VA · City

Virginia Beach, VA.

Virginia Beach is an independent city (not in a county). Coastal location triggers WBDR, V-zone flood overlays, and Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act review on most projects.

Indexed WBDR Coastal

Adopted edition

USBC 2021 (IRC 2018 base + VA amendments)

City has its own adoption — separate from county.

Design wind speed

130 mph

ASCE 7 Risk Cat II, 3-second gust at 33 ft.

Climate zone (IECC)

Drives R-value, fenestration U-factor, and air-leakage envelope rules.

Special zones

HVHZ
WBDR
WUI
FEMA SFHA possible

Permit office

Virginia Beach Permits & Inspections

www.virginiabeach.gov/government/departments/planning/permits-inspections

Independent city — Virginia Beach issues its own permits, no overlying county.

Population

~459,000

Approximate. Drives roof-volume estimates and storm-event canvassing footprint.

ZIP coverage

12 ZIP codes inside Virginia Beach.

Each ZIP resolves to the correct city + county + state on every parcel lookup. Multi-jurisdiction parcels pick up amendments from each layer.

23451 23452 23453 23454 23455 23456 23457 23459 23460 23461 23462 23464

City-specific amendments

What's specific to Virginia Beach.

§01 Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code (USBC) is the base; coastal addenda apply for the eastern parcels.
§02 Sandbridge and oceanfront resort area follow CCRSL (Coastal Construction Reconstruction Setback Line).
§03 Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act overlays affect impervious-cover thresholds.
§04 V-zone (velocity flood) requirements apply to all Atlantic-facing parcels east of CCRSL.

Working in Virginia Beach?

Pull an address-level code packet for any parcel in Virginia Beach. SkyCanvass resolves the address, looks up the Virginia Beach-specific amendments and the county and Virginia state floor, then emits a cited packet ready for permit submittal.

See the Virginia Beach (independent city) county overview, or the Virginia state directory .

Pull a Virginia Beach code packet.

Free to start — property lookups, state code access, the hail map, and your first storm report on us. No credit card required to look up an address.

Try it free See Virginia Beach (independent city) county