Buying Land in Chesterfield County, Virginia

A large, fast-growing suburban county with a shrinking rural edge

Chesterfield County sits immediately south and west of Richmond and is one of the Virginia capital region's largest and fastest-growing counties by population. That growth pressure means the county's character has shifted heavily toward suburban residential and commercial development over recent decades; genuinely rural or agricultural acreage is concentrated toward the county's southern and western portions rather than spread evenly across its full land area. A buyer evaluating a Chesterfield parcel should treat the county's overall size as a poor predictor of any specific area's character and instead confirm directly what's actually around a given tract.

Chesterfield also has a direct historical link to one of the other jurisdictions in this batch: the independent city of Colonial Heights was originally part of Chesterfield County territory before becoming a town in 1926 and, eventually, a fully independent city in 1960 -- a reminder that Virginia's county and independent-city boundaries have shifted meaningfully over time even in the same region.

Zoning: a brand-new ordinance, with Agricultural (A) still covering most of the county

Chesterfield's Zoning Ordinance Modernization (ZOMod) project received final Board of Supervisors approval on September 17, 2025 and became effective January 1, 2026 -- replacing the county's entire prior 24-district zoning code with 14 new districts. The Agricultural (A) designation is retained under the new ordinance and still covers more than half of the county's 424 square miles, and a new Rural Community (RC) district specifically allows subdivisions with lots of at least 5 acres in rural parts of the county served by public roads. See our standalone page on Chesterfield's new zoning ordinance for the full district breakdown.

This page's research pass could not confirm the Agricultural (A) district's exact current minimum lot size or full by-right-versus-special-permit use list under the new ordinance from search-indexed sources -- rather than guess, this page flags that gap directly and points buyers to the county's Planning Department (804-748-1050) to confirm the current figure before assuming any specific number for a subdivision or building plan. Because the entire ordinance is new as of January 1, 2026, treat any pre-2026 zoning assumption about a Chesterfield parcel -- including an older listing or survey -- as potentially outdated.

Septic, well, and land-use taxation in Chesterfield

Septic and well permitting in Chesterfield runs through the VDH Chesterfield Health District, which -- unlike a single-county health department -- also serves Powhatan County and the independent city of Colonial Heights, covering roughly 434,000 people combined (804-748-1691). Because the district spans three jurisdictions, confirm which specific office handles your parcel's application and current turnaround times directly, since demand can vary across the district's service area. As with any Virginia locality, land currently enrolled in the state's use-value (land-use) taxation program for agricultural, horticultural, or forest use should be checked for rollback-tax exposure with the Commissioner of the Revenue before a change in use is assumed to be cost-free.