Nonconformity Is the Norm, Not the Exception
Much of what stands close to the water was built under earlier rules, on lots laid out under earlier rules again. Setbacks, lot coverage, density and height that were ordinary then would frequently not be permitted now.
That is exactly the situation section 15.2-2307 addresses, and it is why an Oceanfront owner after a fire is usually relying on a statutory protection rather than on ordinary permission. The full position is on our page covering the clocks and the ceiling.
What Does That Protection Actually Give Me?
Which Makes Enlarging the Expensive Mistake
The temptation on a valuable Oceanfront lot is obvious. If the house has to come back anyway, why not come back larger.
Because the statute provides that the uses of nonconforming buildings shall conform to the regulations whenever the square footage is enlarged or the building is structurally altered as provided in the building code. Adding square footage is capable of forfeiting the very status that made the rebuild possible.
So the Protection Is for Restoration Only?
We publish no nonconformity determinations, setback conclusions or density findings for individual Oceanfront properties. The zoning administrator holds those and will answer for an address.
High Values Change the Answer
Where a finished house is worth a great deal, the cost of repair is a smaller proportion of it and repairing beats selling on the numbers alone more often than in most of the city.
Add the protection point and it tilts further. Repairing within the window keeps the protected status, avoids the forfeiture triggers and keeps the margin. On sound Oceanfront stock we expect to lose files to rehabbers and to owners doing the work themselves, and we would rather say that early.
The Window Is Tighter Than It Sounds
Two years is generous against a straightforward repair and less generous against a coastal build with a contested insurance claim in front of it. Establishing the date from the fire report and working backwards from it is worth doing in the first month rather than the eighteenth.
The Oceanfront in Context
Where a replacement ceiling applies on top of all of this, see our page about Oceana, London Bridge and the flight paths. Where later stock means fewer nonconformity questions, see our page for Kempsville and Centerville.
The Sections Behind an Oceanfront File
Section 15.2-2307 of the Code of Virginia carries the whole protection: 2 years from the date of the event, a right to restore where damage exceeds 50 per cent, a 2 year discontinuance limit, and forfeiture where square footage is enlarged.
Work must comply with the Uniform Statewide Building Code at section 36-97 and following. Variances, where needed, run under section 15.2-2310.
Oceanfront Questions
Is My House Nonconforming?
Close to the water, frequently. The zoning administrator will confirm it and it decides which rules you are operating under.
Can I Add a Floor While Rebuilding?
Enlarging the square footage is a forfeiture trigger under the statute. That does not make it impossible; it makes it a different application entirely.
Will You Buy at the Oceanfront?
Yes, and on sound stock here we will often tell you repairing is worth more than any offer we can make.