Virginia
Buying Rural Land in Virginia Beach, Virginia
Virginia Beach is Virginia's largest city by population, but its southern portion -- south of a decades-old planning boundary known as the Green Line -- remains a genuine agricultural and rural area, deliberately kept that way by a city program that pays farmers to give up development rights. That inland, agricultural south is this page's focus, not the coastline.
The Green Line: one city, two very different land markets
Virginia Beach is Virginia's largest city by population, and most people's image of it starts and ends at the oceanfront. But the city's own Comprehensive Plan has, since 1979, drawn what is commonly called the Green Line: a policy boundary separating the densely developed, urbanized northern and central portions of the city from a large southern area that the city has deliberately kept rural and agricultural through its land-use planning. South of that line, Virginia Beach looks nothing like its northern neighborhoods -- it's working farmland, forest, and low-density rural residential use, administered through the city's Transition Area and Agricultural Reserve Area land-use designations rather than the dense zoning that governs the north.
This page focuses entirely on that southern, agricultural portion of the city -- the genuine land-buying opportunity here -- and deliberately does not cover Virginia Beach's coastline or resort-area real estate, which is a different market covered by other resources with a specifically coastal focus.
The Agricultural Reserve Program: paying to keep farmland farmland
Virginia Beach backs up its Green Line policy with an actual funding mechanism: the Agricultural Reserve Program (ARP), established in the mid-1990s, under which the city purchases the development rights on qualifying farmland in the southern rural area. A landowner who enrolls sells the right to ever develop the property beyond agricultural and open-space use, typically in exchange for an installment-purchase payment from the city, while retaining ownership and continuing to farm or otherwise use the land within those restrictions. This is not a dormant, decades-old program coasting on old enrollments: as of the city's FY2025 close, 11,358 acres were enrolled, capturing 992 development rights, with 467 acres enrolled in FY2025 alone (well over the city's roughly 300-acre-per-year internal goal) and another six applications already projecting 587 more acres for FY2026 -- a genuinely distinctive, currently active fact about Virginia Beach that has nothing to do with its coastline. See our standalone page on the Agricultural Reserve Program for the full mechanics and figures.
For a buyer, ARP cuts both ways depending on your goal. If you want land that will stay agricultural and rural for the long term -- for farming, homesteading, or simply keeping development pressure away from your property -- an ARP-enrolled parcel or one near other ARP land offers real assurance of that. If your plan involves eventual subdivision or non-agricultural development, an ARP easement is a hard legal restriction that runs with the land regardless of who owns it, so confirm a specific parcel's ARP enrollment status directly with the city before assuming any future development flexibility.
Zoning and septic in the rural south
Virginia Beach's own zoning ordinance governs both the urbanized north and the rural south, but the Agricultural (AG) and rural-designated zoning districts that apply south of the Green Line are the relevant ones for land-buying purposes here. This page did not independently confirm the current minimum lot size or by-right versus special-permit use list for those districts this session -- confirm those specifics directly with the city's planning department, and separately confirm whether ARP restrictions apply to a specific parcel, since ARP and the underlying zoning district are two different, independently binding layers.
Septic and private well permitting for a rural Virginia Beach parcel follows Virginia's statewide model: a Virginia Department of Health local health district reviews the site and issues the construction permit for a typical single-family system, not a city department. This page did not independently confirm the exact VDH health district currently serving Virginia Beach this session -- confirm directly with VDH before assuming a specific office or contact.
Who to Call Before Buying Land in Virginia Beach (city)
This session confirmed current ARP enrollment figures (11,358 acres, FY2025/FY2026 activity) via WebSearch against the city's own Agriculture Department blog and independent WHRO reporting. Department structure, phone numbers, and zoning specifics were not independently verified this session -- confirm directly.
Planning & Zoning
City of Virginia Beach Planning & Community Development
Zoning district lookups south of the Green Line, Transition Area/Agricultural Reserve Area designations, and Agricultural Reserve Program (ARP) enrollment status for a specific parcel.
Septic / Onsite Wastewater
Virginia Department of Health -- local health district serving Virginia Beach
Septic and private well permitting.
Recorder / Clerk / Land Records
Virginia Beach Circuit Court Clerk
Recorded deeds, ARP easements, and plats for a specific parcel.
Want to know if this specific parcel actually works?
Tell us what you're looking at and we'll connect you with a local land specialist who can help you sanity-check it before you go further.
Get local guidanceTopics Specific to Virginia Beach (city)
Sources
- Code of Virginia, Title 15.2, Chapter 22 (Planning, Subdivision of Land and Zoning) — Code of Virginia (Virginia Law Information System) (accessed 2026-09)
- Local Health Districts — Virginia Department of Health (accessed 2026-09)
- Preserving Farmland and Rural Heritage in Virginia Beach — City of Virginia Beach (accessed 2026-09)
- Virginia Beach's farmland preservation program grows with interest from landowners — WHRO Public Media (accessed 2026-09)
Last reviewed 2026-09