Stafford County, VA Ordinances (2026)

Stafford County runs its own reclaimed water distribution system under Article VI of the county code, requiring a signed service agreement approved by the Board of Supervisors before…

Stafford County makes every water customer responsible for the house service line running from the meter to the dwelling, and County Code Sec. 25-97 requires any leak or break on that…

Stafford County requires refuse removers to collect residential trash at least once a week and to pick up from hotels, restaurants, schools, apartments, and other commercial or…

Stafford County requires every residence or business other than a single-family dwelling to use mechanical, durable plastic or metal refuse containers, covering dumpsters and roll-off…

Every home and workplace in Stafford County must keep enough refuse containers on hand to hold trash between collections. Multifamily and nonresidential properties must use mechanical…

Stafford County limits when refuse haulers can start collecting trash. Commercial customers more than 500 feet from a residence can be serviced starting at 4 a.m., but haulers cannot…

Stafford County requires garbage and trash to go only to R-Board-designated disposal sites, but source-separated recyclable materials are carved out of that mandate, along with…

Stafford County makes it unlawful to drop or dispose of litter anywhere on public or private property in the county except in a litter receptacle or a permitted landfill. Anyone…

Stafford County will not issue a building permit unless the lowest floor sits at least one foot above the calculated 100-year flood elevation. A licensed engineer or land surveyor must…

Stafford County requires a land-disturbance permit from the VESMP authority before any land-disturbing activity begins. The permit will not issue until an erosion and sediment control…

Stafford County requires a stormwater management plan for regulated land-disturbing activity, applying the technical criteria across an entire common plan of development rather than…

Stafford County lets waterfront owners build a noncommercial pier, boathouse, catwalk or boat shelter in wetlands without a county permit if it rests on pilings that let the tide flow…

Stafford County's Flood Hazard Overlay District bars new fill, construction or other development within a mapped floodway unless an engineer proves it will not raise flood levels…

Stafford County bars loading, unloading or operating trucks and other vehicles outdoors within one hundred yards of an occupied home between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. under County Code…

Stafford County requires every dog to be leashed, penned, or confined from April through September under § 5-23, and separately bans dogs from running at large in any subdivision or…

Stafford County does not ban any dog breed. Under County Code §§ 5-56 through 5-58, an animal control officer or law enforcement officer who believes a dog is dangerous or vicious…

Stafford County does not regulate backyard chickens through a numeric standard, but Sec. 5-4 governs swine: keeping pigs is unlawful and a Class 4 misdemeanor unless done in an…

Stafford County sets no blanket cap on pets, but County Code Sec. 5-1 draws a line: a place keeping five or more dogs, cats or hybrids for breeding, training, boarding or sale is a…

Stafford County has no standalone pet-groomer license, but Sec. 5-1 defines a "groomer" as anyone who cleans, trims, brushes or treats an animal for a fee, and Sec. 5-6 extends the…

Stafford County does not ban retail pet stores from selling dogs and cats, but Sec. 5-40 requires any pet shop, boarding establishment, commercial dog breeder, commercial kennel or…

Stafford County requires every cat over four months old to carry a current rabies vaccination administered by a licensed veterinarian, with the vaccine tag worn on the collar at all…

Stafford County flatly bans keeping any wild or exotic animal as a pet. Sec. 5-77 makes it unlawful to keep monkeys, raccoons, skunks, wolves, foxes, big cats, venomous reptiles and…

Stafford County's Table 3.1 permits a veterinary clinic without boarding facilities by right in the A-1 Agricultural district, while a veterinary clinic with boarding facilities needs…

Stafford County allows keeping up to four honeybee hives as an accessory use on R-1 residential lots, but only with a zoning permit. Hive count is tied to lot size, hives must sit at…

Stafford County bans loitering in a public place, or a place open to the public, in a way that blocks traffic, threatens harm, or risks a breach of the peace under County Code Sec…

A gathering of ten or more people that produces noise plainly audible in a neighbor's home or fifty feet away between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. violates County Code Sec. 16-6(a)(11)…

Stafford County caps grass, weeds, and other foreign growth at six inches on vacant lots under § 24-17 and at twelve inches on occupied residential lots under half an acre under §…

Stafford County requires 14 days' advance written notice to the county administrator before removing, relocating or altering a heritage, specimen, memorial or street tree the board of…

Stafford County only restricts irrigation and other nonessential water use once the board of supervisors declares a public water supply emergency under the county's Drought Management…

Stafford County's Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area ordinance names synthetic turf as an accessory yard use, grouping it with pools, patios and terraces as an impermeable landing that…

Stafford County bans plainly audible noise from radios, stereos, instruments and amplifiers between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. countywide. Sound reaching a neighbor's dwelling or fifty…

Playing a car stereo, radio or other sound device attached to a vehicle so it is plainly audible fifty feet away, whether on a public street or a parking lot, violates County Code Sec…

Stafford County bars plainly audible lawn care and leaf removal noise in residential zoning districts between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. under County Code Sec. 16-6(a)(8). Leaf blowers…

Stafford County bans operating powered model aircraft outdoors at night under County Code Sec. 16-6(a)(4). Anyone who wants to fly one in a county park or facility at any hour must…

Using any loudspeaker or sound amplifier in Stafford County requires a sheriff's office permit costing one dollar per hour of use, under County Code Sec. 16-7. Amplifiers also cannot…

Stafford County caps noise at the property boundary by zoning classification: 60 dBA daytime/55 nighttime in residential zones, 65/60 in commercial and office zones, and 79/72 in…

Permitted construction equipment in a Stafford County residential zone can run 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. weekdays and 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. on weekends and holidays without being held…

A Stafford County animal or bird that is plainly audible at least once a minute for ten straight minutes, either inside a neighbor's home or from 50 feet away, violates the noise…

Stafford County levies an 11 percent transient occupancy tax on room rental at hotels, motels, inns and other lodging places offering space to four or more persons, collected by the…

Stafford County bars any vendor from entering a residential property that displays a 'No Soliciting' or 'No Trespassing' sign, from using false pretenses to get onto a property, or…

Stafford County requires every door-to-door vendor to obtain a sheriff's office permit before soliciting sales or services in the county. The nonrefundable permit costs $20, lasts one…

Stafford County classifies telephone/telegraph companies and heat, light, power and gas companies as separate license-tax categories under Chapter 23, Article V. Each class pays an…

Owners of vacant developed or undeveloped property in Stafford County must keep grass, weeds and other foreign growth cut to six inches or less and keep running bamboo contained…

Stafford County can force an owner to remove, repair or secure any building, wall or structure that endangers public health or safety. Notice goes out by certified or registered mail…

Stafford County bars landowners from letting running bamboo, defined by its aggressive spreading genus Phyllostachys, grow without containment barriers or trenching, and bars its…

Stafford County's board of supervisors may individually designate a tree of notable historic or cultural interest as a heritage tree by ordinance, after an arborist recommends it and…

To perform law-enforcement-requested towing in Stafford County, a tow operator must apply to the Sheriff, pay a $100 application fee, pass an investigation, and sign a towing service…

Stafford County requires anyone doing business as a pawnbroker to hold a sheriff-issued license, which costs $200 a year and needs prior authorization from the circuit court. No more…

Stafford County requires every adult business, from adult bookstores to adult nightclubs, to hold a permit issued after a Sheriff's Office background check. Applicants pay a $95 fee…

Stafford County requires anyone buying, selling, bartering, or exchanging secondhand articles, junk, scrap metal, rags, bottles, or similar commodities, other than paper, furniture…

Stafford County requires an operational permit from the fire marshal's office for any mobile food preparation vehicle equipped with appliances that produce smoke or grease-laden…

Stafford County presumes a motor vehicle abandoned once it lacks a current license plate or valid inspection sticker and has sat in one spot on public or private property for four days…

Stafford County bans parking or leaving unattended a watercraft, boat trailer, motor home or camping trailer on a public highway inside any Board-designated restricted parking area…

Stafford County bars parking or leaving unattended a commercial vehicle on a public highway in a residence district once that street sits inside a Board-designated restricted parking…

Stafford County's Zoning Ordinance requires every use that receives or ships materials by vehicle to provide off-street loading space sized under Table 7.1, sited entirely on the same…

Stafford County bans parking on public streets, roads, or county property in more than a dozen situations, from blocking a sidewalk or driveway to parking within an intersection or too…

Stafford County zoning defines overnight parking as 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. and uses that window to restrict where commercial vehicles and trucks can sit overnight. Required off-street…

Stafford County allows recreational fires such as campfires, warming fires and bonfires when the fuel is seasoned dry firewood only. A bonfire cannot exceed five feet by five feet and…

Stafford County bans open burning of garbage, refuse, trash and other waste at all times, from any source, residential to industrial. The county fire marshal can also order a halt to…

Stafford County's Fire Prevention Code fee table exempts residential propane storage under 500 gallons water capacity in aggregate from the annual LPG storage permit. Facilities…

Stafford County's Fire Prevention Code amendments require smoke alarms in every building with a dwelling unit, every hotel or motel offering overnight stays, and every rooming house…

Stafford County bans manufacturing fireworks outright and makes it unlawful to transport, store, possess, sell, buy, use, ignite, or explode any fireworks except those the fire marshal…

Stafford County's building code is the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code, adopted in full for new construction, existing buildings and maintenance. Before the county issues any…

Stafford County's plumbing code is the plumbing chapter of the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code, adopted whole as part of the Construction Code under Section 6-16(1), with two…

Within Stafford County's Recreational Business Campus (RBC) zoning district, the Zoning Ordinance requires every residential dwelling built in an executive-style or retirement-housing…

Stafford County incorporated swimming pools, spas and hot tubs into its building code by adopting Section 303 of the Uniform Statewide Building Code's Maintenance Code, Part III, under…

Stafford County requires full cut-off, fully shielded fixtures for new and replacement outdoor lighting county-wide. Fixtures must include glare-control louvers and be aimed so no more…

Stafford County caps outdoor lighting spillover at half a footcandle measured at any property line next to a residential or agricultural parcel. The limit applies county-wide to…

Stafford County has no billboard-specific lighting rule, but its architectural and landscape lighting standard covers light aimed at any sign mounted on a pole, platform or pedestal…

For land rezoned into Stafford County's Planned Traditional Neighborhood Development (P-TND) district, the Zoning Ordinance's Table 3.5(c) caps lot coverage by transect zone, from a…

Stafford County measures a building setback as the distance from the outermost point of a structure, excluding uncovered stairs, to the nearest property line under Zoning Ordinance §…

Stafford County measures building height from the average finished grade at the front building line to the roof's highest point (flat), deck line (mansard) or mid-line (gable, hip or…

Stafford County requires a permit before anyone stages an outdoor musical or entertainment festival, defined as a gathering of more than 100 people for music-centered entertainment on…

Stafford County's Zoning Ordinance bars barbed wire, razor wire and similar contrivances outright in every residential district, while commercial and industrial zones may use them only…

Stafford County's Zoning Ordinance sets fence, wall and hedge heights by zoning district: eight feet in side and rear yards countywide, but only four feet in front yards in the rural…

Stafford County's Zoning Ordinance bans electronic message center signs countywide under section 28-122(2)(b), one of the article's materials-based sign prohibitions that also bars…

Stafford County's zoning ordinance defines a "holiday display" as a seasonal display marking a religious, national or state holiday that is not meant to be permanent, lasts less than…

Stafford County's Zoning Ordinance caps opaque window signage at 25 percent of the window area under section 28-122(3)(g), one of the location-based prohibitions in Article VIII that…

Stafford County treats care for five or fewer children as a "small" family day care home, a by-right accessory use, while care for six to eleven children is a "group" family day care…

Stafford County caps customer visits to a Home Business I at five per day, by appointment only, within set weekday, Saturday and Sunday hours, under Zoning Ordinance § 28-25. A Home…

Stafford County's zoning code lets residents run a home occupation or Home Business I/II from a single-family dwelling as an accessory use. Home Business I permits up to five scheduled…

Stafford County caps accessory buildings, including sheds, at a 10-foot setback from property lines on lots over one acre and 5 feet on smaller lots, bars them from front and…

Stafford County allows one accessory dwelling per lot, capped at 25 percent of the principal dwelling's gross floor area, for uses like a family member apartment, guest house or maid's…

Stafford County's Zoning Ordinance sets data-center-specific standards: 750-foot setbacks from the Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers, schools and residential property, a 200-foot…

Stafford County's Fire Prevention Code amendments require any outdoor, commercial cooking that uses deep fat fryers, woks for deep frying, or similar hot-oil and grease-producing…

Stafford County's sheriff's office may run red-light cameras at up to 16 intersections at a time under Section 15-29, adopted in 2025 under Code of Virginia § 15.2-968.1. A vehicle…

Stafford County makes it unlawful to park any vehicle in a bicycle lane, on public streets under Section 15-51(a)(18) and in large private lots open to the public under Section…

Stafford County lets any resident file a written zoning complaint with the zoning administrator under section 28-316, triggering a formal investigation, written notice to the property…

Stafford County's Transfer of Development Rights program under section 28-354 lets an owner in a designated sending area sell residential density to a receiving property, which can…

Stafford County's A-1 Agricultural district exists to reserve land for traditional farming and preserve rural character, permitting agriculture, livestock operations, agri-tourism…

Stafford County routes utility-scale solar and energy-storage facilities through a conditional use permit rather than a by-right zoning permit. The CUP application must include a…

Stafford County requires new construction and substantial improvements in a mapped flood hazard area to raise the lowest floor, including the basement, to at least three feet above the…

Stafford County protects landmarks and culturally significant sites by designating them into a Historic Resource Overlay District. Any exterior change, demolition or relocation inside…