Is There a Chesterfield Cash Proffer on a Commercial Rezoning?

Short answer: no. A Chesterfield cash proffer is not charged on a commercial rezoning. The county’s road cash proffer policy applies to rezonings that permit residential uses and is capped at $9,400 per dwelling unit, so a purely commercial or industrial case has no per-unit payment to make. Commercial applicants still pay for their traffic, just in a different form: road improvements, right-of-way, access controls, and written conditions.

That difference matters when you price land. A tract rezoned for homes carries a real per-unit cost; the same tract rezoned for retail or flex doesn’t, but it may carry a turn lane or a road widening that costs just as much. This post explains the policy, the state law behind it, and what commercial cases typically offer instead. For the wider view of land deals in the county, see our Chesterfield commercial land guide.

What is Chesterfield’s road cash proffer policy?

The current Road Cash Proffer Policy took effect September 28, 2016 and was last revised April 26, 2017. Its key terms:

The policy also says the county will not accept a road cash proffer for proposals considered under its revitalization criteria for areas in need of revitalization. And the $9,400 figure is still the one in use: a July 2026 Richmond Magazine piece reported the same amount and noted that in Chesterfield, proffers are only collected on new homes.

What did Virginia’s 2016 proffer reform change?

In 2016 the General Assembly added Va. Code § 15.2-2303.4, which limits proffers on “new residential development” and “new residential use.” A proffer on those projects is unreasonable unless it addresses an impact specifically attributable to the development. An offsite proffer (which includes every cash proffer) must also address a need for a public facility improvement beyond existing capacity, and the development must receive a direct and material benefit from it. “Public facilities” is limited to transportation, public safety, schools, and parks. Chesterfield’s policy quotes this test and restricts its own cash proffers to roads.

The law was substantially amended in 2019 (2019 Acts of Assembly Chapters 129 and 245; HB 2342 is Chapter 245), for rezoning and proffer amendment applications filed on or after July 1, 2019. As amended, the statute:

• Bars localities from requiring an unreasonable proffer, or denying a residential rezoning because the applicant won’t submit one.
• Lets an applicant submit any onsite or offsite proffer it considers reasonable, conclusively shown by the signed proffers, and says that not submitting proffers can’t be a basis for denial.
• Lets only the applicant or owner sue over a violation, and only if it objected in writing to the proposed condition before the Board acted; a successful applicant may recover reasonable attorney fees.
• Expressly allows pre-filing and post-filing discussions of impacts between the applicant and the county.

Applications filed between July 1, 2016 and July 1, 2019 could proceed under the law as it stood during that period. Treat this summary as background; your land use attorney should confirm which version governs a given case.

Is there a Chesterfield cash proffer on a commercial rezoning?

No per-unit cash proffer applies, because the county policy is built around dwelling units and residential rezonings. The 2016 state law is also written around residential development, so a commercial-only case is outside its definitions. That does not mean commercial cases are free of proffers. Virginia’s general conditional zoning statutes (for example § 15.2-2298) let an owner voluntarily proffer reasonable conditions tied to the rezoning, and those conditions can include cash for off-site road or transportation improvements in the comprehensive plan and capital improvement program. In practice, commercial applicants usually address traffic by building improvements rather than writing a check.

What about mixed-use projects with apartments or townhomes?

Once a rezoning permits homes, the residential policy applies to the dwelling units. The state definition of “new residential development” expressly includes “a residential component of a mixed-use development,” and Chesterfield measures impact by the gross number of proposed dwelling units. So a Mixed-Use Center case with 200 apartments over retail is evaluated on the 200 units, up to $9,400 each before any credit for in-kind road work, while the commercial square footage doesn’t add a per-unit charge. How much credit the road work earns is negotiated with the county’s Transportation Department. The policy says onsite work generally doesn’t count unless it adds travel lanes beyond what the development itself requires.

What do commercial applicants offer instead of cash?

Commercial cases pay for their impacts through the site itself. Some of this is required by the zoning ordinance no matter what you proffer. Under Chesterfield’s ZOMod ordinance, Sec. 19.2-45, the developer must provide the improvements needed to handle the traffic the development generates, as the Director of Transportation determines, generally to keep at least a level of service D on a six-year projection. A traffic impact analysis is required for projects that significantly affect the network or generate at least 5,000 average daily trips. Separately, VDOT’s traffic impact regulations require the county to send VDOT rezonings that would generate more than 5,000 trips a day at their connection to a state road.

On top of that, commercial applicants commonly proffer or accept:

• Road improvements: right- and left-turn lanes, a travel lane along the frontage, signal work, or a share of an intersection upgrade.
• Right-of-way dedication: land to the ultimate width shown in the comprehensive plan.
• Access limits: a cap on the number of entrances, a shared entrance, right-in/right-out only, or cross-access easements to neighbors.
• Use restrictions: excluding high-traffic or unpopular uses such as certain drive-throughs or fuel sales.
• Design and buffer conditions: building materials, height, lighting, buffers next to homes, and hours of operation.
• Phasing: tying improvements to a building permit, certificate of occupancy, or square footage threshold.

Those conditions stay with the land. Chesterfield carried prior conditions forward when ZOMod rezoned the county in 2026, as explained in what Chesterfield’s ZOMod changes mean for commercial property. A buyer of a previously rezoned commercial tract should read every condition and confirm with the county which road improvements are already built and which are still owed.

Need help working through a Chesterfield rezoning?

Whether you’re selling land a developer wants to rezone or buying a tract that already carries proffers, the road package can change the math as much as the price. I can help you work out what to ask Chesterfield Planning, the Transportation Department, your traffic engineer, and your land use attorney. Browse current listings, revisit our Chesterfield commercial land guide, or reach out.