Albemarle County, VA Zoning Overlays & Bonuses: Downtown Design Guide (2026)

Sec. 1 of the Zoning Ordinance creates the DCD to implement the Crozet master plan and to "establish a district in which traditional downtown development" occurs, rather than the suburban strip-commercial pattern that conventional zoning produces elsewhere in the county. The section is explicit that the DCD is a substitute framework: it permits uses that are commercial and light industrial in character, but neither the general Commercial district rules (section 21) nor the Industrial district rules (section 26) of chapter 18 apply inside it. In practice the design guide is built into the DCD's area and bulk standards at Sec.

3: buildings must sit close to the street (a 1-foot minimum, 10-foot maximum front setback for primary buildings), upper floors above 40 feet or the third story must step back, and long building facades must include a break at least every 200 linear feet, all aimed at the pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use character the purpose clause calls for. Because these standards are prescriptive rather than case-by-case, the Board of Supervisors can only depart from them through the waiver procedure in Sec. 3(H)-(I): an applicant files a written request with the Department of Community Development explaining why a listed circumstance applies (outdoor cafe seating, a public plaza, difficult topography, or a design that better serves the comprehensive plan), and the Board acts within 90 days of a complete submission, alongside any related site plan, subdivision plat or special use permit action.

This is a district-specific design guide, not a general standard: it applies only within the mapped DCD boundary in downtown Crozet, one of the county's designated communities, and has no application in the independent City of Charlottesville or in the Town of Scottsville, which regulates its own downtown separately.