administration for every parcel in the county except those inside the incorporated towns (Tazewell, Bluefield, Cedar Bluff, Pocahontas, Richlands) or on state/federal land. Building Inspections issues building permits and trade permits for the same non-town territory. A typical second-dwelling permit bundle includes: (1) where zoning applies and SUP is required, an SUP from the Board of Supervisors with Planning Commission recommendation, (2) a Zoning Permit confirming use compliance and district setback compliance (where applicable), (3) a Building Permit with stamped residential plans, (4) Electrical, Plumbing, and Mechanical trade permits, (5) a Virginia Department of Health (VDH) - Cumberland Plateau Health District construction permit for well and/or septic on parcels not served by public water or sewer, (6) any applicable Floodplain Development Permit if the parcel intersects the mapped 100-year SFHA along the Clinch River, the Bluestone River, the Tug Fork tributaries, or other mapped tributaries (Tazewell County is bisected by the Clinch and is the headwaters area for the Bluestone River system that drains north into West Virginia), (7) any applicable mine-subsidence acknowledgment for parcels overlying historic underground coal workings (significant in the Pocahontas, Richlands, and former-active-mine areas), (8) any applicable historic-overlay review at Burke's Garden (a National Historic Landmark District), Pocahontas (the historic coal-mining-town district), and individual NRHP-listed parcels. The Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act does NOT apply.

County assessor

Tazewell County real estate is assessed by the Office of the Commissioner of the Revenue working with the Real Estate Assessment Office. Tazewell County operates on a periodic general-reassessment cycle under Va. Code § 58.1-3252; the county historically uses a multi-year cycle with reassessments typically contracted to an outside assessment firm. A second-dwelling addition is captured through the supplemental real-estate-improvement process under Va. Code § 58.1-3292. The primary dwelling is NOT re-valued off-cycle as a result of the second-dwelling addition. Coal and mineral rights are assessed separately from surface real estate (a distinctive feature of coalfield-county assessment); split estate / severed-mineral-rights parcels are common, particularly in the Pocahontas / Richlands vicinities and along the West Virginia border.

NameTazewell County Office of the Commissioner of the Revenue / Real Estate Assessment Office

Address197 Main Street, Tazewell, VA 24651

Parcel lookupOnline lookup

Assessment policy: A second dwelling is captured as a real-estate improvement under Va. Code Title 58.1 Subtitle III Chapter 32. On receipt of the building permit and (later) the Certificate of Occupancy from Building Inspections, the Real Estate Assessment Office prorates the supplemental assessment from the completion date through the end of the tax year under Va. Code § 58.1-3292. There is no Tazewell-County-specific ADU assessment exemption. Standard Virginia real-estate tax relief programs (elderly and disabled relief under Va. Code § 58.1-3210 as adopted locally, disabled-veteran exemption under Va. Code § 58.1-3219.5) apply to the homeowner's principal residence. Coal and mineral rights are assessed separately; many Tazewell County parcels have severed-mineral-rights conditions that affect title and that a buyer / ADU developer should confirm with title insurance. Land Use Assessment under Va. Code § 58.1-3229 et seq. covers a substantial fraction of the county's farmland, particularly the unique Burke's Garden valley-floor agricultural land which has been farmed continuously since the 1740s.

County overlays (5)

Tazewell County's overlay regime reflects its Appalachian coalfield geography and exceptional historic-resource concentration. The relevant overlays / hazard layers are: (1) a Floodplain Overlay tied to FEMA Special Flood Hazard Areas along the Clinch River, the Bluestone River, Indian Creek, and other mapped tributaries; (2) a mine-subsidence hazard layer tied to historic underground coal workings, administered jointly by the Virginia Department of Energy Division of Mined Land Repurposing — significant portions of the Pocahontas / Richlands / coalfield-corridor area overlie former room-and-pillar coal mining with measurable subsidence risk; (3) karst-terrain hazard zones in portions of the county with limestone bedrock — Burke's Garden notably sits in a Mississippian-age limestone formation and has karst features affecting septic-system siting and foundation design; (4) the Burke's Garden Rural Historic District (a National Historic Landmark District covering the entire enclosed valley, NRHP-listed) — the District's NHL status does not directly impose local-zoning restrictions but Section 106 review applies to federally-funded projects and federal historic-rehabilitation tax credits affect the rehab investment regime; (5) the Pocahontas Historic District (NRHP-listed coal-mining-era company-town district); (6) various individually-listed NRHP plantations, houses, and industrial structures; (7) the Bluefield twin-city historic-resource overlap with the Town of Bluefield, VA. The Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act DOES NOT apply (Tazewell drains to the Tennessee River system and the Ohio River system, not to the Chesapeake watershed). There is NO California-style coastal commission, NO CalFire-equivalent WUI overlay, NO seismic-retrofit overlay, and NO airport-noise overlay in Tazewell County (Tazewell County Airport / Tazewell County / WV / Pocahontas Airport JFZ is a small general-aviation strip without published noise-contour mapping that would constrain residential development).

Known county issues (8)

other — ADU pro formas in zoned areas of Tazewell County face a 90-150 day SUP cycle plus a separate SUP application fee ($300-$1,500) in addition to the standard building-permit and septic processes. ADU pro formas in light-zoned areas have a narrower review path. Applicants should confirm the parcel's specific zoning status with Community Development before committing to a project pro forma.
other — Foundation engineering on parcels overlying former underground coal workings may require pier-and-spread-footing designs, or in extreme cases mine-fill remediation engineering — adding $10,000-$50,000+ to project cost where active mitigation is required. Mine-subsidence insurance should be carried on any structure built within the historic mining footprint. A parcel-level mine-mapping inquiry through the Virginia Department of Energy is essential before committing to a foundation design in the coalfield corridor.
other — ADU projects in Burke's Garden have meaningful STR / heritage-tourism market potential (outdoor-recreation visitors using the nearby Appalachian Trail, rural-tourism visitors, heritage-tourism visitors) but face (a) historic-district design sensitivity, (b) practical access constraints (a few mountain-pass roads are the only vehicle access — affects construction-material delivery and contractor logistics), (c) karst-terrain septic-design challenges on the limestone valley floor, and (d) any local-overlay design review where adopted. Construction-cost contingencies should reflect the limited-access logistics. Burke's Garden parcels are highly differentiated from the rest of the county — design and pro forma choices that work elsewhere in Tazewell may not work here, and vice versa.
other — ADU projects in or near Pocahontas have meaningful coal-heritage-tourism STR market potential. Mine-subsidence concerns are particularly material in Pocahontas because most parcels overlie the original Pocahontas No. 3 seam workings. Town-administered historic-preservation review applies inside town limits.
other — STR-market potential along VA 16 and at trailhead-adjacent parcels is meaningfully better than in the broader coalfield region. ADU pro formas targeting motorcycle-tourism or outdoor-recreation visitors may pencil where the same project in Russell or Buchanan would not. Long-term-rental demand is more conventional; the differentiator is the STR / vacation-rental upside in tourism corridors.
other — Title review for any ADU project should confirm the specific mineral-rights conditions on the parcel. Burke's Garden parcels are typically NOT subject to severed-mineral-rights conditions to the same extent as coalfield-corridor parcels, but verify specifically. This is a coalfield-county-specific issue not present in most Virginia jurisdictions.
policy-review — Applicants should confirm the current ordinance text with the Department of Community Development (276-385-1230) rather than relying on prior summaries. Light-zoned and non-zoned areas of the county would not be materially affected by a state preemption bill since they already lack discretionary zoning review for second dwellings.
other — Site-development costs (driveway grading, foundation engineering, septic-design work) on Appalachian-terrain parcels can be materially higher than the simpler flat-parcel work typical of Tidewater Virginia. Alternative onsite-sewage (AOSS) septic systems are common where soils are marginal. Burke's Garden karst soils require particular geotechnical attention.

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.