Container permits and placement in Galax, VA

The City of Galax runs a zoning and building layer of its own. The city's Comprehensive Plan calls Galax "an independent city situated between Carroll and Grayson Counties," and the history note Virginia publishes with the city charter says Galax "Changed from a town to a city on November 30, 1953, by court order."

The city's zoning ordinance is Chapter 160 of the City Code, and it says: "The provisions of this chapter shall apply to all land within the corporate limits of the City of Galax, Virginia." The city's Building Department says it provides "services related to all construction within the city limits of Galax as well as floodplain management and construction." So a parcel inside the city limits falls under the city's ordinance and the city's building desk, not a Carroll County or Grayson County zoning or building office.

That matters most to anyone who has heard that Carroll County has no zoning. Carroll County's permit page describes a county with no adopted countywide zoning, and none of that crosses into the city. The Grayson County zoning ordinance and its desks likewise stop at the city line. Sizes, prices and delivery sit on the main Galax service page.

None of the eight articles of Galax's Chapter 160 read for this page (Articles I, V, VIII, X, XI, XIII, XV and XVI) contains a section that names a shipping, cargo or storage container or a portable storage unit. That finding covers those eight articles only; the other district articles and the rest of the City Code were outside that reading.

What the ordinance does say is broad. Its administration article reads: "No building or other structure shall be erected, moved, added to or structurally altered, nor any land used or occupied, without a zoning permit issued by the office of the Zoning Administrator."

That sentence reaches land used or occupied as well as buildings and structures, so whether a box set on blocks counts as a structure does not settle it by itself. A structure, in the code's words, is "Anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires a permanent location on the ground or attachment to something having a permanent location on the ground." The code does not say whether a container meets that definition or the one for a building. Whether the zoning permit rule reaches a particular box on a particular lot is the Zoning Administrator's reading, not ours.

The hosted code can also trail the council: adopted enactments of unknown subject, not yet folded into the published text, may change it, so ask the Zoning Administrator which version governs before you lean on any line quoted here.

Galax's zoning ordinance, Chapter 160, carries a set of accessory building rules. Whether a container counts as an accessory building is again the Zoning Administrator's call. Two of those lines, as the ordinance writes them:

• Principal use first: the ordinance says "An accessory building cannot be established unless a principal use exists on the property. No accessory building may be erected in any required yard or within five feet of any other building, except as provided in the district regulations."
• One principal building: the ordinance says "Only one principal building and its accessory buildings shall be erected on any lot", and the same section follows that with an exception tied to lot frontage.

Yard figures run district by district. The R-3 and R-4 district articles each say: "The side yard for an accessory structure shall be a minimum of five feet, and the accessory structure may be located within 10 feet of the rear lot line." This page quotes that line for R-3 and R-4 only, and those same articles set separate yards for an R-3 corner lot and for the part of an R-4 lot next to another residential district. No other district's figure appears here, and how close to the property line a container can sit covers the general question.

Setbacks, easements and the deed in general get their full treatment on the Hillsville permits and placement page.

Zoning questions in Galax go to the Zoning Administrator. The city's Zoning and Land Development page names that office as the contact "for additional information regarding: Parcel or lot zoning determinations" and lists "Interpretation of City land use Codes." among its services. Reach it through the City of Galax Municipal Building, 111 East Grayson Street, main line 276-236-2131 (ask for the Zoning Administrator), Monday to Friday, 9 am to 5 pm.

Building questions go to the Building Official at the same address, 276-236-7297, with office hours of Monday to Friday, 7:30 am to 12:00 pm and 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. The Building Official's page says the office "Reviews and approves construction plans, issues building permits, provides inspections and certificates of occupancy." That office decides whether a given container needs a building permit; Virginia's statewide storage exemption is set out on the Virginia container permit page.

Have the street address and the tax parcel number in hand for a zoning question. The zoning ordinance's permit section says "No permit shall be issued without the street address, route number, approximate location, tax parcel number and legal description of the subject property", and it asks more of an application than that, starting with a plan drawn to scale; the Zoning Administrator gives the full list. Containers Delivered delivers and levels the box. We do not pull permits. A Galax zoning permit belongs to the parcel, so the filing falls to you, your builder or your electrician.

The city's Comprehensive Plan says the FEMA flood insurance rate map "identifies a 100-year flood plain, as shown in Map 5.6, that bisects the City of Galax along Chestnut Creek." A container planned for ground in or next to that mapped flood plain raises a floodplain question on top of the zoning one.

The Building Official's page names that office as the contact for "Any development, construction, fill, excavation, or any man made changes to any property within the floodplain," and the city publishes a floodplain development permit application. Take any spot near Chestnut Creek to the Building Official before you settle on it; whether a container can go in a floodplain is answered in general terms elsewhere.

Farm ground around Galax brings its own questions, from feed to machinery, answered on the Galax farm and equipment storage page.