W. Va. Code §8A-7-8 — County Zoning Voter Referendum Requirement (WV)
Tracked preemption from the West Virginia overlay bundle.
Overview
← All state preemptionsWest Virginia overlay roll-upWest Virginia zoning wikiWest Virginia building codesFederal overlaysGlossaryFederal-conflict: Not flagged
Effective
2004-07-01
Sunset
—
Authority
state
Scope
state:WV
Other West Virginia preemptions
Federal Protected Lands — New River Gorge NP, Monongahela NF, USACE Locks/DamsW. Va. Code §22-6A — Horizontal Well Control Act (Marcellus/Utica Preemption)W. Va. Code §8-1-5a — Municipal Home Rule Program (Authority Expansion)W. Va. Code Chapter 8A — Land Use Planning Act (Enabling + Dillon's Rule Cap)W. Va. Code §22-3 — Surface Coal Mining and Reclamation Act (SMCRA Primacy)WV Floodplain Management — NFIP Participation MandateW. Va. Code §8-12-5(16) — Manufactured Housing Nondiscrimination FloorWV SB 187 / HB 4115 (2026) — Housing Opportunity Act (Duplex By-Right, PENDING)
Trigger predicate
When this evaluates true for a parcel, the law's preempted fields take precedence over base zoning.
jurisdiction.type == countyPreempted fields
2 fields on the base district schema are rewritten when the trigger fires.
| Field | Op | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
county_zoning_adoption_requires_referendum | override | True | County-wide zoning requires majority approval in a voter referendum before adoption |
county_zoning_enforceable | override | False | Counties without a passing referendum have no enforceable county zoning at all |
Citation
Authority source
W. Va. Code §8A-7-8
§ §8A-7-8 (County zoning — voter referendum required)
Research notes
Distinctive WV feature. A large fraction of WV's 55 counties have never passed a zoning referendum, leaving rural WV effectively un-zoned outside municipal limits. Municipal zoning is unaffected by this provision.