How Monongalia County's Planning-District Zoning Actually Works

A 1961 ordinance that didn't stick, and a district-by-district approach instead

Monongalia County's zoning history did not follow the straightforward path of most zoned jurisdictions. The county commission adopted a general zoning ordinance back on February 28, 1961, prepared by an outside planning consultant -- but that ordinance reportedly ran into complications and was ultimately stayed, meaning it did not become the county's lasting zoning framework. Rather than trying again with a single countywide ordinance, the county took a different approach decades later: on October 1, 2003, the county commission adopted an ordinance creating four specific planning districts, all concentrated in the county's fast-growing northeast quadrant -- Stewartstown, Cheat Neck, Cheat Lake, and West Run.

Of those four, West Run is the one with documented, currently active zoning: its own zoning ordinance was put directly to county voters and adopted by a 4-to-1 margin in the November 12, 2010 general election. That ordinance governs "the administration and permitting of location and siting of construction" within the West Run Planning District specifically -- and it remains a live, evolving framework rather than a historical artifact. Local news reporting documents the county commission approving an amendment to the West Run zoning map as recently as July 2026, confirming this system is actively administered today, not a dormant relic.

What this means: your parcel's zoning status depends entirely on its location

Because Monongalia County's zoning is district-specific rather than countywide, the single most important question for a land buyer here is not "does Monongalia County have zoning" -- it does, in part -- but "is my specific parcel inside one of these planning districts, and if so, which one." A parcel physically located within the West Run Planning District is subject to a real, voter-adopted zoning ordinance with a specific map and an active amendment process. A parcel in Stewartstown, Cheat Neck, or Cheat Lake may be subject to different planning-district rules with their own separate history and current status. And a parcel anywhere else in the county -- which is most of Monongalia County's land area, since these four districts are concentrated in one geographic quadrant -- may have no zoning-based use restriction at all, consistent with the statewide pattern described in our West Virginia state hub.

The only reliable way to answer this is to contact the Monongalia County Planning Commission directly, describe or provide the parcel's specific location (ideally by tax-map and parcel number), and ask which planning district, if any, covers it and what the current version of that district's ordinance actually permits. Don't rely on a general impression that "Monongalia County has zoning" or "Monongalia County doesn't have zoning" -- both are incomplete without knowing exactly where your parcel sits.

Why this matters more here than in most of West Virginia: real growth pressure

This district-by-district zoning approach exists specifically because Monongalia County has faced real, sustained development pressure that most of rural West Virginia has not: Morgantown and West Virginia University have driven the county to become one of the state's fastest-growing, with a 2020 Census population of 105,822 (West Virginia's third-highest) and continued growth reported since. The four planning districts created in 2003 are concentrated in the county's northeast quadrant precisely because that area has seen the most subdivision and development pressure from Morgantown's growth. If you're evaluating land in or near one of these districts specifically because of that growth and its associated rental, student-housing, or resale demand, understand that the same growth pressure driving land values is also what produced the zoning constraints you'll need to navigate -- a tradeoff that doesn't apply the same way in the county's more rural, unzoned areas farther from Morgantown.