HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.
![handle is hein.sag/sagva0150 and id is 1 raw text is: COMMONWEALTH of VIRGINIA
Office of the Attorney General
Jason S. Miyares 202 North Ninth Street
Attorney General Richmond, Virginia 23219
804-786-2071
Fax 804-786-1991
Virginia Relay Services
800-828-1120
January 12, 2023 7-1-1
Kemper M. Beasley III, Esquire
Attorney for Cumberland County
Post Office Box 36
Farmville, Virginia 23901
Dear Mr. Beasley;
I am responding to your request for an official advisory opinion in accordance with § 2.2-505 of
the Code of Virginia.
Issue Presented
You ask whether the offering of short-term rental accommodations at an operating farm, where the
short-term rental occupants are offered the opportunity to participate in farming activities during their stay
at the property, constitutes agritourism activity under Virgnia Code § 15.2-2288.6, such that the locality
is prohibited from regulating such use of the property through its zoning ordinances.
Applicable Law and Discussion
The General Assembly has delegated to localities the authority to control land use within their
boundaries through zoning.' This delegation of authority ... is a delegation of the Commonwealth's police
power to legislate in the area of land use.2 Although localities have broad discretion in the enactment of
zoning ordinances, their zoning powers are limited.3 Adopted ordinances must be consistent with the laws
of the Commonwealth[,]4 and [w]hen a statute enacted by the General Assembly conflicts with an
ordinance enacted by a local governing body, the statute must prevail.
1 VA. CODE ANN. § 15.2-2280 (2018).
2 2013 Op. Va. Att'y Gen. 222, 225; see also 2022 Op. Va. Att'y Gen. No. 22-027, available at
https://www. oag. state.va.us/citizen-resources/opinions/official-opinion s/30-resource/opinions/2247-2022-official-
opinions#august.
12022 Op. Va. Att'y Gen. No. 22-027.
4 W. Lewinsville Heights Citizens Ass'n v. Bd. of Sup'rs of Fairfax Cnty., 270 Va. 259, 265 (2005).
Rowland v. Town Council of Warrenton, 298 Va. 703, 713 (2020) (quoting Sinclair v. New Cingular Wireless
PCS, LLC, 283 Va. 567, 576 (2012)).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.sag/sagva0150&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)