Henrico does not require native plants in ordinary yards, but land inside a Chesapeake Bay Resource Protection Area must keep a vegetated buffer at least 100 feet wide. New lawn areas and clear-cutting are prohibited in that buffer.
For a typical Henrico yard there is no native-plant mandate. The distinctive rule is the Chesapeake Bay Resource Protection Area (RPA): under the county's Environmental Compliance Manual (Ch. 6) and Sec. 24-106.3, the RPA includes a vegetated buffer no less than 100 feet wide along both sides of any water body with perennial flow. These forested buffers must be retained where they exist and reestablished where they do not. Within the buffer, clear-cutting trees and establishing new lawn areas are prohibited, while selective removal of dead vegetation (replaced with equally effective plantings) is allowed. This protects water quality reaching the Bay.
Disturbing an RPA buffer without approval violates the Chesapeake Bay Preservation ordinance (Sec. 24-106.3) and can require reforestation and a water-quality impact assessment; land-disturbance violations carry misdemeanor penalties.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
Henrico County, VA
Henrico County parks are open only during posted hours and are closed after sunset. Entering or remaining in a park outside the designated hours is a misdeme...
Henrico County, VA
Henrico County limits sign illumination to no more than 0.5 foot candle above ambient light at any property line, and requires exterior lighting to prevent t...
Henrico County, VA
Henrico County has no formal dark-sky ordinance, but its zoning code requires exterior building and security lighting to be full-cutoff, shielded, or angled ...
Henrico County, VA
Henrico County lets a lot post up to two non-illuminated signs, each no larger than 1 square foot or 4 feet tall, without a permit. Garage-sale signs cannot ...
Henrico County, VA
In Henrico County's residential and agricultural districts, temporary noncommercial signs (including political signs) need no permit but cannot exceed 16 squ...
Henrico County, VA
Henrico County has no separate tiny-home ordinance. A tiny house on wheels, an RV, or a travel trailer cannot be used as a dwelling or ADU. A tiny house on a...
See how Henrico County's native plants rules stack up against other locations.
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