AGENDA DATE: 8/19/2026
TITLE:
Title
Zoning Modernization Phase 2 - Articles 5 (Overlay Zoning Districts) and 6 (Use Tables)
BODY
SUBJECT/PROPOSAL/REQUEST: Review of drafted Articles 5 and 6, including formatting changes, use consolidations, and use changes flagged for discussion
ITEM TYPE: Regular Action Item
STAFF CONTACT(S): Richardson, Wall, Herrick, Tevendale, Svoboda, MacCall, Brumfield
PRESENTER (S): Lea Brumfield
LEGAL REVIEW: Not Required
REVIEWED BY: Jeffrey B. Richardson
BACKGROUND: The Zoning Modernization project is a multi-year effort to rewrite the County’s Zoning Ordinance to be easier to read, easier to administer, and consistent with current law and the AC44 Comprehensive Plan. The work is organized in three phases.
Phase 1, foundational work, is complete. In Phase 1, County staff drafted four articles (Article 1 - General Provisions, Article 2 - Administration, Article 3 - Permits and Applications, and Article 10 - Nonconformities) to establish the tone, modern language style, and format of the new ordinance. These were reviewed by stakeholder groups and the Planning Commission and presented to the Board for general approval on August 21, 2024.
Phase 2, formatting modernization, and Phase 3, regulatory modernization, are underway and running concurrently. Phase 2 transposes the remaining ordinance into seven new articles using the established tone, style, and format. It incorporates updates required by the Code of Virginia, development review process improvements, and minor changes to codify standard practices or adopt best practices. It does not include substantive regulatory changes. Phase 3 will contain the substantive regulatory work needed to implement the vision of AC44; the Board gave general approval of staff’s recommended Phase 3 prioritization on March 4, 2026.
This work session is a Phase 2 item. It brings the drafted Article 5 - Overlay Zoning Districts and Article 6 - Use Tables to the Board for review. Staff presented these same drafts to the Planning Commission at a work session on July 28, 2026. The Planning Commission received the draft articles favorably and agreed with staff’s recommended changes.
STRATEGIC PLAN: Quality of Life - Encourage a vibrant community with economic and recreational opportunities that serve all community members
DISCUSSION: The intent of Phase 2 is to preserve existing permissions while improving the ordinance’s readability and clarity. The bulk of the changes are structural or for clarity. Where the draft appears to change a permission, that change is either required by state law, is a clarification or codification of existing practice, or is a minor change flagged below for discussion. Substantive policy questions, including broader use-permission changes, use performance standards, and community design standards, are the work of Phase 3.
General Changes
• Application requirements moved to the applications. Consistent with Article 3, submittal requirements for individual applications are moved out of the ordinance text and onto the applications themselves, keeping the ordinance focused on standards and letting staff update forms without a text amendment.
Article 5 - Overlay Zoning Districts
• Reformatting. Article 5 consolidates the County’s overlay districts into a single, consistently formatted article. Staff worked with the County Engineer and Architectural Review Board (ARB) staff throughout the rewrite to confirm that the reformatted language matches current regulations and practice. Due to the detailed nature of the Flood Hazard Overlay District, and its reliance on federal level regulations, very few of the Flood Hazard Overlay District regulations were able to be consolidated or simplified.
• Floodplain Administrator relocated. The Floodplain Administrator’s powers and duties are moved into Article 2 - Administration, as establishing the position is separate from applying the overlay regulations. (Att. A)
• Ongoing ZTA on Outdoor Storage and Display. As a zoning text amendment is currently underway to modify permissions for certain types of “outdoor storage and display” within the Entrance Corridor Overlay District, the draft reserves that language rather than restating it or inserting unapproved language.
Article 6 - Use Tables
• Major/minor distinction. Uses that are essentially the same but differ in intensity are split into “major” and “minor” versions (e.g. home occupations, seasonal farm worker housing, motor vehicle repair, renewable energy systems, country stores, and data centers). The more intense version may carry a different review or permission, but the split does not change existing permissions. (Att. D)
• Category consolidation. Similar individually listed uses are grouped under clear, consolidated use categories. (Att. E)
• Moving “referred” uses into the tables. Uses that the current ordinance handles by cross-reference are now shown directly in the tables so a reader can see the permission in one place.
• All districts uses. For clarity, several uses applicable to all districts that currently sit in Section 4 of the existing ordinance are now listed in the Use Table. These include special lots, temporary industrialized buildings, accessory solar and battery facilities, and temporary family health care structures. This is a placement change, not a permission change.
Individual changes to note (no policy change)
• Temporary events. Added to the use tables per the Commission’s May 12, 2026 recommendation, codifying an existing practice. Minor temporary events include events such as 5Ks, church bazaars, single-vendor parking-lot events, short parades, and similar fundraisers. Major temporary events include events such as festivals, circuses, multi-day conventions, or other events requiring a large amount of planning to avoid or minimize disruption to abutting parcels and roadway traffic. Performance standards will follow in the fall under Article 7.
• Codification of Flood Hazard Overlay District terms. The draft adds to the Definitions Article three definitions regularly used in the application of the Flood Hazard Overlay District. They restate established floodplain-management terms and do not change how the overlay is applied: Floodway fringe; Regulatory floodway; and Structure. (Att. D)
• Manufactured home parks to manufactured home communities. The use is renamed to “manufactured home community.” The permission is unchanged.
• Individual manufactured homes. Regulations that permit or restrict individual manufactured homes are removed. Under current Virginia Code, a manufactured home is allowed anywhere a single-family, site-built home is allowed, so these provisions are no longer enforceable. [Virginia Assembly HB 655 and SB 346, 2026.]
• Renewable energy systems. Renewable energy is organized into three classes, with no change to where each is allowed. (Att. E)
• Gun clubs and shooting ranges. The existing supplementary regulations require a special use permit for a gun club or shooting range anywhere a club or lodge is permitted. This draft lists “social clubs/lodges” and “gun clubs/shooting ranges” as two separate uses in the table, with their existing permissions as they currently are permitted in the County. This clarifies the existing requirement without changing the permission.
Recommended use changes for approval by the Board (minor policy changes)
Staff recommends the following minor use changes at this time, as staff believes these changes are unlikely to affect current applications and require no further investigation at this time, but better align the ordinance with the Comprehensive Plan. Staff asks the Board to approve the following changes:
• Remove crematorium and outdoor drama theater from Rural Areas Zoning District (RA). Crematoriums are already permitted under “funeral homes” in commercial districts, a better fit given traffic and proximity to urban centers than the Rural Areas district. Outdoor drama theater is not an active use and has not been applied for since shortly after adoption. Staff recommends removing both from RA.
• Combine agricultural museums and historical centers. These similar, history-focused uses are combined for simplicity. Doing so extends agricultural museum permissions across the residential districts. Staff views this as consistent with the County’s agricultural history but flags the expansion for the Board.
• Remove livestock sales. Livestock sales is inconsistent with the district vision for the Highway Commercial Zoning District and is already permitted as an agricultural operations event in the Rural Areas. Staff recommends removing it as a listed use.
• Farmers markets. Per recommendation from the Planning Commission, permissions for farmers markets in industrial districts were aligned to mirror those in all other districts.
BUDGET IMPACT: There is no budget impact associated with this agenda item.
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Staff requests that the Board review the drafted Articles 5 and 6 and provide feedback on the overall formatting and language changes, and recommends the Board direct staff to make the use changes as outlined above.
ATTACHMENTS:
A - Article 2 - Administration Draft
B - Article 5 - Overlay Zoning Districts Draft
C - Article 6 - Use Tables Draft
D - Drafted definitions
E - Consolidated and renamed uses
F - Draft ordinance outline