Does frontage on two roads change what a farm is worth?
Yes, but only through what the second frontage allows: another road an entrance could come off, though where both are state roads VDOT decides which one takes it, and another line along which lots might meet a county's frontage rules. Land in one ownership separated only by a public road still counts as contiguous for land use minimum acreage. The dollar effect is an opinion for that farm.
The same farm fronting one road and fronting two: three things can differ
Picture one farm twice. In the first version its only boundary on a road is the stretch along the front fields. In the second, the back line also runs along a road. Nothing about the soil, the barns or the water changes between the two, so whatever the second road is worth has to come from what it lets a buyer do.
There are three places to look, and each has its own rule and its own office.
| Question | One road | Two roads | Who answers it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where can a drive come in? | Along the one frontage, at a location VDOT approves if it is a state road | Off either road, but where both are state roads VDOT decides which one takes the entrance | VDOT, through the residency serving the county |
| Where could a division put lots? | Lots front the one road, or rely on whatever the county allows without frontage | A second line lots could front on | The county's subdivision agent |
| Does a road split the land use acreage? | Not applicable | Parts in one ownership separated only by a public road still count as contiguous for minimum acreage | The Commissioner of the Revenue |
Whether the second road is state-maintained or private can change the first two rows, and that comparison belongs to whether frontage on a state road matters more than a private road.
A second state road widens VDOT's options for the entrance, and VDOT picks the road
On a state road, where a farm's entrance goes is VDOT's decision, and a second frontage changes what VDOT has to work with rather than handing the owner a free choice.
VDOT's access management regulations say the department will permit reasonably convenient access to a parcel of record but is not obligated to approve the applicant's preferred entrance location. Where a parcel is served by more than one road in the state highway system, the district administrator's designee "shall determine upon which road the proposed entrance is to be constructed."
A private entrance includes one that lets agricultural operations reach fields, and VDOT's Road Design Manual says installing a private entrance "cannot be denied on the basis of sight distance"; VDOT reviews the owner's frontage and sets a usable location with the best possible sight distance. For a farm's own private entrance, then, a second frontage gives VDOT more road to find that location on. A commercial entrance is held to a stricter test, at least minimum intersection sight distance, so the length and lay of a second frontage can matter more there.
Permit applications are filed with VDOT's district designee for the county where the work is done, and for Carroll County the VDOT residency is Martinsville, based in Bassett. What a VDOT entrance permit takes, and when a driveway needs one, is answered in whether you need a VDOT permit for a driveway.
Two frontage lines give a division two roads to lay lots along
Division is one place road frontage reaches a farm's price, because a lot needs a way to reach a road and a county's rules can set how much of its line must touch one.
Carroll County's subdivision ordinance, in its April 14, 2014 version, defines frontage as the length of the property line of a lot or tract "Measured at the front setback line along a street, road or highway against which land abuts." A farm with two frontages has two such lines, so lots laid out along the back road need not all crowd onto the front one.
The same ordinance also shows why frontage is not the whole story. It provides Class C subdivisions, capped at five lots, for parcels existing and recorded with the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Carroll County before January 1, 2014 that lack the road frontage or acreage for a Class A or Class B subdivision. Those lots come with limits of their own: they receive no public services, and the streets serving them are not built to VDOT standards or maintained by VDOT or public funds. The frontage a Class A or Class B lot needs, and each other county's equivalent, is a question for that county's subdivision agent.
County frontage rules are gathered in road frontage explained. What selling off part of a farm involves, plat included, is covered in selling just part of your land.
When the second road runs through the farm instead of along its edge
Some farms front two roads because a road cuts across them, with fields on both sides in the same ownership. For the minimum acreage in land use taxation, a public road there does not turn one farm into two small ones.
Va. Code 58.1-3233 counts a property's minimum acreage by adding together the contiguous real estate titled in the same ownership, leaving out subdivision lots recorded after July 1, 1983, and it says "properties separated only by a public right-of-way are considered contiguous". A piece across a public road still counts toward the acreage the program requires. The statute speaks of a public right-of-way; how land across a private road is treated is the Commissioner of the Revenue's decision.
A farm split by a road also means two sets of fields to account for when it closes, including any hay crop still in the field at closing. And what road frontage adds to a farm in general, one road or several, is a question taken up on selling your farm.
A farm with frontage on two roads?
Send the county, the acreage and the names of both roads. Lowell will look at where an entrance and a division line could actually go before putting a number on the second frontage. No cost, no obligation.
Got it. Thank you.
We'll be in touch shortly with an honest read.
Questions this raises
Can a farm without enough road frontage still be divided in Carroll County?
In a limited way, if the parcel is old enough. Carroll County's April 14, 2014 subdivision ordinance provides Class C subdivisions of up to five lots, each at least 1.5 acres and not to be resubdivided, for parcels existing and recorded before January 1, 2014 that lack the road frontage or acreage for a Class A or Class B subdivision. Those lots receive no public services, and their streets are not built to VDOT standards or maintained by VDOT or public funds. The county's subdivision agent confirms whether a parcel qualifies.
Can a parcel that does not touch the rest of the farm count toward its land use acreage?
Sometimes. Va. Code 58.1-3233 adds up contiguous land titled in the same ownership and treats properties separated only by a public right-of-way as contiguous. It also deems a noncontiguous parcel included in an agricultural, forestal, or agricultural and forestal district of local significance to be contiguous to other property in that district. Whether a parcel sits in such a district is a question for the county, and the Commissioner of the Revenue decides the assessment.
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.
- Subdivision Ordinance (April 14, 2014): frontage definition and Class C subdivisions Carroll County, Virginia
- Va. Code 58.1-3233, minimum acreage and contiguous land Virginia General Assembly
- 24VAC30-73-60, reasonably convenient access and parcels served by more than one state road Virginia Department of Transportation
- 24VAC30-73-10, definitions: private entrance Virginia Department of Transportation
- Road Design Manual, Appendix F: access management design standards for entrances and intersections Virginia Department of Transportation
- VDOT districts and residencies Virginia Department of Transportation