Can I build a dock on the New River?
Yes, a riparian owner can apply for one, but the approval runs through more than one agency. Building over a state-owned river bed needs a VMRC permit unless an exception applies, and since July 1, 2023 one exception covers nontidal water when a Virginia Water Protection Permit is obtained. A Joint Permit Application starts the review, and on Claytor Lake, Appalachian Power and Pulaski County add approvals.
A 2023 amendment rewrote the first step for a New River dock
Advice about New River docks written before July 1, 2023 tends to start and end with the Virginia Marine Resources Commission. That year Va. Code 28.2-1203 gained a new exception, subdivision A 9, and it changed which permit carries a project in nontidal water, which is what the New River is this far above tidewater.
The section opens with a prohibition on building over or encroaching on a Commonwealth-owned bed without a VMRC permit, unless one of its listed exceptions applies. A pier stands on the bed, which is why a dock is a state question as well as a county one. Whether the bed opposite your frontage belongs to the Commonwealth at all is the subject of who owns the riverbed in Virginia.
Any activity conducted in nontidal waters, provided that the person performing such activity obtains a Virginia Water Protection Permit and complies with all requirements of the Virginia Water Resources and Wetlands Protection Program
Va. Code 28.2-1203 A 9
VMRC's own notice dates the change July 1, 2023, and says its remaining jurisdiction over nontidal waters, for encroachments over or under state-owned bottoms, may be reviewed under a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Environmental Quality. So the older line, that a New River dock simply needs a VMRC permit, is no longer the whole picture. Neither is its opposite, that no state permit is needed. The Virginia Water Protection Permit is the state permit the new exception depends on.
The private pier exception, and the limits written into it
An older exception in the same section, subdivision A 5, was written for the owner who asks this question. It covers private piers for noncommercial purposes placed by owners of riparian land in the waters opposite that land, after an application goes to the Commission for review and processing. It is an exception with conditions, not a blank permission.
placement, after submission of an application to the Commission for review and processing, of private piers for noncommercial purposes by owners of the riparian lands in the waters opposite those lands
Va. Code 28.2-1203 A 5
| Condition | What the section requires |
|---|---|
| How far out | The piers do not extend beyond the navigation line or private pier lines established by VMRC or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers |
| Pier width | No more than six feet; finger piers no more than five feet |
| Platforms | L or T head platforms and floating docking platforms total no more than 400 square feet |
| Navigation | VMRC determines the piers are not a navigational hazard |
The exception belongs to the owner of the riparian land, and VMRC's guidance adds that the size a dock may be depends on several factors, including navigation and how close it comes to neighboring waterfront owners' riparian rights. What those rights are as a term is set out in the riparian rights glossary entry. For a particular design, the agencies reviewing the application answer the size question, not the statute alone.
One Joint Permit Application, filed once for several agencies
The practical path does not begin with an owner picking an exception out of the Code. VMRC tells anyone who wants to build a pier or dock, or otherwise disturb state-owned water bottoms, to fill out a Joint Permit Application, and the reviewing agencies decide which permits the project needs.
Effective September 1, 2025, the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) will become the central point of receipt of all requests in the Commonwealth of Virginia (instead of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission) as the result of a federal mandate.
Virginia Marine Resources Commission, habitat management page
- Gather what describes the frontage. The deed and plat that show the shoreline, where the pier would go, and drawings from whoever designs it. Pier layout and construction drawings belong with a licensed design professional.
- File the Joint Permit Application. VMRC's page says the Regulatory Request System will be the only way to submit an application, and any revisions, to the Corps, DEQ and VMRC, and to the local wetlands board.
- Let the agencies sort the permits. Whether a particular dock needs a Virginia Water Protection Permit, a Corps permit, VMRC review or some combination is for the Corps and DEQ to decide.
- Then the county. Local dock and zoning permits run on their own track. Pulaski County's ordinance names them for the New River and Claytor Lake; any other county says what it requires.
When the shoreline is wet ground, the water permits reach the bank
The Virginia Water Protection Permit that the 2023 exception leans on is not only a dock permit. The regulation says that, unless an activity is exempted or excluded, no one may dredge, fill or discharge any pollutant into or next to surface waters, or withdraw surface water, without one.
That is why the ground behind the pier matters as much as the water in front of it. A pier on posts, a walkway laid across a wet margin, fill for a landing and a dredged slip are different projects, and under Clean Water Act section 404 the Corps may permit discharges of dredged or fill material.
Where the bank may hold wetland, its edge is fixed by a wetland delineation, and what wet ground limits in general is covered in wetlands and what they limit. Pumping from the river for irrigation or livestock is a separate question with its own rules, covered in springs, creeks and water rights.
On Claytor Lake, Appalachian Power and Pulaski County sign off too
A dock on Claytor Lake answers to a utility and a county as well as to the state and federal agencies. Where the lake lies and how large it is are covered in where Claytor Lake is; this section is about who approves the structure.
Appalachian Power holds the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission license for the Claytor Project and, under that license, has to manage the occupancy and use of project lands and waters, including boat docks, piers and erosion control structures. The project boundary is generally the 1,850-foot elevation contour. Appalachian owns nearly all the land below it, with full pond at 1,846 feet, and where it does not own the shoreline it holds flowage easement rights.
| Who | What the source says |
|---|---|
| Appalachian Power | Manages docks, piers and erosion control structures on project lands and waters under its FERC license, and tells applicants to contact the Corps before any shoreline stabilization or dredging |
| Pulaski County, overlay district | Any development or use in the Claytor Lake Overlay District, which follows the project boundary, requires approval from APCO; the ordinance sets the lake's base elevation at 1,846 feet |
| Pulaski County, dock permit | Required for new docks, structural changes or expansions of existing docks, and added floating docks or jet ski ramps |
| Pulaski County, zoning permit | Required for building or altering a dock on the New River or Claytor Lake |
Frontage with a dock in the plan: what to settle before a price is agreed
When a dock is part of the plan for a piece of river or lake frontage, the useful work comes before the contract, not after closing. Four questions sort most of it.
- Which county's office answers. Pulaski's ordinance names dock and zoning permits for the New River and Claytor Lake. For frontage in another county, that county says what it requires, including whether the structure needs a building permit. A village name is a poor guide to the county, as the answer on what county Meadows of Dan is in shows.
- Whether an existing dock has a paper trail. A seller who built one can say which applications went in and which approvals came back. If nobody knows, the agencies named above are the ones to ask.
- Where the line meets the water. Where the land's bounds stop is a surveyor's work, and whether the bed was ever granted is a title question.
- Who draws it. Pier design belongs with a licensed design professional. A real estate licensee does not draw it and does not decide which permits apply.
None of that needs an agent. It is worth knowing before a price is agreed, because a dock that cannot be approved is not part of what the frontage offers, and a buyer's plans for the water rest on the same agencies a seller's would.
River or lake frontage where a dock is part of the plan?
Send the address and what you picture at the water's edge. Lowell will pull what the deed and plat show along the frontage and name the offices a dock would have to clear. No cost, no obligation.
Got it. Thank you.
We'll be in touch shortly with an honest read.
Questions this raises
Does adding a floating dock on Claytor Lake need its own permit?
Under Pulaski County's development ordinance, adding a floating dock or a jet ski ramp is one of the changes that requires a dock permit, along with new docks and structural changes or expansions of existing ones. The same ordinance requires approval from Appalachian Power for any development or use in the Claytor Lake Overlay District. Whether a state or federal permit also applies is settled through the Joint Permit Application.
What happens if a dock goes in without the state permit?
Va. Code 28.2-1203 makes it unlawful to build on or encroach over a Commonwealth-owned river bed without a VMRC permit unless one of the section's exceptions applies, and it makes a violation a Class 1 misdemeanor. Whether an exception, such as the nontidal exception tied to a Virginia Water Protection Permit, covered a particular dock is for the agencies to determine and, if it comes to a dispute, an attorney.
How wide can a private pier be under the Virginia exception?
The private pier exception in Va. Code 28.2-1203 A 5 applies only if the piers are no wider than six feet, finger piers no wider than five feet, and L or T head platforms and floating docking platforms total no more than 400 square feet, among other conditions. VMRC says a dock's allowable size also depends on navigation and neighboring owners' riparian rights. The agencies reviewing the application answer for a specific design.
Where this page's facts come from
Every rule, office and figure above traces to one of these. Rules change; check the office before you act on one.
- Va. Code 28.2-1203, unlawful use of subaqueous beds and its exceptions Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 28.2-1204, VMRC permits for reasonable uses of state-owned bottomlands Code of Virginia
- Habitat management: Joint Permit Application and the Regulatory Request System Virginia Marine Resources Commission
- What's new, 2023: nontidal waters and the VMRC/DEQ memorandum of agreement Virginia Marine Resources Commission
- 9VAC25-210-50, prohibitions and requirements for VWP permits Virginia Administrative Code
- Overview of Clean Water Act section 404 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Claytor Project shoreline FAQs Appalachian Power
- Unified Development Ordinance, July 2025: Claytor Lake Overlay District, dock and zoning permits Pulaski County, Virginia
- Community Development: dock permits and zoning permits Pulaski County, Virginia