Hanover County Unincorporated, Virginia · District
A-1
A-1 Agricultural District
Dimensional standards
Lot
Height & bulk
Servicing
- Geographic extent
- Applies to agriculturalAgricultureRaising crops or livestock, generally including the structures that serve them. areas; includes suburban service area, scenic roads, FAA Part 77 Area, Rural Conservation Areas, and Suburban Development Overlay districtOverlay districtA second set of rules laid over the base district, adding requirements without replacing it..
Uses
Permitted by right19
- Single-family dwellings, detached
- Telecommunications towers and related facilities (up to 50 feet on scenic roads or FAA Part 77 Area, otherwise up to 100 feet)
- Dog kennels, noncommercial
- Golf courses (not lighted for night play, not including miniature golf, driving ranges, etc.)
- Facilities and structures necessary for rendering utility service (poles, wires, transformers, utility cabinets, etc.)
- Grain storage structures
- Greenhouse, commercial
- Animal hospital or clinic for large animals
- Animal hospital or clinic for small animals
- Military bases and appurtenances and parks operated by the United States Government or agencies of the Commonwealth of Virginia
- Public and private forests, wildlife reservations, similar conservation projects
- Railroad rights-of-way
- Recreational uses (tennis courts, swimming pools, etc. for private membership)
- Keeping of horses, ponies or other livestock (max 1 per acre)
- Stable, public or private (max 1 horse/pony per acre)
- Raising for sale of birds, bees, fish, rabbits, and other small animals
- Frog or fish farms
- Medical office (limited to 2 doctors and their staffs)
- Permanent placement or removal of clean earth fill
Conditional / special use72
- Airports and landing fields
- Camps, day or boarding, private or commercial
- Cemetery, including a crematorium
- Circus or carnival grounds, amusement park, zoo or midway
- Exposition center or fairground
- Heliport or helistop
- Hospitals
- Institutions, educational or philanthropic (museums, art galleries, libraries)
- Livestock auction market
- Private clubs
- Public or governmental buildings and uses (schools, fire stations, parks, playgrounds, public boat landings)
- Public utilities or public service uses (buildings, generating or treatment plants, pumping or regulator stations, substations, transmission lines)
- Race track, any type
- Recreation facility, commercially operated (fishing/boating lake, camp ground, picnic grounds, dude ranch)
- Sanitary landfill or trash collection site
- Extraction of stone, sand or gravel for sale
- Sports arena or stadium, commercial athletic field or baseball park
- Swimming or tennis club, commercially operated
- Conversion of existing structure to restaurant (min lot 2 acres, parking 1 per 100 sq ft)
- Radio or television broadcasting station
- Churches and other places of worship (or expansion >50% of floor area as of Nov 18, 1987)
- Agricultural and forestal support center
- Antique shop
- Agricultural and farm machinery and equipment repair
- Telecommunications towers exceeding 140 feet in height and temporary towers of any height
- Excavation and filling activities (non-clean earth fill, temporary storage, sale of fill)
- Taxidermy shop
- Animal pound
- Farmers' market
- Mulch processing facility (min lot 5 acres, no operation 7pm-7am, 250 ft from residences, support structure max 5,000 sq ft)
- Miniature golf courses or driving ranges
- Batting cages
- Paintball, laser tag, and other similar games
- Amusement facilities (arcades, go-cart tracks, rides, water parks)
- Meeting hall
- Federally-inspected or state-inspected commercial animal slaughter and processing facilities (min lot 20 acres, structures 200 ft from property lines, max 15,000 sq ft, outside Suburban Service Area)
- Tier 2 battery energy storage systems
- Solar energy facility, principal - small scale
- Solar energy facility, principal - utility scale
- Solar energy facility, supplementary, ground-mounted
- Solar energy facility, supplementary, roof-mounted
- Vehicle and equipment storage (excluding boats and RVs)
- Archery ranges
- Asphalt batching plants or concrete batching plants
- Dog kennels, commercial
- Nonaccessory tents for special purposes
- Outdoor displays or promotional activities
- Equestrian facilities
- Raising for sale of birds, bees, fish, rabbits and other small animals in Suburban Development Overlay district only
- Rifle or pistol ranges, trap, or skeet shooting
- Sawmill for cutting timber not grown on the premises
- Temporary buildings for use as sales or rental office for approved development
- Private garage for more than 4 vehicles (in suburban service area)
- Cemetery for pets
- Convalescent homes, nursing homes, or homes for the aged
- Day nurseries or child or adult day care centers
- Frog or fish farms in Suburban Development Overlay district only
- Sale of farm products not raised on the premises (only with sales per Sec 26-19, lot ≥10 acres)
- Manufactured homes for living quarters (accessory to farm or medical hardship)
- Home occupations in accessory building, home craft shops, or retail sales as home occupation
- Sale of Christmas trees not raised on the premises
- Auction sales (lot ≥10 acres, outside SDO, max 4 per year)
- Open or enclosed space for storage of one commercial motor vehicle >2 ton capacity (outside suburban service area, min 2 acres, public road frontage)
- Bed and breakfast
- Fences up to 7 feet in height in front yard on lots outside suburban service area
- Accessory housing unit
- Outdoor musical or entertainment festivals
- Telecommunications towers exceeding 100 feet but not exceeding 140 feet (or exceeding 50 feet on scenic roads/FAA area)
- Assisted living facilities housing 9 or more persons
- Children's residential facilities
- Reduction in front yard setback for new structures or expansions in Rural Village areas (min 10 feet)
- Short-term rental, non-owner-occupied, or accessory detached
Accessory28
- Accessory structures for sale or processing of farm products raised on premises (on farms ≥10 acres)
- Accessory open or enclosed storage of farm materials, products, or equipment (on farms ≥10 acres)
- Accessory farm buildings (barns, stables, sheds, tool rooms, shops, bins, tanks, silos) (on farms ≥10 acres)
- Dwellings for persons permanently employed on premises (on farms ≥10 acres)
- Domestic storage in main or accessory building
- Private garage (max 4 vehicles in suburban service area)
- Guest houses
- Home occupations in main building
- Keeping of small animals, insects, reptiles, fish, or birds for personal enjoyment (on lots ≥2 acres)
- Domestic employees' quarters
- Storage of recreational vehicles, utility trailers, boat trailers in driveway or rear yard (with conditions)
- Swimming pool and game courts, lighted or unlighted, for occupants or guests
- Signs as regulated in division 7 of article 5
- Temporary buildings incidental to construction (removed within 2 years)
- Accessory off-street parking and loading spaces (one commercial vehicle ≤2-ton capacity)
- Office or construction trailers (max 1 year)
- Noncommercial fuel alcohol distillery
- Foster home
- Vending machines (when used with permitted commercial use, contained within building)
- Telecommunications arrays on existing structures (height increase ≤10% or 10 ft, etc.)
- Pony rings
- Family day homes
- Temporary family health care structures
- Tier 1 battery energy storage systems
- Solar energy facility, accessory, ground-mounted
- Solar energy facility, accessory, roof-mounted
- Short-term rental, owner-occupied
- Secondary kitchen
Prohibited1
- Commercial slaughtering and processing of large animals (horses, cows, pigs, sheep, goats) on premises
Extracted standards
26 individual requirements pulled out of this section’s prose, each with the sentence it came from.
Other
- Large animal hospital/clinic setbackSetbackThe distance a building must be held back from a lot line. from lot line200 ft
All buildings, structures, pens, or open kennels shall be located at least two hundred (200) feet from any lot line.
- Permissible density in rural cluster subdivision0.1 lots per acreacre43,560 square feet — about the size of an American football field without the end zones.
Permissible density shall be one lot per ten (10) acres.
- Noncommercial dog kennelKennelBoarding or breeding animals above the number kept as household pets. (open pens, runs, cages) setbackSetbackThe distance a building must be held back from a lot line. from side/rear lot line200 ft
Any open pens, runs, cages or kennels or any place for keeping more than five (5) adult dogs shall be located at least two hundred (200) feet from any side or rear lot lines.
- Golf course accessoryAccessory useA secondary activity customarily incidental to the main use of the lot — a garage, a home office. building setbackSetbackThe distance a building must be held back from a lot line. from adjoining property lines100 ft
No such building is located closer than one hundred (100) feet from adjoining property lines.
- Maximum horses/ponies per acreacre43,560 square feet — about the size of an American football field without the end zones.1 per acreacre43,560 square feet — about the size of an American football field without the end zones.
No more than one (1) horse or pony for each acre of land.
- Building for keeping of livestock setbackSetbackThe distance a building must be held back from a lot line. from side/rear lot line200 ft
Any building for keeping of livestock shall be located at least two hundred (200) feet from any side or rear lot line.
- Maximum fence heightMaximum heightThe tallest a building may be, given in feet, in storeys, or both — whichever binds first. in front yardYardThe open space left between a building and its lot line — the space a setback creates. (outside suburban service area, special exception)7 ft
Fences up to seven (7) feet in height, located within the front yard on lots outside of the suburban service area.
- Maximum residential lot areaMinimum lot areaThe smallest parcel on which the district allows anything to be built. in rural cluster subdivision2 acresacre43,560 square feet — about the size of an American football field without the end zones.
No residential lot within a Rural Cluster subdivision shall exceed two (2) acres.
- Minimum conservation lot percentage in rural cluster subdivision80 pct
A minimum of eighty (80) percent of the total area of the parcel shall be within the conservation lot.
- Minimum driveway surface width for homestead lot10 ft
A driveway within it consisting of, at a minimum, an all-weather surface of rock, stone, or gravel, with a minimum depth of one (1) inch and a width of ten (10) feet.
- Minimum homestead lot areaMinimum lot areaThe smallest parcel on which the district allows anything to be built.2 acresacre43,560 square feet — about the size of an American football field without the end zones.
Each homestead lot shall be a minimum area of two (2) acres.
- Minimum parcel size for rural cluster subdivision20 acresacre43,560 square feet — about the size of an American football field without the end zones.
The minimum parcel size for consideration of a rural cluster subdivision shall be twenty (20) acres.
- Minimum parent tract area for family homestead10 acresacre43,560 square feet — about the size of an American football field without the end zones.
The original tract shall be divided ... into (a) a parent tract, which shall consist of at least ten (10) acres
- Minimum private drive/road right-of-way width for homestead lot20 ft
Shall front upon a private drive or road which is in a right-of-way no less than twenty (20) feet in width.
- Commercial poultry raising structure setbackSetbackThe distance a building must be held back from a lot line. from off-site dwelling200 ft
Structures for commercial poultry raising shall be located at least two hundred (200) feet from any dwelling not located on the premises and at least one hundred (100) feet from any street or road.
- Commercial poultry raising structure setbackSetbackThe distance a building must be held back from a lot line. from street/road100 ft
Structures for commercial poultry raising shall be located at least two hundred (200) feet from any dwelling not located on the premises and at least one hundred (100) feet from any street or road.
- Private recreational use setbackSetbackThe distance a building must be held back from a lot line. from adjoining property line50 ft
No such use, structure, or accessory use is located closer than fifty (50) feet to any adjoining property line.
- Sawmill, grain drier, commercial feed lot or hog raising operation setbackSetbackThe distance a building must be held back from a lot line. from off-site dwelling250 ft
Any sawmill, grain drier, commercial feed lot or hog raising operation shall be located at least two hundred fifty (250) feet from any dwelling not located on the premises.
- Raising for sale of small animals setbackSetbackThe distance a building must be held back from a lot line. from side/rear lot line200 ft
Any use shall be located at least two hundred (200) feet from any side or rear lot lines.
- Telecommunications tower heightMaximum heightThe tallest a building may be, given in feet, in storeys, or both — whichever binds first. with conditional useConditional useAllowed only after a discretionary approval — usually a public hearing and a board vote. permit
Permitted with a conditional use permit: may exceed one hundred forty (140) feet.
- Telecommunications tower heightMaximum heightThe tallest a building may be, given in feet, in storeys, or both — whichever binds first. on other properties (by rightBy rightPermitted outright: if the plans meet the written rules, permission cannot be withheld.)100 ft
Otherwise, that do not exceed one hundred (100) feet in height.
- Telecommunications tower heightMaximum heightThe tallest a building may be, given in feet, in storeys, or both — whichever binds first. on scenic roads or FAA Part 77 Area (by rightBy rightPermitted outright: if the plans meet the written rules, permission cannot be withheld.)50 ft
On properties along designated scenic roads or waterways or within the 'FAA Part 77 Area' ... that do not exceed fifty (50) feet in height.
- Telecommunications tower heightMaximum heightThe tallest a building may be, given in feet, in storeys, or both — whichever binds first. with special exception140 ft
Permitted with a special exception: shall not exceed one hundred forty (140) feet.
- Utility cabinet/pedestal footprint exemption from screening6 sqftsq ftSquare feet. An acre is 43,560 sq ft; a typical suburban lot is 7,000–10,000.
Single stand-alone utility cabinets or pedestals that do not exceed four feet in height and do not have a footprint area in excess of six (6) square feet
- Utility cabinet/pedestal heightMaximum heightThe tallest a building may be, given in feet, in storeys, or both — whichever binds first. exemption from screening4 ft
Single stand-alone utility cabinets or pedestals that do not exceed four feet in height and do not have a footprint area in excess of six (6) square feet
Parking
- Restaurant conversion parking ratio1 space per 100 sq ftsq ftSquare feet. An acre is 43,560 sq ft; a typical suburban lot is 7,000–10,000.
Off-street parking shall be provided at the rate of one space per one hundred (100) square feet of gross floor area.
From the ordinance
The purpose of this district is to provide for a full range of agricultural activities and to protect agricultural land... (Sec. 26-17)
Parking requirements
{
"restaurant_conversion": "1 space per 100 sq ft gross floor area"
}Use details
{
"dropped_conditions": {
"permitted_uses": [
"Agriculture (including horticultural, chemical, or general farming, truck gardens, cultivation of field crops, orchards, groves, or nurseries, dairy farming, keeping or raising for sale of large or small animals, reptiles, fish, birds, or poultry, and including structures for processing and sale of products raised on the premises)"
]
}
}