Setback
A setback is the required distance between a building and a street, road or property line. Carroll County's subdivision ordinance defines it as the distance from a street right-of-way or the boundary of adjacent property, and Virginia law lets any locality regulate the building of houses by ordinance, minimum setbacks included.
A distance measured from a right-of-way or a neighbor's boundary
Carroll County's posted subdivision ordinance defines the word in a single phrase:
That distance from a street right-of-way or boundary of adjacent property upon which a building or other structure may be built
Subdivision Ordinance of Carroll County, Virginia (posted 2014 text)
The definition names two reference lines. One is the edge of the strip of land a street occupies, defined under right of way. The other is the line shared with the next owner. A setback is counted inward from whichever line applies.
The authority to set one comes from the state. Va. Code 15.2-2279 says any locality "may by ordinance regulate the building of houses in the locality including the adoption of off-street parking requirements, minimum setbacks and side yards and the establishment of minimum lot sizes." The section speaks of any locality, not only one that has adopted zoning.
Thirty-five feet from a road, where a locality chooses it
The same section of the Code names one distance outright:
Any locality may by ordinance require that no building be constructed within thirty-five feet of any street or roadway
Va. Code 15.2-2279
The operative word is may. The statute offers the distance to localities; it does not impose it everywhere. And it steps aside inside certain towns:
The provisions of such an ordinance shall not apply within the limits of any town which has enacted a zoning ordinance or has adopted an ordinance establishing minimum setbacks.
Va. Code 15.2-2279
The same 35 feet, counted from the road's edge in one county and its centerline in another
The figure 35 turns up in Carroll's, Grayson's and Floyd's sources, but not from the same line. Carroll and Floyd count it from the edge of the street or roadway; Grayson's permit form counts it from the centerline of the public road, and Floyd adds a second figure measured from the center.
A distance from the centerline and a distance from the street edge are not the same distance on the ground, because the road itself has width. That is why a number remembered from one county, without the line it is measured from, can put a house in the wrong place in the next. The full set of distances by locality, including where each is measured, is laid out in how close to the property line you can build.
The plat, the county desk, and the room that remains
A setback tells you where a building may not go. Take every setback away from a lot, along with the other recorded limits, and what remains is the building envelope.
For a specific parcel, the number comes from two places: the county's own rules and the recorded plat. Some plats carry the setback as a note. In Carroll County, where every lot in a subdivision is larger than five acres, the plat is not required to show a setback line on each lot, and carries notes instead that the minimum building setback is 35 feet from the road right-of-way and 15 feet from side and back lot lines. That note measures from the road right-of-way, while the ordinance's general subdivision rule speaks of the adjacent edge of any street; how the two relate on a given plat is for Carroll County Land Use and Planning to confirm.
Not sure which line the setback on your lot is measured from?
Tell Lowell the county and the road, and send the plat if you have it, and he will point out which line the recorded setback runs from. No cost, no obligation.
Got it. Thank you.
We'll be in touch shortly with an honest read.
Questions about this term
Can a county with no zoning ordinance still set building setbacks?
Yes. Va. Code 15.2-2279 lets any locality regulate the building of houses by ordinance, including minimum setbacks and side yards. Carroll County, whose 2024 comprehensive plan says it does not utilize zoning, sets building distances in its subdivision ordinance: 35 feet from the adjacent edge of any street and 15 feet from the lot boundary for buildings in a subdivision.
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 (setback definition and building distances) Carroll County, Virginia
- Va. Code 15.2-2279: localities may regulate the building of houses, including setbacks Code of Virginia
- Zoning Permit Form 0100 Grayson County, Virginia
- Building Inspections (setbacks) Floyd County, Virginia
- 2024 Comprehensive Plan (the county does not utilize zoning) Carroll County, Virginia