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Virginia Beach City Zoning Code

ARTICLE 8

- OFFICE DISTRICTS

Sec. 800.- Legislative intent.

The O-1 Office District is intended primarily for office and institutional uses. Within this district, it is intended to provide an environment appropriate to office or institutional character and compatible with residential uses which may adjoin and where public facilities are available to meet their needs. The O-2 Office District is intended for larger scale office and institutional structures and uses in areas where public facilities are available and where conflicts with residential neighborhoods can be avoided.

Sec. 801. - Use regulations.

(a)

Principal and conditional uses. The following chart lists those uses permitted within the O-1 and O-2 Office Districts. Those uses and structures in the respective office districts shall be permitted as either principal uses indicated by a "P" or as conditional uses indicated by a "C." Uses and structures indicated by an "X" shall be prohibited in the respective districts. No uses or structures other than as specified shall be permitted.

Use O-1 O-2
Assembly uses C C
Building-mounted antennas meeting the requirements of section 207 P P
Business offices of advertising, real estate, insurance, commercial or industrial establishments P P
Business and vocational schools which do not involve the operation of woodwork shops, machine shops or other similar facilities, with a floor area greater than seven thousand five hundred (7,500) square feet C P
Business and vocational schools which do not involve the operation of woodwork shops, machine shops or other similar facilities, with a maximum floor area of seven thousand five hundred (7,500) square feet P P
Cemeteries C C
Child care education centers in connection with public or private elementary schools or religious uses P P
Communication towers meeting the requirements of administrative eligible project and temporary communication towers meeting the requirements of section 207 P P
Communication towers standard process C C
Day-care centers P P
Eating and drinking establishments, establishments for sale of convenience goods and personal service establishments other than those permitted as principal uses, provided that such uses shall be in connection with a principal use and shall in combination not occupy more than ten (10) percent of the total floor area involved in the principal use C C
Farm stands for the sale of agricultural products, provided that: (1) the size of the stand shall be determined by the Conditional Use Permit; (2) only agricultural and agriculturally-related products, as defined in section 401(e) of the City Zoning Ordinance, shall be sold at the farm stand; (3) all portions of the property used for agricultural purposes including, but not limited to, the growing of crops or the raising of farm animals shall be identified in the Conditional Use Permit; and (4) One parking space for every 250 square feet of covered farm stand sales area shall be provided, unless special conditions warrant a modification identified in the Conditional Use Permit X C
Fiber-optics transmission facilities C C
Finance agency offices, banks P P
Florists retail P P
Funeral homes C P
Governmental centers and offices and other public uses and structures appropriate to the character of the district, necessary to its servicing, or requiring location within the district P P
Hair care centers including barber shops and beauty salons C C
Home-based wildlife rehabilitation facilities C C
Hospitals and sanitariums X C
Housing for seniors and disabled persons C C
Medical, optical and dental offices and clinics; legal, engineering, architectural and similar professional offices, accounting, auditing and bookkeeping service offices P P
Museums, art galleries, historic exhibits, botanical gardens, parks, recreational facilities and the like, when operated by a public agency or not for profit X P
Offices in which goods, wares or merchandise are not commercially created, displayed, stored, exchanged or sold P P
Offices of miscellaneous business services such as consumer credit reporting agencies, mailing list and stenographic services, business and management consulting services P P
Offices of nonprofit organizations, such as professional organizations, civic, social and fraternal associations, political organizations, religious organizations, and labor unions; provided, however, that no hiring halls shall be permitted in this district P P
Off-street parking in conjunction with permitted uses in an adjoining business district, provided such parking shall be limited to that zoning lot contiguous with the business district use for which the parking is provided but in no event shall such off-street parking extend more than two hundred (200) feet into the O-2 District X C
Public schools, colleges and universities, and private schools, colleges and universities having similar academic curriculums C C
Public utilities installations and substations, provided storage or maintenance facilities shall not be permitted; and provided, further, that utilities substations, other than individual transformers, shall be surrounded by a wall, solid except for entrances and exits, or by a fence with a screening hedge five (5) to six (6) feet in height; and provided also, transformer vaults for underground utilities and the like shall require only a landscaped screening hedge, solid except for access opening P P
Public utilities business offices X P
Religious uses with a floor area greater than 4,000 square feet C C
Religious uses with a maximum floor area of 4,000 square feet P P
Single room occupancy facility C C
Small wireless facilities meeting the requirements of section 207 P P
Television or other broadcasting stations C C
Veterinary establishments, except for boarding of animals P P
Wildlife rehabilitation centers C C
Wind energy conversion systems, freestanding C C
Wind energy conversion systems, roof-mounted, except as provided below P P
Wind energy conversion systems, roof-mounted, in excess of one (1) C C

 

(b)

Accessory uses and structures. Uses and structures which are customarily accessory and clearly incidental and subordinate to principal uses and structures, including but not limited to:

(1)

As appropriate to the principal use, ethical pharmacies, dental laboratories, and the fitting and sale of eyeglasses, hearing aids, prosthetic appliances, and the like.

(c)

Special restrictions in Accident Potential Zone 1 (APZ-1). No use or structure shall be permitted on any property located within Accident Potential Zone 1 (APZ-1) unless such use is designated as compatible in APZ-1 in Table 2 ("Air Installations Compatible Use Zones Land Use Compatibility in Accident Potential Zones") of section 1804; provided, however, that any use or structure not designated as compatible shall be permitted as a replacement of the same use or structure if the replacement use or structure is of equal or lesser density or intensity than the original use or structure.

(Ord. No. 2160, 6-23-90; Ord. No. 2268, 6-14-94; Ord. No. 2427, 10-29-96; Ord. No. 2430, 11-12-96; Ord. No. 2495, 6-23-98; Ord. No. 2505, 9-8-98; Ord. No. 2537, 5-25-99; Ord. No. 2761, 5-13-03; Ord. No. 2907, 12-20-05; Ord. No. 2972, 2-27-07; Ord. No. 2976, 4-24-07; Ord. No. 3000, 9-25-07; Ord. No. 3046, 8-26-08; Ord. No. 3102, 9-8-09; Ord. No. 3191, 7-12-11; Ord. No. 3193, 7-12-11; Ord. No. 3403, 4-21-15; Ord. No. 3419, 6-16-15; Ord. No. 3436, 2-2-16; Ord. No. 3441, 4-19-16; Ord. No. 3514, 7-11-17; Ord. No. 3527, 12-12-17; Ord. No. 3661, 5-18-21)

Sec. 802. - Dimensional requirements.

(a)

The following chart lists the requirements within the O-1 and O-2 Office Districts for minimum lot area, width, yard spacing and maximum lot coverage for all uses and structures.

Office Districts
O-1 O-2
 (1)
Minimum lot area in square feet: 		5,000 43,560
 (2)
Minimum lot width in feet:* 		50 100
 (3)
Minimum front yard setback in feet: 		30 35
 (4)
Minimum side yard setback in feet, unless a greater setback is required by section 803: 		10 20
 (5)
Minimum side yard setback adjacent to a street in feet: 		30 30
 (6)
Minimum rear yard setback in feet, unless a greater setback is required by section 803: 		10 20
 (7)
Maximum lot coverage in percent: 		25 25

 

*Where applicable, newly created corner lots must also adhere to section 4.4(c) of the Subdivision Ordinance, requiring additional lot width on certain corner lots.

(b)

Front and side-yard setbacks adjacent to a street may be reduced in accordance with the provisions of Part H of Article 2.

(Ord. No. 1946, 2-12-90; Ord. No. 3384, 12-2-14)

Sec. 803. - Landscape screening and buffering regulations.

For the O-1 and O-2 Office Districts, the following landscape screening and buffering regulations shall apply:

(a)

When a zoning lot within an O-1 Office District adjoins a residential, apartment or hotel district without an intervening street or alley over twenty-five (25) feet in width, a ten-foot minimum yard shall be required along all lot lines adjoining the residential, apartment or hotel district. Category I landscape screening shall be required within the yard area. No other uses or structures shall be permitted in such yards.

(b)

When a zoning lot within an O-2 Office District adjoins a residential or apartment district without an intervening street, alley or body of water over twenty-five (25) feet in width, a twenty-foot minimum yard shall be required along all lot lines adjoining the residential or apartment district. Category IV landscape screening shall be required within the yard area. No other uses or structures shall be permitted in such yards.

(c)

When a zoning lot within an O-2 Office District adjoins a hotel district without an intervening street, alley or body of water over twenty-five (25) feet in width, Category I landscape screening shall be required within the yard area. No other uses or structures shall be permitted in such yards.

Sec. 804. - Height regulations.

(a)

No portion of any building or other structure located within an O-1 Office District shall exceed thirty-five (35) feet.

(b)

No portion of any building or other structure located within an O-2 Office District shall exceed seventy-five (75) feet.

(c)

Notwithstanding the above, no building or other structure shall exceed the height limit established by section 202(b) regarding air navigation.

Sec. 805. - Sign regulations.

Within the O-1 and O-2 Office Districts, the following sign regulations shall apply:

(a)

For each forty (40) feet of frontage and for each eighty (80) feet of lot line adjoining a street, but not constituting frontage, not more than one (1) sign and not more than thirty-two (32) square feet of signage shall be permitted; provided, however, that no establishment shall have more than two (2) signs, of which one (1) may be a freestanding sign; and provided further, that no establishment having a frontage of less than one hundred (100) feet shall have a freestanding sign. No establishment having a frontage of at least one hundred (100) feet but less than or equal to two hundred (200) feet shall have a freestanding sign exceeding thirty-two (32) square feet in area per face, and no establishment having a frontage of more than two hundred (200) feet shall have a freestanding sign exceeding seventy-five (75) square feet in area per face. No sign shall exceed one hundred fifty (150) square feet in area. Any establishment or property having less frontage or lot line adjoining a street than required above may have one (1) sign not exceeding thirty-two (32) square feet in area.

(b)

Where there is an established office or institutional park containing at least five (5) establishments and a minimum of forty thousand (40,000) square feet of land area, there shall be permitted at each principal entrance one (1) additional sign, no greater in area than one hundred (100) square feet per face. Where there is an established office or institutional park containing at least ten (10) establishments and a minimum of fifteen (15) acres of land, there shall be permitted at each principal entrance one (1) additional sign no greater in area than one hundred fifty (150) square feet per face.

(c)

Signs located on property for sale, lease or rent shall be permitted, provided that no such sign shall exceed thirty-two (32) square feet in area, that not more than two (2) such signs shall be erected for each one hundred (100) feet of lot line at the street, and that not more than four (4) such signs shall be erected on any property. Any property having less lot line adjoining a street may have one (1) sign not exceeding thirty-two (32) square feet in area.

(Ord. No. 3442, 4-19-16)