                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

DEFINITIONS (§ 15.2-2201)

As used in this chapter, unless the context requires a different meaning:
		&#8220;Affordable housing&#8221; means, as a guideline, housing that is
affordable to households with incomes at or below the area median income,
provided that the occupant pays no more than thirty percent of his gross income
for gross housing costs, including utilities. For the purpose of administering
affordable dwelling unit ordinances authorized by this chapter, local
governments may establish individual definitions of affordable housing and
affordable dwelling units including determination of the appropriate percent of
area median income and percent of gross income.
		&#8220;Conditional zoning&#8221; means, as part of classifying land within a
locality into areas and districts by legislative action, the allowing of
reasonable conditions governing the use of such property, such conditions being
in addition to, or modification of the regulations provided for a particular
zoning district or zone by the overall zoning ordinance.
		&#8220;Designated agent&#8221; means any agent employed or authorized by a
locality and designated by the governing body to review and act on subdivision
plats, site plans, and plans of development. &#8220;Designated agent&#8221; does
not include the local planning commission. However, the local planning
commission may serve as the designated agent of any locality with a population
of 5,000 or less.
		&#8220;Development&#8221; means a tract of land developed or to be developed
as a unit under single ownership or unified control which is to be used for any
business or industrial purpose or is to contain three or more residential
dwelling units. The term &#8220;development&#8221; shall not be construed to
include any tract of land which will be principally devoted to agricultural
production.
		&#8220;Historic area&#8221; means an area containing one or more buildings or
places in which historic events occurred or having special public value because
of notable architectural, archaeological or other features relating to the
cultural or artistic heritage of the community, of such significance as to
warrant conservation and preservation.
		&#8220;Incentive zoning&#8221; means the use of bonuses in the form of
increased project density or other benefits to a developer in return for the
developer providing certain features, design elements, uses, services, or
amenities desired by the locality, including but not limited to, site design
incorporating principles of new urbanism and traditional neighborhood
development, environmentally sustainable and energy-efficient building design,
affordable housing creation and preservation, and historical preservation, as
part of the development.
		&#8220;Local planning commission&#8221; means a municipal planning commission
or a county planning commission.
		&#8220;Military installation&#8221; means a base, camp, post, station, yard,
center, homeport facility for any ship, or other activity under jurisdiction of
the U.S. Department of Defense, including any leased facility, or any land or
interest in land owned by the Commonwealth and administered by the Adjutant
General of Virginia or the Virginia Department of Military Affairs.
&#8220;Military installation&#8221; does not include any facility used primarily
for civil works, rivers and harbors projects, or flood control projects.
		&#8220;Mixed use development&#8221; means property that incorporates two or
more different uses, and may include a variety of housing types, within a single
development.
		&#8220;Official map&#8221; means a map of legally established and proposed
public streets, waterways, and public areas adopted by a locality in accordance
with the provisions of Article 4 (§ 15.2-2233 et seq.) hereof.
		&#8220;Planned unit development&#8221; means a form of development
characterized by unified site design for a variety of housing types and
densities, clustering of buildings, common open space, and a mix of building
types and land uses in which project planning and density calculation are
performed for the entire development rather than on an individual lot basis.
		&#8220;Planning district commission&#8221; means a regional planning agency
chartered under the provisions of Chapter 42 (§ 15.2-4200 et seq.) of this
title.
		&#8220;Plat&#8221; or &#8220;plat of subdivision&#8221; means the schematic
representation of land divided or to be divided and information in accordance
with the provisions of §§ 15.2-2241, 15.2-2242, 15.2-2258, 15.2-2262, and
15.2-2264, and other applicable statutes.
		&#8220;Preliminary subdivision plat&#8221; means the proposed schematic
representation of development or subdivision that establishes how the provisions
of §§ 15.2-2241 and 15.2-2242, and other applicable statutes will be achieved.
		&#8220;Resident curator&#8221; means a person, firm, or corporation that
leases or otherwise contracts to manage, preserve, maintain, operate, or reside
in a historic property in accordance with the provisions of § 15.2-2306 and
other applicable statutes.
		&#8220;Site plan&#8221; means the proposal for a development or a subdivision
including all covenants, grants or easements and other conditions relating to
use, location and bulk of buildings, density of development, common open space,
public facilities and such other information as required by the subdivision
ordinance to which the proposed development or subdivision is subject.
		&#8220;Special exception&#8221; means a special use that is a use not
permitted in a particular district except by a special use permit granted under
the provisions of this chapter and any zoning ordinances adopted herewith.
		&#8220;Street&#8221; means highway, street, avenue, boulevard, road, lane,
alley, or any public way.
		&#8220;Subdivision,&#8221; unless otherwise defined in an ordinance adopted
pursuant to § 15.2-2240, means the division of a parcel of land into three or
more lots or parcels of less than five acres each for the purpose of transfer of
ownership or building development, or, if a new street is involved in such
division, any division of a parcel of land. The term includes resubdivision and,
when appropriate to the context, shall relate to the process of subdividing or
to the land subdivided and solely for the purpose of recordation of any single
division of land into two lots or parcels, a plat of such division shall be
submitted for approval in accordance with § 15.2-2258. Nothing in this
definition, section, nor any ordinance adopted pursuant to § 15.2-2240 shall
preclude different owners of adjacent parcels from entering into a valid and
enforceable boundary line agreement with one another so long as such agreement
is only used to resolve a bona fide property line dispute, the boundary
adjustment does not move by more than 250 feet from the center of the current
platted line or alter either parcel&#8217;s resultant acreage by more than five
percent of the smaller parcel size, and such agreement does not create an
additional lot, alter the existing boundary lines of localities, result in
greater street frontage, or interfere with a recorded easement, and such
agreement shall not result in any nonconformity with local ordinances and health
department regulations. Notice shall be provided to the zoning administrator of
the locality in which the parcels are located for review. For any property
affected by this definition, any division of land subject to a partition suit by
virtue of order or decree by a court of competent jurisdiction shall take
precedence over the requirements of Article 6 (§ 15.2-2240 et seq.) and the
minimum lot area, width, or frontage requirements in the zoning ordinance so
long as the lot or parcel resulting from such order or decree does not vary from
minimum lot area, width, or frontage requirements by more than 20 percent. A
copy of the final decree shall be provided to the zoning administrator of the
locality in which the property is located.
		&#8220;Variance&#8221; means, in the application of a zoning ordinance, a
reasonable deviation from those provisions regulating the shape, size, or area
of a lot or parcel of land or the size, height, area, bulk, or location of a
building or structure when the strict application of the ordinance would
unreasonably restrict the utilization of the property, and such need for a
variance would not be shared generally by other properties, and provided such
variance is not contrary to the purpose of the ordinance. It shall not include a
change in use, which change shall be accomplished by a rezoning or by a
conditional zoning.
		&#8220;Working waterfront&#8221; means an area or structure on, over, or
adjacent to navigable waters that provides access to the water and is used for
water-dependent commercial, industrial, or governmental activities, including
commercial and recreational fishing; tourism; aquaculture; boat and ship
building, repair, and services; seafood processing and sales; transportation;
shipping; marine construction; and military activities.
		&#8220;Working waterfront development area&#8221; means an area containing one
or more working waterfronts having economic, cultural, or historic public value
of such significance as to warrant development and reparation.
		&#8220;Zoning&#8221; or &#8220;to zone&#8221; means the process of classifying
land within a locality into areas and districts, such areas and districts being
generally referred to as &#8220;zones,&#8221; by legislative action and the
prescribing and application in each area and district of regulations concerning
building and structure designs, building and structure placement and uses to
which land, buildings and structures within such designated areas and districts
may be put.

HISTORY: Code 1950, § 15-961.3; 1962, c. 407, § 15.1-430; 1964, c. 547; 1966,
c. 344; 1975, c. 641; 1976, c. 642; 1977, c. 566; 1978, c. 320; 1987, c. 8;
1989, c. 384; 1990, c. 685; 1993, c. 770; 1995, c. 603; 1997, c.; 2008, cc. 635,
718; 2011, c. 237; 2012, c. 554; 2013, cc. 149, 213; 2015, c. 597; 2017, c. 216;
2022, c. 271; 2025, c. 594.