What you will make

A two-column ADU research note for rules currently in effect and the future statutory framework, with unresolved local questions.

An announced future law does not establish today's permission for a particular property. Accurate housing research needs effective dates, local ordinance history, and separate building and infrastructure checks.

• Identify the future statute's ADU definition and effective date.
• Check local ordinance history and statutory exceptions before making a permission claim.
• Separate planning research from zoning, building, utility, and permit determinations.

Work through the method

1. Describe the housing example

   Sketch a primary residence and a possible attached or detached secondary dwelling on the same lot. Read the definition in § 15.2-2292.4: the future section describes independent living facilities associated with a primary residence. Distinguish this example from converting a school into several primary housing units.

   Check your work: The note explains why the example is an ADU concept rather than a general multifamily-reuse concept.

2. Create the date comparison

   Label one column Current local rules, Fall 2026 and the other Statutory framework effective July 1, 2027. Read the statute's effective-date heading. Check whether the locality has enacted an earlier ordinance or amendment instead of applying the future provision as today's rule.

   Check your work: Every statement has a rule date and an identified source.

3. Read the exceptions

   Check subsections F through I. The section preserves specified private agreements, excludes previously approved ADU permits, allows earlier substantially compliant local ordinances, and does not apply to a locality that adopted an ADU ordinance before January 1, 2026. Record adoption history as unresolved if it cannot be verified.

   Check your work: The comparison includes the relevant exception questions rather than assuming uniform statewide application.

4. Identify separate review questions

   List questions about zoning, building work, water or sewer service, septic service where applicable, emergency access, and relevant site constraints. DHCD explains that the USBC applies to construction and changes involving existing buildings. Leave dimensions, fees, capacity, and permit outcomes blank unless a current applicable source establishes them.

   Check your work: The note identifies needed confirmations without prescribing a legal or engineering result.

5. Write a housing research note

   Summarize the dated findings, cite the local provisions actually found, and list remaining questions for the local planning and building offices. If local rules were unavailable, say so. Label the sketch Concept for discussion and obtain instructor approval before client contact.

   Check your work: The output makes no property-specific permission, feasibility, or legal-advice claim.

Optional practice: compare current and future ADU rules

1. Use a fictional lot or an approved housing research example.
2. Complete the Fall 2026 and July 2027 columns using dated sources.
3. Check the locality's ordinance adoption history and the statute's exceptions.
4. Create a conceptual sketch and unresolved-question list. This is optional practice, not a class grade or official Canvas assignment.

Bring the method into a product

• Dated ADU rule-comparison note
• Conceptual sketch and local-review questions

Suggested formats: PDF, PNG, CSV.

Reflect: Which date or exception most affects the statement you can responsibly make about your example?

Avoid these mistakes

• Applying the July 1, 2027 statutory framework as though it were already effective in Fall 2026.
• Ignoring the exception for a locality with an ADU ordinance adopted before January 1, 2026.
• Treating an ADU concept as permission to build or as proof of building-code and utility compliance.