James City County, VA Ordinances (2026)

James City County will clear debris from designated local roads, both public and private, after a declared emergency to remove threats to life and property. The county director of…

Anyone tattooing for business in James City County must be licensed as a personal service enterprise under § 12-21's rate schedule and get a certificate from the county administrator…

It is unlawful to give a massage in James City County unless the technician holds a valid state permit issued under Va. Code § 54.1-3029, and the permit must be on hand during every…

A James City County pawnbroker needs a commissioner-of-revenue license and circuit court authorization, a $200 nonrefundable application fee, and a $50,000 bond or letter of credit…

Dealers buying secondhand gold, silver, diamonds or gems in James City County must get a police-issued permit, pay a $200 fee, post a $10,000 bond, and hold every purchased item for 15…

James City County regulates a home auto repair business as a home occupation under the Zoning Ordinance, chapter 24. Section 24-2 requires the work to stay entirely inside the…

James City County classifies strip clubs, adult stores and similar sexually oriented businesses under a single Zoning Ordinance definition and requires a special use permit before one…

James City County's zoning ordinance treats vape and smoke shops as a special-permit use rather than a by-right retail store. Section 24-390 requires operators in the General Business…

James City County's Parks and Recreation director can require a permit before anyone uses a public park or recreational facility, and once a permit is required you must pay the fee and…

A street fair, festival or other outdoor gathering with 200 or more expected attendees needs a special event permit from the county administrator before anyone stages, promotes or…

James City County requires a permit before any parade or funeral procession may occupy or proceed along a county highway. Sec. 13-9 puts issuance in the hands of the Board of…

Anyone canvassing, soliciting, or peddling house-to-house in James City County needs a registration certificate and permit from the James City County Police Department before starting…

Anyone employed in a James City County restaurant must hold a valid food handler's certificate bearing their photograph from the health officer. The James City-Williamsburg Health…

From May 1 through September 30 each year, James City Service Authority water cannot be used outdoors except on assigned odd/even days, and only between midnight and 9 a.m. or 5 p.m…

James City County requires owners of occupied or vacant property in platted subdivisions and residential, business, commercial or industrial zones to keep grass, weeds, running bamboo…

James City County allows synthetic turf in a yard, but the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Ordinance treats it as an accessory use, the same category as pools and patios, precisely because…

Outside impervious areas, James City County's Zoning Ordinance restricts removing viable mature trees (8 inches or greater DBH) and specimen trees (24 inches or greater DBH) inside a…

James City County sorts businesses into license-tax classes under § 12-21, from contractors at $0.16 per $100 of gross receipts to fortune tellers at a flat $1,000.00 a year. A…

James City County has no meter-based decibel table; instead Sec. 15-20(f)(2) bars any noise plainly audible 100 feet from its source, between 9:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., for any use…

James City County bars operating bulldozers, cranes, backhoes, pile drivers, jackhammers and similar construction or landscaping equipment in residential and mixed-use areas between…

James City County's nuisance ordinance, Sec. 3-6, names "excessive, continuous or untimely barking" as a public nuisance alongside biting, chasing vehicles and repeated trespassing. A…

In James City County's mixed-use zoned districts, amplified sound at restaurants, bars, coffee shops and cafes cannot be plainly audible 50 feet from its source between midnight and…

James City County bars any noise plainly audible across a residential property line, or through the wall shared by two dwelling units, between 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. Sec. 15-20(f)(1)…

James City County bans unreasonably loud, disturbing or unnecessary noise from operating a motor vehicle or motorcycle under Sec. 13-14(c). The section separately bans mounting a…

James City County makes it unlawful to leave a motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer unattended on a public highway or public grounds for more than ten days, or to abandon one…

James City County bans parking or leaving unattended any oversized vehicle, including tractor-trailers, dump trucks, concrete mixers, three-or-more-axle trucks, and RVs, on a public…

James City County requires vehicles to stop parallel to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway under Sec. 13-40, with an exception for one-way streets. Sec. 13-40.3 separately bans…

Commercial, industrial and institutional buildings in James City County must provide dedicated off-street loading space under Sec. 24-61, sized separately from required parking. Each…

James City County allows electric vehicle charging stations as an accessory use to off-street parking in every zoning district under Sec. 24-63, and lets those spaces count toward a…

James City County bars consuming, possessing or being under the influence of any controlled substance, including marijuana, inside a public park or recreation facility the county…

James City County bans drinking or possessing an open container of alcohol, or being under its influence, inside any public park or recreational facility the county operates. Section…

James City County limits skateboarding in county parks and recreation facilities to areas the director specifically designates for that use, under section 16-8. Riding a skateboard…

James City County bars loitering in the restrooms of its public parks and recreation facilities under section 16-9, alongside rules requiring restrooms be kept neat and sanitary and…

James City County requires pedestrians to use sidewalks rather than roadways under Sec. 13-26. Where no sidewalk exists, a pedestrian walking on the roadway must keep to the extreme…

James City County bars anyone under 18 from being in a street, park, playground or other public place between midnight and 5:00 a.m. Sec. 15-10 exempts minors with a parent or…

James City County lets the director of parks and recreation set operating hours for each public park and recreation facility, and section 16-14 bars anyone from using a facility during…

James City County's noise ordinance defines 'plainly audible' to specifically cover bass. Sec. 15-20(c) states that the detection of bass reverberations alone is enough to make a sound…

James City County's Noise Ordinance singles out amplified sound at restaurants, bars, coffee shops and cafes in the county's mixed use zoned districts. Under section 15-20(e)(2)a, that…

James City County makes it unlawful to block sidewalks, walkways or any public place, or private property open to the public, and then refuse to stop or move along when told to by the…

Any swimming pool in a James City County residential zoned area must have a code-compliant barrier in place before it is built, maintained, used, possessed or controlled, and that…

James City County treats an in-ground swimming pool as an accessory use under the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Ordinance, so any modification or expansion of an existing pool needs a…

James City County bans burning yard waste countywide except on land zoned A-1, General Agriculture, and even there prohibits it in platted subdivisions and manufactured home parks…

James City County requires a fire official permit before anyone transports, sells, possesses or sets off fireworks, with display permits running $100 per event or $200 a year for…

James City County requires smoke alarms in every dwelling unit, hotel, motel and rooming house that provides overnight sleeping accommodations, installed to Uniform Statewide Building…

James City County allows recreational fires, including backyard fire pits, without a permit, provided they stay at least 25 feet from any structure or combustible material. The fire…

James City County's fire code excludes fuel contained in a barbeque grill or barbeque pit from the definition of a regulated recreational fire. That means ordinary charcoal, gas, or…

James City County bans dumping garbage, trash, litter or other waste into any well, spring, reservoir, watercourse or body of water, or onto any street, sidewalk or public or private…

James City County does not run its own residential trash pickup; refuse is collected by licensed refuse removers who must follow County Code §§ 10-8 and 10-9. Removers must haul refuse…

James City County's recycling rules limit what actually gets picked up: County Code § 10-31(d)-(e) says material left outside an authorized container, inaccessible to the collection…

James City County has no mandatory trash pickup for county residents; there is only an optional curbside recycling program under County Code § 10-31. The county may offer the service…

To use James City County's curbside recycling program, County Code § 10-31(b) requires subscribing residents to use a container the director authorizes and to pay a user fee, which…

James City County bans burning yard waste countywide except on land zoned A-1, General Agriculture, and even there it's off-limits in platted subdivisions and manufactured home parks…

James City County requires any dumpster at a gas station, truck stop or fuel-dispensing business to sit on a concrete pad with a drainage system and be screened from adjacent…

James City County requires every owner of real property, occupied or vacant, to keep it free of accumulated garbage, trash, litter, refuse and clutter that could endanger health or…

James City County's board of supervisors, building official, or fire official can order an owner to remove, repair, or secure a building, wall, or structure found dangerous to public…

James City County enforces its most-reported trash, litter and overgrowth violations through civil penalties rather than automatic criminal charges: up to $50 for a first offense, up…

Anyone can trigger a James City County code investigation by filing a complaint that a property violates chapter 10's maintenance duties, such as accumulated garbage, trash, litter or…

James City County gives property owners a hard deadline once code enforcement confirms a violation: County Code § 10-5(b) lets the county step in and fix the problem itself if the…

James City County Code § 10-4(b) does not ban planting running bamboo, but it makes every property owner responsible for cutting it back, along with grass and weeds, as often as needed…

James City County's Chesapeake Bay Preservation Ordinance defines 'noxious weeds' by pointing to the state's own list, the Virginia Invasive Plant Species List, and names Johnson…

James City County's dangerous dog ordinance, Sec. 3-8(d), says no canine "shall be found to be a dangerous dog solely because it is a particular breed," and ownership of any breed is…

James City County makes it unlawful to bring or keep a wild animal under Code § 3-4, and Chapter 3 defines that broadly: monkeys, raccoons, skunks, wolves, foxes, big cats, venomous…

Dogs may not run at large anywhere in James City County except in A-1 General Agricultural zoning, and even there they're barred from platted subdivisions of five or more lots and a…

James City County has no general microchipping ordinance for household pets, but Sec. 3-8(h) makes permanent electronic identification mandatory for any dog a court has declared…

James City County does not require every dog or cat to be sterilized, but Sec. 3-46(c) makes it mandatory before the county's public animal shelter can adopt an animal out to anyone…

James City County does not license cats the way it licenses dogs, but Sec. 3-56 requires every cat four months or older to be currently vaccinated against rabies by a licensed…

James City County allows backyard chickens only on single-family lots of at least 15,000 square feet, capped at two hens per first 5,000 square feet of lot area and no more than twelve…

James City County regulates residential beekeeping under Sec. 24-47.1 with hive setbacks and colony limits rather than an outright ban. Hives must sit at least ten feet from…

James City County treats veterinary offices and animal hospitals as a conditional, not automatic, land use in its most rural district. Sec. 24-212's use list for the General…

James City County adopts the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code by reference under Sec. 4-3, applying it to every existing and proposed building and structure in the county since…

In James City County, no building may be hooked up to electric or gas utility service until the wiring or piping has been inspected and a certificate of inspection issued. The Office…

James City County does not mandate green construction through its building code; instead, the Zoning Ordinance rewards it. Under § 24-273.7's Residential Redevelopment density-bonus…

James City County requires an annual elevator inspection under the Chapter 4 building permit fee schedule, Sec. 4-8 and Appendix A, charging $210.00 for a traction elevator, $157.00…

Sec. 4-3 adopts the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code's Electrical Code for James City County, and Appendix A's Sec. 4-8 fee schedule charges $52.50 minimum for an electrical…

Sec. 4-3 adopts the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code's Plumbing Code for the county, sets building sewers at a 12-inch minimum depth, and Appendix A's Sec. 4-8 fee schedule…

James City County runs its own Virginia Erosion and Stormwater Management Program (VESMP) through the Stormwater and Resource Protection Division, requiring an approved plan before…

James City County requires Land Disturbing Approval before most construction-site grading, clearing, or excavation begins under chapter 8. Home gardens, ordinary landscaping, and bona…

In James City County, a private noncommercial pier, boathouse or catwalk built on pilings over county wetlands does not need a wetlands permit, as long as it lets the tide flow through…

James City County designates floodway, flood-fringe, approximated floodplain and coastal high-hazard districts under Sec. 24-590 of the Zoning Ordinance, based on the December 16, 2015…

Sec. 24-595 of the Zoning Ordinance requires the lowest floor of any building in a James City County floodplain district to sit at least two feet of freeboard above the one percent…

James City County requires a building permit for any retaining wall holding back three feet or more of unbalanced fill, impounding certain liquids, sitting in a flood zone, or forming…

James City County has no on-street bike-lane statute in its code; instead Sec. 13-13.1 governs where bicycles, scooters and e-bikes may travel on sidewalks, crosswalks and shared-use…

Anyone who wants to rent motorized scooters, skateboards, bicycles or e-bikes to the public in James City County needs a license from the Board of Supervisors under Sec. 13-13.2. The…

James City County can install red-light cameras at no more than one intersection per 10,000 residents, and Sec. 13-15 sets a $50.00 civil penalty for a violation caught on camera. Sec…

James City County requires the developer of any major subdivision with shared recreation, conservation or maintained common property to record homeowners association documents before…

In James City County, any major subdivision built around shared recreation, conservation or maintained common property must record homeowners association documents before a single lot…

James City County taxes every overnight stay at a hotel, motel, inn, tourist home, campground or short-term rental in the county. Sec. 20-14 levies a 5 percent tax on the total price…

A backyard shed in James City County's R-1 Limited Residential District needs only a five-foot side and rear setback under Zoning Ordinance § 24-238, unless the shed is more than one…

James City County requires that the property owner or an immediate family member actually live in either the main house or the accessory apartment before a detached accessory apartment…

James City County allows one accessory apartment per single-family lot under Sec. 24-32 of the Zoning Ordinance. An attached unit cannot exceed 35 percent of the dwelling's floor area…

James City County confines data centers to a single zoning district: the General Industrial District, M-2. Zoning Ordinance § 24-436's use list places "Data centers" only in the…

A James City County home occupation cannot generate more traffic than a normal residential neighborhood would see. Zoning Ordinance § 24-2's home occupation standard, subsection (7)…

A James City County home business may display exactly one sign, no larger than four square feet. Zoning Ordinance § 24-2's home occupation standard, subsection (4), permits "no…

James City County lets residents run a home business as an accessory use without a separate zoning permit, but only if it meets the seven-part "home occupation" test in Zoning…

Operating a food truck in James City County requires an administrative permit from the zoning administrator under Sec. 24-49, not just a business license. Applicants must submit a…

James City County's zoning ordinance treats mobile food vending vehicles as a use listed by right in specific commercial and mixed-use districts, not a use allowed everywhere. Sec…

In James City County, non-commercial temporary signs, including political and campaign signs, may go up on private property without a sign permit under Zoning Ordinance § 24-74(12)…

James City County bans off-premise billboards outright under the Zoning Ordinance's prohibited-signs list, § 24-75(1). Even a lawfully permitted on-premise sign cannot use colored…

James City County's outdoor lighting ordinance, adopted to protect the night sky from nuisance glare, requires full-cutoff fixtures aimed straight down for parking lots, roadways and…

James City County caps how much outdoor light can spill onto a neighbor's property. Under Zoning Ordinance § 24-132(c), light trespass measured at 0.1 footcandle or higher beyond any…

James City County's closest landmark-tree category is the 'outstanding specimen tree' under Zoning Ordinance § 24-93: a tree the planning director designates for exceptional size…

In multi-family and apartment developments of two or more units, James City County's Zoning Ordinance § 24-102 requires deciduous shade trees planted as street trees along every…

James City County allows garage sales in every zoning district but limits a property to no more than twice a year under the Zoning Ordinance's own definition. Sec. 24-2 defines a…

James City County's Zoning Ordinance caps a tourist home, the county's bed-and-breakfast-style short-term rental category, at five rooms open to paying transients. Sec. 24-2 defines…

James City County treats short-term "tourist home" rentals as a zoned use, not a blanket business license. In the county's A-1 General Agricultural District, a tourist home, defined as…

James City County's General Agricultural District, A-1, is zoned to keep the county's rural areas outside Williamsburg's primary service area suitable for farming, forestry and…

In James City County's A-1 General Agricultural District, ordinary structures must sit at least 50 feet back from any street right-of-way of 50 feet or more, or 75 feet from a narrower…

Ordinary structures in James City County's A-1 General Agricultural District are limited to two stories and 35 feet under section 24-218, though buildings can rise to 45 feet and three…

In James City County's Limited Business District, LB, section 24-375 caps how much of a lot a building can cover: no more than 30 percent building coverage and no more than 40 percent…

In James City County's R-5 Multifamily Residential District, section 24-307 caps overall net density at 12 units per acre but lets the Board of Supervisors approve density bonuses…