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

S. Route 360 Bypass to Elm Drive, then west to a line five hundred feet from Old Mechanicsville Turnpike, per Section 26-209. Inside the district, in Hanover County outside the Town of Ashland, Section 26-210 strips away the landscaping plan, parking-lot screening and thoroughfare-buffer requirements that apply to every other commercial property in the county, and instead sets a single new-construction front yard setback of ten feet. Property owners who expand or rebuild a structure keep their existing on-site parking count without adding new spaces, and spaces can be relocated as long as the total does not shrink; everywhere else, the standard parking table in Article 5, Division 4 controls.

Non-conforming structures already built in the district may be expanded so long as new construction stays at least ten feet back from the front property line. Owners can also satisfy parking demand through off-site community parking areas or shared spaces on other commercial lots within the district, provided the right to use those spaces is documented under Section 26-255. The overlay was adopted by Ordinance No. 12-08, Section 3, on January 9, 2013, and is administered by the Hanover County Planning Department, which reviews site plans for compliance with these substituted standards rather than the countywide landscaping and buffer code.