If you have ever seen a sign staked at the edge of a field announcing a public hearing and not known whether to care, this is the post that tells you.
Land use in Virginia runs on a small number of procedures that repeat in every locality. Learn the four that matter and you can read any sign, any agenda and any case file in the region.
This is the companion piece to our guide on how to check what is being built near a Richmond home. That post tells you where to look. This one tells you what you are looking at.
By-right development: the category with no hearing
Start here, because it is the one that surprises people. If a use is already permitted in a parcel’s zoning district, the owner does not need permission, a hearing, or a notice to you. They need a site plan approval and a building permit, both administrative.
This is why checking zoning matters more than checking agendas, and why the answer differs between Henrico County and its neighbors: each locality mapped its districts on its own timeline. An empty parcel zoned for townhomes will not appear on any public hearing agenda before the townhomes arrive. The decision that mattered was made years ago, possibly decades, when the district was mapped.
The practical consequence: when you look at land near a house you are considering, the first question is never “is anything proposed here?” It is “what is already allowed here?”
Rezoning: changing the district itself
A rezoning amends the zoning map to put a parcel in a different district. It is the heaviest of the four procedures and the one with the most public process.
The enabling authority sits in state law. Section 15.2-2285 of the Code of Virginia sets out the amendment procedure, and Section 15.2-2204 governs the notice requirements, including advertisement in a newspaper once a week for two successive weeks and written notice to adjoining property owners.
That written notice provision is the one to remember. If you own property adjoining a parcel under a rezoning application, the locality must mail you notice. If you are buying a house, that notice went to the current owner, not to you, which is a good reason to ask a seller directly whether they have received any land use notices.
The path runs: application, staff review and report, planning commission public hearing and recommendation, then board of supervisors public hearing and vote. Both hearings take public comment. The commission recommends; the board decides.
Proffers: the conditions attached to a rezoning
In Virginia, an applicant seeking a residential rezoning may volunteer conditions, called proffers, to offset the impacts of the development. Road improvements, cash contributions toward schools, buffer widths, architectural commitments, age restrictions and density caps all commonly appear as proffers.
Proffers are enforceable once accepted. They run with the land, which means they bind future owners and future builders, and they are recorded. If a subdivision near you was approved with a 100 foot wooded buffer proffered along your property line, that buffer is a legal obligation rather than a courtesy.
State law constrains what localities may request for residential rezonings under Section 15.2-2303.4, which limits proffers to impacts specifically attributable to the development. This is why you will sometimes see a locality decline to ask for something residents want.
Get the Richmond closing-timeline checklist
Our checklist maps every deadline from ratified contract to keys and marks where the zoning, survey and title checks belong in the sequence. We will send it over and answer questions on a specific parcel.
Conditional use permits: permission for a specific use, with strings
A conditional use permit, sometimes called a special exception or special use permit depending on the locality, leaves the zoning district alone and grants permission for a particular use within it. Conditions attach to that permit and only to that use.
Typical CUP subjects in our market: churches and schools in residential districts, drive-through facilities, self-storage, communication towers, short-term rentals in some jurisdictions, and increasingly data centers.
Chesterfield County began requiring conditional use permits for data centers at the start of 2026 as part of a broader zoning ordinance overhaul, which is precisely why the county’s recent decision to stop approving them has teeth. When a use requires a discretionary permit, a board that does not want to grant it simply does not. We covered what that means for buyers in Moseley and Bermuda Hundred.
CUPs are also appealable in a narrower way than rezonings. In Midlothian and elsewhere in the county, at least two data center projects that predated the new CUP requirement have gone to the board of zoning appeals arguing the requirement should not apply to them.
Variances: the smallest category, and the most misunderstood
A variance permits a deviation from a dimensional standard such as a setback, height or lot coverage. It goes to the board of zoning appeals, not the board of supervisors, and the legal standard is genuinely hard to meet: the applicant must show an unnecessary hardship arising from the property itself, not from their preferences or their purchase price.
Variances almost never change the character of an area. If the sign in the field is a variance notice, it is usually a garage three feet too close to a property line. Read it and move on.
Reading the sign, in order
When you see a notice sign, work through it like this. What procedure is it, rezoning, CUP or variance? What is the requested district or use? How many acres? Who is the applicant? Which hearing date is listed, planning commission or board? Then search the locality’s agenda for the case number, which will get you the staff report and the concept plan.
Staff reports are the single most useful document in this whole process and almost nobody outside the industry reads them. They state the proposal plainly, list the proffers or conditions, summarize the traffic analysis and give a recommendation with reasoning.
The relevant offices are Chesterfield County, Henrico County and Hanover County for our primary market. Each posts agendas, minutes and case materials.
What this means when you are under contract
Land use findings are rarely a reason to terminate. They are frequently a reason to renegotiate, and occasionally a reason to walk before you are emotionally committed.
If you are buying acreage, the zoning questions compound with well, septic, access and soil questions, all of which we cover in buying land or acreage near Richmond. If acreage is what you are after, start with Richmond area homes with acreage and check the zoning on every adjoining parcel before you fall in love with a view.
Frequently asked questions
Will the county tell me if something is proposed next door?
Only if you are an adjoining owner of record at the time of application. Section 15.2-2204 of the Code of Virginia requires written notice to adjoining property owners plus newspaper advertisement once a week for two successive weeks. If you buy after the notice went out, you will not receive it.
What is the difference between a rezoning and a conditional use permit?
A rezoning changes the parcel’s zoning district. A CUP leaves the district in place and permits one specific use within it, with conditions attached. Rezonings are broader and harder to reverse; CUPs are narrower and use-specific.
Are proffers actually enforceable?
Yes. Once a locality accepts proffered conditions as part of a rezoning approval, they are recorded, they run with the land and they bind subsequent owners and builders. A proffered buffer or road improvement is a legal obligation, not a marketing promise.
Can neighbors stop a rezoning?
Neighbors cannot veto one, but organized opposition changes outcomes regularly, usually through deferral rather than denial. A case deferred repeatedly is often a case in trouble. Both the planning commission hearing and the board hearing take public comment.
How long does a rezoning take from application to decision?
Several months at minimum in our market, and a year or more for large or contested cases. The two-hearing structure plus staff review, traffic analysis and any deferrals is what drives the timeline.
Does a seller have to disclose a pending rezoning nearby?
Virginia is a limited-disclosure state. Under the Residential Property Disclosure Act the seller delivers a form stating the property is sold as is and directing the buyer to make independent inquiries, including about adjacent parcels and proposed land use. Ask directly whether they have received notices, but do not rely on the disclosure form to surface it.
Where do I find the case file once I have a sign or a case number?
The locality’s planning department page and its planning commission agenda archive. Search by case number or by road name. The staff report is the document you want, and it is normally attached to the agenda item.
Reading a specific case?
Send us a case number or an address and we will read the staff report with you. Start with how we work with buyers or call (804) 601-4960.
