James City County, VA Accessory Structures: ADU Owner Occupancy (2026)

Detached accessory apartments carry an owner-occupancy condition that attached units in the same section do not spell out the same way. Sec. 24-32(b)(4) of the Code of the County of James City requires that the property owner or an immediate family member as defined in section 19-17 of the subdivision ordinance shall reside in either the single-family dwelling or the accessory apartment. In practice this means a landowner cannot build a detached accessory apartment purely as a stand-alone rental while renting out the main house to unrelated tenants with no family connection to the owner; either the owner or a qualifying family member must occupy one of the two units.

The same subsection also requires health department approval before a detached unit is built on a lot served by an individual well or septic system, tying the occupancy condition to a practical utility-capacity check. Because detached units are where approved rather than automatically by-right, county staff can confirm occupancy status as part of that approval, and the requirement continues to apply after construction, not just at permitting; a change that removes the qualifying resident from either unit would put the property out of compliance with Sec.

24-32(b)(4) going forward. The apartment is also capped at 50 percent of the accessory structure's floor area and 400 square feet under the adjoining paragraphs of the same subsection, and it must meet the accessory structure's setback, yard and height standards for the zoning district.