What are entitlements on land?
Entitlements is industry shorthand for the approvals a tract holds for development: a rezoning or conditional zoning, a special exception, a variance, and preliminary or final plat approval. The Code's related concept is vested rights, which protect a specific project from a later zoning amendment once the owner holds such an approval, relies on it in good faith and incurs extensive obligations or substantial expenses pursuing it.
The word is a developer's; the approvals it bundles are the Code's
Entitlements is how buyers, lenders and developers talk about a tract's approvals in one word. The Virginia statutes behind those approvals do not use it. They name each approval separately, say who grants it, and list each one as an act that can vest a landowner's rights.
| Approval | What it does | Who grants it | Named as a significant affirmative governmental act? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rezoning (zoning map amendment) | Moves the land into a different district | The governing body, on a request started by the governing body, the planning commission, or a petition of the owner, a contract purchaser with the owner's written consent, or the owner's agent | Yes, an approved rezoning for a specific use or density |
| Conditional zoning (proffers) | Adds reasonable conditions to, or modifies, the district's regulations for that property | The governing body, accepting the proffered conditions | Yes, accepted proffers that specify use |
| Special exception or special use permit | Allows a use the district does not permit without the permit | The governing body or the board of zoning appeals, where the ordinance authorizes it | Yes, a special exception or use permit with conditions |
| Variance | Allows a reasonable deviation from lot or building dimension rules; never a change in use | The board of zoning appeals | Yes |
| Preliminary subdivision plat | Tentatively approves a division | The locality's designated agent | Yes, if final plat approval is diligently pursued |
| Final subdivision plat | Approves the division for recording | The locality's designated agent | Yes |
The last column is the one that matters later. Being on the Code's list of significant affirmative governmental acts is what lets an approval become the starting point for a vested right, taken up below.
Rezoning, proffers and special exceptions: approvals that exist only where a county zones
The first four approvals in the table are zoning approvals, and zoning is optional in Virginia: a locality "may" classify its territory into districts. Where a county has not, there is no county rezoning or special exception to hold.
In this footprint that describes three counties. Carroll County's 2024 comprehensive plan says the county does not utilize zoning, Wythe County's own FAQ says it has no countywide zoning, and Floyd County's economic development authority says there is no zoning in the county. Towns inside those counties can be zoned on their own. How land is controlled on each side of that line, and what takes zoning's place, is set out in zoning versus no zoning.
Where a county does zone, the difference between the approvals is the use. A variance allows a reasonable deviation from a lot or building dimension rule where strict application would unreasonably restrict use of the property, and never a change in use, which takes a rezoning or conditional zoning; a special exception lets in a use the district allows only by special use permit. The Code's definitions sit with the glossary entry for zoning.
One tax consequence travels with rezoning. On land assessed at use value, roll-back taxes attach when the zoning is changed to a more intensive use at the request of the owner or his agent, unless a local ordinance under subsection G provides otherwise. The procedure for any of these applications is that county's planning office to explain.
Plat approvals exist in every county, and both kinds run on a clock
The last two approvals in the table are available everywhere, because every Virginia locality has to adopt a subdivision ordinance. In an unzoned county, these are the approvals on the list a tract can hold.
An approved preliminary plat can hold for five years, but only while its conditions about the final plat that follows are met, and it can be revoked. Those conditions, and when one is required, are covered in what a preliminary plat is.
An approved final plat that is not filed for recordation within the window the statute sets is withdrawn and marked void; once recorded, it is valid for not less than five years. That window, including when it runs longer, is in the glossary entry for the final plat.
Vested rights: when an approval outlasts a later change in the rules
An approval matters to a buyer mainly for what it protects against. Va. Code 15.2-2307 sets out when a landowner's rights vest against a later zoning amendment, and it takes three things together.
- The landowner obtains, or is the beneficiary of, a significant affirmative governmental act that remains in effect allowing development of a specific project.
- The landowner relies in good faith on that act.
- The landowner incurs extensive obligations or substantial expenses in diligent pursuit of the specific project in reliance on it.
The approval alone is only the first of the three. A tract with an approved rezoning and nothing spent on the project is in a different position from one where the owner has relied on the approval and spent heavily pursuing it.
A recorded final plat carries a protection of its own. For five years after approval, no later change to a local ordinance, map, rule, regulation, policy or plan may adversely affect the right to commence and complete the approved development, unless the change is required to comply with state law or there has been a mistake, fraud or a change in circumstances substantially affecting the public health, safety or welfare.
Reading a development tract for the approvals it actually holds
When a tract is described as entitled, the useful response is to ask which approvals, granted by whom, on what date, and for what project.
- The documents themselves. The approval letter, the resolution, the proffers or conditions, and the plat as approved or recorded. A description is not an approval.
- The dates. A preliminary plat approval depends on a final plat following within its window, and an unrecorded final plat approval lapses if it is not filed in time.
- The project. Vesting attaches to a specific project, and the Code's list speaks of a rezoning for a specific use or density. A buyer with a different plan cannot assume the protection carries over.
- What has been spent. Vesting turns partly on good-faith reliance and on extensive obligations or substantial expenses in pursuit of the specific project, which only the record of what was actually done can show.
Approvals are one part of a tract's picture; access, soil, grade and the arithmetic of lots are the rest, and together they are what a land development feasibility read covers. How approvals, or their absence, figure into a price is taken up in how developers decide what to pay for land.
Sorting out the approvals a development tract already holds?
Send the parcel, the county and any approval letters or plats that come with it. Lowell will read the ground against them, while whether an approval has vested stays an attorney's call. No cost, no obligation.
Got it. Thank you.
We'll be in touch shortly with an honest read.
Questions this raises
Can a buyer under contract petition for a rezoning before closing?
In a locality that zones, a zoning map amendment may be initiated by resolution of the governing body, by motion of the planning commission, or by petition of the owner, a contract purchaser with the owner's written consent, or the owner's agent. So a buyer under contract can petition with the seller's written consent. Carroll, Wythe and Floyd counties have no county zoning map to amend, and elsewhere the procedure is that county's planning office to explain.
Does a recorded plat's five-year protection pass to a buyer of the tract?
The statute protects the right of "the subdivider or developer or his successor in interest" to commence and complete an approved development under the lawful terms of the recorded plat, for five years after approval and subject to its exceptions. Whether a particular buyer is a successor in interest, and what the protection covers for that buyer's plan, is a question for an attorney reading the plat and the deed.
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 15.2-2201, definitions of zoning, special exception, variance, conditional zoning and designated agent Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 15.2-2240, every locality adopts a subdivision ordinance Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 15.2-2241, recordation window for an approved plat Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 15.2-2260, preliminary subdivision plats Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 15.2-2261, recorded plats valid for five years Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 15.2-2280, a locality may adopt zoning Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 15.2-2286, initiating a zoning map amendment Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 15.2-2307, vested rights and nonconforming uses Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 15.2-2309, powers of boards of zoning appeals Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 58.1-3237, roll-back taxes Virginia General Assembly
- 2024 Comprehensive Plan Carroll County, Virginia
- Frequently asked questions Wythe County, Virginia
- Infrastructure projects Economic Development Authority of Floyd County