ALBEMARLE COUNTY ATTORNEY'S OFFICE

LAND USE LAW HANDBOOK

The Albemarle County Land Use Law Handbook was created to be used by County officials as a resource for dealing with land use issues and is published online as a convenience to citizens.  The Handbook is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.  The Handbook is maintained by the County Attorney's Office.  It was originally issued in November, 2001 and was last comprehensively revised in September, 2008.  Individual chapters are periodically revised, as noted below. 

GRAPHICS AND CHARTS MAY NOT APPEAR IN THIS ELECTRONIC
VERSION OF THE HANDBOOK.  PLEASE SEE THE PRINTED VERSION
OF THE COUNTY LAND USE LAW HANDBOOK.

Table of Contents - Detailed in PDF Format (Revised November, 2008)

Introduction - Brief overview of handbook content

Chapter 1 - The County and Its Boards, Commissions and Officers: Composition, Powers and Duties

Chapter 2 - The Origins of the Zoning Power

Chapter 3 - The Objectives, Purposes and Nature of Zoning

Chapter 4 - The Scope of the Zoning Power

Chapter 5 - The Dillon Rule and Its Limitations on a Locality's Land Use Powers (Revised December, 2008)

Chapter 6 - Constitutional Principles Affecting a Locality's Land Use Powers

Chapter 7 - The Preemption of Local Land Use Laws by State and Federal Laws: Total Preemption, Partial Preemption and Laws That Are Not Preemptive

Chapter 8 - The Differences Among Legislative, Discretionary, Quasi-judicial, and Ministerial Acts

Chapter 9 - The Comprehensive Plan

Chapter 10 - Zoning Map and Text Amendments

Chapter 11 - Conditional Zoning: Proffers

Chapter 12 - Special Use Permits

Chapter 13 - Variances

Chapter 14 - Official Determinations by Zoning Officials

Chapter 15 - Appeals of Officials Determinations to the Board of Zoning Appeals

Chapter 16 - Interpreting Statutes and Ordinances

Chapter 17 - Classifying Primary and Accessory Uses

Chapter 18 - Nonconformities

Chapter 19 - Vested Rights (Revised November, 2008)

Chapter 20 - Development Rights in the Rural Areas Zoning District in Albemarle County

Chapter 21 - Design Review: Selected Issues for an Architectural Review Board

Chapter 22 - Subdivisions

Chapter 23 - Site Plans

Chapter 24 - Roads

Chapter 25 - Road Improvements in Conjunction with Land Development

Chapter 26 - Open-Space and Conservation Easements, Land Use Valuation, and Other Laws Related to the Use of Land

Chapter 27 - Enforcing the Zoning Ordinance

Chapter 28 - Notice Requirements for Land Use Proposals

Chapter 29 - Meeting Procedures and the Freedom of Information Act (Revised November, 2008)

Chapter 30 - Conflicts of Interest

Chapter 31 - Civil Liability of the County and its Officials for Land Use Decisions

Appendix A - Authorized Signatures for Land Use Applications

Appendix B - The Freedom of Information Act: Ten Things to Know About Responding to a Request for Records

Appendix C - Understanding the Citations of Judicial Opinions for the Non-Lawyer

Appendix D - Closed Meeting Motions and Certification

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