Zoning
Zoning is the process by which a locality classifies its land into districts by legislative action and applies regulations in each district on the uses allowed and on the design and placement of buildings and structures. In Virginia zoning is optional: the Code says a locality may adopt it.
Districts drawn by legislative action, each with its own rules
The Code of Virginia defines zoning in one sentence, in Va. Code 15.2-2201:
"Zoning" or "to zone" means the process of classifying land within a locality into areas and districts, such areas and districts being generally referred to as "zones," by legislative action and the prescribing and application in each area and district of regulations concerning building and structure designs, building and structure placement and uses to which land, buildings and structures within such designated areas and districts may be put.
Va. Code 15.2-2201
The definition has three parts. The land is divided into districts. The division is made by legislative action. And each district carries its own regulations on what may be built, where it may sit and what it may be used for. Va. Code 15.2-2283 gives the purpose: "Zoning ordinances shall be for the general purpose of promoting the health, safety or general welfare of the public".
The enabling statute, Va. Code 15.2-2280, opens with the word that makes all of this a choice: "Any locality may, by ordinance, classify the territory under its jurisdiction" into districts. May, not shall. Which of the six counties and the City of Galax have made that choice is set out locality by locality in the six-county zoning and subdivision table. A locality that has not classified its territory into districts is unzoned, and how land is controlled on each side of that choice is laid out in zoning vs no zoning.
Use, bulk, yards and open space, set district by district
Va. Code 15.2-2280 lists what a zoning ordinance may regulate. Its first three items, in short:
- Use. The use of land, buildings, structures and other premises for agricultural, business, industrial, residential, flood plain and other specific uses.
- Structures. The size, height, area, bulk and location of structures, along with their erection, construction, alteration, repair, maintenance, razing or removal.
- Ground and open space. The areas and dimensions of land to be occupied by buildings and uses, and of courts, yards and other open spaces to be left unoccupied.
Because every rule is attached to a district, the first fact about a zoned parcel is which district it sits in. Grayson County's 2024 comprehensive plan, for example, names the Rural Farm District as the default zone for unincorporated land, with the towns running their own zoning; the county's position is taken up in whether Grayson County has zoning. Questions such as whether a parcel may carry a second house on the same land are answered district by district where a county zones.
A special use permit for a use, a variance for a dimension
The same definitions section names two ways a zoned parcel can depart from its district's plain rules, and they are not interchangeable.
- Special exception
- A special use that is not permitted in a particular district except by a special use permit.
- Variance
- A reasonable deviation from the rules on the shape, size or area of a lot, or the size, height, area, bulk or location of a building, when strict application of the ordinance would unreasonably restrict use of the property.
The variance definition closes with a limit: "It shall not include a change in use, which change shall be accomplished by a rezoning or by a conditional zoning." Rezonings, special exceptions, variances and the point at which an approval becomes a vested right are the subject of entitlements on land.
Need to know what the zoning on a parcel allows before you sell?
Tell Lowell the county and the parcel, and he will lay out which rules reach it, zoned or not, and which office confirms them. No cost, no obligation.
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Questions about this term
Can a zoning ordinance set different minimum lot sizes depending on public water or sewer?
Yes. Va. Code 15.2-2280 lets a zoning ordinance regulate the areas and dimensions of land to be occupied by buildings and uses, "including variations in the sizes of lots based on whether a public or community water supply or sewer system is available and used". Whether a district uses that power, and the figures it sets, are in that locality's ordinance, and its planning or zoning office confirms them.
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, including zoning, special exception and variance Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 15.2-2280: zoning ordinances generally Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 15.2-2283: purpose of zoning ordinances Code of Virginia
- Comprehensive Plan 2024 (Rural Farm District as the default zone) Grayson County, Virginia
- Zoning (Planning and Community Development; a parcel's official district) Grayson County, Virginia