Building Setbacks & Zoning in Virginia (2026)

Albemarle County sets a 20-foot minimum rear setback and a 5-foot minimum front and side setback for standard…

Alexandria sets yard setbacks zone by zone using ratios rather than flat numbers. In the R-20 single-family zone…

Chesterfield County zones its entire territory and sets minimum front, side, and rear yards by district in its Zoning…

Fairfax County's R-1 District requires a 40-foot front setback, a 20-foot minimum side setback (40 feet total on both…

In the Rural Areas (RA) District, which covers most of Frederick County outside Winchester, Stephens City and…

Hampton's one-family districts require a 30-foot front setback, side yards totaling 25% of lot width, and a 20-foot…

In Hanover County's RS Single-Family Residential District outside Ashland, Hanover County Code § 26-63 sets a 50-foot…

In Henrico's common R-3 One-Family Residence District, a dwelling must have a minimum front yard of 40 feet, interior…

In the unincorporated Rural Policy Area of Loudoun County, the Agricultural Rural-1 (AR-1) Zoning District sets minimum…

Lynchburg measures every yard setback as the shortest horizontal distance from the property line to the nearest wall…

Montgomery County's A-1 Agricultural District requires a 40-foot front yard, 15-foot side yards for each principal…

Newport News sets minimum yard setbacks by zoning district; in the R1 single-family district, homes must sit back 35…

Portsmouth's zoning ordinance sets yard setbacks by residential district in Table 40.2-218(1). In the Neighborhood…

Setbacks vary by zoning district. In the A-1 Agricultural district, all buildings must sit at least 35 feet from the…

Richmond sets yard setbacks district by district rather than with one citywide number: the R-1 Single-Family district…

Roanoke's Section 36.2-312 dimensional table sets minimum yard depths by residential district: front yards run from 10…

In Roanoke County, Virginia (outside the independent cities of Roanoke and Salem), the R-1 Low Density Residential…

In Spotsylvania County's Agricultural 2 (A-2) zoning district, Sec. 23-6.3.4(e) sets a 30-foot front yard, a 10-foot…

Stafford County measures a building setback as the distance from the outermost point of a structure, excluding…

Suffolk sets minimum yard setbacks by zoning district in UDO Table 407-1. In RLM the minimum front setback is 30 feet…

Virginia Beach's Zoning Ordinance sets minimum front, side, and rear yard setbacks by residential district, from 50…

In Albemarle County outside Charlottesville and Scottsville, homes in the Rural Areas zoning district are capped at 35…

Like lot coverage, Alexandria's maximum building height is set zone by zone rather than citywide. In the R-20…

Chesterfield County sets maximum structure heights by zoning district in its Zoning Ordinance (Ch. 19.2), under…

Fairfax County caps building height at 35 feet in the R-1 District under conventional subdivision standards, rising to…

Outside Winchester, Stephens City and Middletown, the Frederick County Zoning Ordinance caps structure height by…

Hampton caps one- and two-family homes at 35 feet, with a bump to 45 feet only if both side yards run at least 25 feet…

In Hanover County's RS Single-Family Residential District outside Ashland, Hanover County Code § 26-64 caps most…

In Henrico's R-3 One-Family Residence District, the maximum structure height for a dwelling is 40 feet under Chapter…

Loudoun County caps building height at 35 ft in the Agricultural Rural-1 (AR-1) Zoning District, the same limit across…

Lynchburg caps most residential building height at 40 feet under the R-1 development standards, while apartment and…

Montgomery County caps buildings in the A-1 Agricultural District at 40 feet, but a structure can go taller with a…

Single-family homes in Newport News's R1 through R4 districts are capped at thirty-five feet, measured from grade to…

Portsmouth caps residential building height at 36 feet in the Neighborhood, General, and Urban Residential districts…

Prince William County caps residential and agricultural structures at 35 feet, rising to 60 feet for barns, silos…

Richmond caps residential buildings at 35 feet across every single-family zoning district, from the large-lot R-1…

Roanoke caps building height at 45 feet in the RA, RM-2 and RMF districts and 35 feet in the R-12, R-7, R-5, R-3 and…

In Roanoke County, Virginia (outside the independent cities of Roanoke and Salem), the R-1 Low Density Residential…

Spotsylvania County caps the height of houses and most structures in its residential zoning districts, including R-1…

Stafford County measures building height from the average finished grade at the front building line to the roof's…

Suffolk caps building height by zoning district in UDO Table 407-1. Most residential districts, including RL, RLM, RM…

Virginia Beach caps residential structures at 35 feet under City Zoning Ordinance Sec. 503, with a narrow exception…

Alexandria caps building footprint zone by zone rather than citywide. In the RT/Townhouse zone, the most common…

Chesterfield County limits how much of a lot buildings and structures may occupy through district-specific standards in…

Fairfax County's Zoning Ordinance caps lot coverage at 30 percent in the I-I Industrial Institutional District, the…

In the Residential Performance (RP) District outside Winchester, Stephens City and Middletown, Table IV-5 of the Zoning…

In Hampton's townhouse and multifamily districts, buildings may cover no more than 20% of the lot, with 40% of the lot…

Henrico's one-family residence districts (like R-3) do not cap lot coverage by a fixed percentage; instead density is…

In Loudoun County's Agricultural Rural-1 (AR-1) Zoning District, maximum lot coverage is capped at 25 percent under the…

Lynchburg caps building coverage in its low-density R-1 residential district at 20.2 percent of lot area. Exhibit IV-4…

In Montgomery County outside Blacksburg and Christiansburg, the A-1 Agricultural District caps building coverage at 20…

Newport News caps building footprint as a percentage of lot area, computed under Zoning Ordinance §45-2804(e); the cap…

Portsmouth zoning caps building coverage, the share of a lot covered by a structure's footprint plus attached porches…

On lots of three acres or less, Prince William County caps every accessory building, from sheds to detached garages, at…

Richmond caps how much of a lot a house and its accessory buildings can cover, with the percentage set district by…

In Roanoke County, Virginia (outside the independent cities of Roanoke and Salem), the R-1 Low Density Residential…

For land rezoned into Stafford County's Planned Traditional Neighborhood Development (P-TND) district, the Zoning…

Suffolk limits impervious surface coverage by zoning district in UDO Table 407-1. RL lots cap at 30%, RLM at 35%, RM at…

Single-family lot coverage in Virginia Beach is capped by zoning district, from 25% in R-40 down to as much as 40% in…