ADU Pass
Westmoreland County
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Westmoreland County, Virginia navigate the permit paperwork for building an accessory dwelling unit. We cover 5 cities and 6 ZIP codes in this county.
Map
County ADU details
County ADU ordinance
Westmoreland County has no standalone accessory-dwelling-unit ordinance. Virginia is a Dillon Rule state, and the General Assembly has not enacted a statewide ADU-enabling statute analogous to California AB 68 or Oregon SB 1051, so ADU permissibility is entirely a creature of local zoning. The county zoning ordinance permits 'accessory structures' and, in some residential districts, 'guest houses' or 'family apartments' as either by-right or special-exception uses, but uses the older accessory-structure vocabulary rather than 'accessory dwelling unit'. Applicants seeking a second dwelling on a single parcel typically proceed via special-exception / conditional-use permit before the Board of Zoning Appeals or the Board of Supervisors.
County assessor
Assessment policy: Real-estate assessment in Virginia is handled locally; in Westmoreland County the Commissioner of the Revenue administers personal-property tax and business taxes, and the county contracts a general reassessment of real estate on a periodic cycle (Virginia Code Title 58.1 permits reassessment intervals of two to six years, and Westmoreland has historically used a four-year cycle). When an accessory dwelling or secondary structure is added, the improvement is picked up via a building-permit feed to the assessor and added to the parcel's assessed improvements at the next assessment effective date; Virginia has no Proposition-13-style acquisition-value cap, so the improvement is assessed at fair market value.
County overlays (4)
- other — Because almost every waterfront parcel in Westmoreland County touches RPA, ADU site placement on waterfront lots is frequently the binding constraint rather than zoning density. Non-waterfront interior lots are still in RMA and must meet performance criteria (stormwater, erosion and sediment control, septic drain-field setback).
- flood-zone — An ADU located in a VE (coastal high-hazard) zone must be elevated on open piles/columns to or above the BFE plus any county freeboard; AE-zone ADUs require lowest-floor elevation at or above BFE.
- historic-district — Owners of individually listed National Register properties pursuing state historic-rehabilitation tax credits must comply with the Secretary of the Interior's Standards administered through the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, but this is opt-in (credit-seeking), not a zoning overlay.
- wetland-overlay — Wetlands Board review is separate from, and additional to, CBPA/RPA review.
Known county issues (3)
- other — Applicants cannot rely on a predictable by-right ADU pathway. Each secondary-dwelling proposal is likely to require a conditional-use permit with Planning Commission review and a Board of Supervisors public hearing, producing variable outcomes, longer timelines (often 90-150 days), and per-case conditions. Until the Board of Supervisors adopts an ADU-specific amendment, applicants should budget for discretionary review.
- other — Because the entire county is within Tidewater Virginia and most marketable parcels are waterfront or near-water, CBPA Resource Protection Area buffers (and the associated Water Quality Impact Assessment requirement) frequently dictate whether an ADU is feasible at all, independent of zoning density. Buyers and builders should screen for RPA encroachment before committing to a site.
- other — Most unincorporated parcels rely on on-site septic and private wells. Adding a second dwelling typically requires either an expansion of the existing septic system's design flow (pump tested and approved by the Three Rivers Health District) or a wholly separate drain field, with reserve-area requirements. This health-department review is independent of, and often slower than, county zoning 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.