Manufacturing Light (M-L) Zoning08/2022
Manufacturing-Light (M-L)
M-L District: Established to provide for economic development and job opportunities by accommodating a mix of light industrial
and business uses and related uses in settings outside of industrial parks but designated for industrial use in the comprehensive
plan. Activities in M-L districts shall have limited traffic and other impacts on uses in other districts through proper location on
major streets, adherence to ordinance performance standards and provision of space and physical buffers as prescribed. Areas
designated for industrial uses in the comprehensive plan are best suited for rezoning in this district.
Lands qualifying for inclusion in the M-L district shall be lands within areas mapped as urban expansion, village, or village expansion
in the Comprehensive Plan which are served by or planned for connections to public sewer and water.
What can I do by right in an M-L district?
There are uses that are designated as "by right" which means you do not have to apply for a special use permit. The uses do,
however, have to comply with all approved plans and permits, development standards, and performance standards included in
the Montgomery County Zoning Ordinance and with all other applicable regulations. The "by right" uses include:
• Amateur radio tower
• Assembly of electrical appliances, electronic
instruments and devices, radios and
phonographs, including the manufacture of
small parts
• Business or trade school
• Cabinets, furniture and upholstery shop
• Civic club
• Conference or training center
• Contractor’s service establishment
• Crematorium
• Data pole
• Day care center
• Equipment sales and service
• Financial services
• Fire, police, rescue facility
• Flex-industrial use
• Homeless shelter
• Hotel, motel
• Laboratory
• Laundry, dry cleaning plant
• Manufacture of musical instruments, toys,
novelties, rubber and metal stamps
• Manufacture of pottery and figurines or other
similar ceramic products, see 10-30(4)(p)
• Manufacturing, compounding, processing,
packaging or treatment of such products as
bakery goods, candy, cosmetics, dairy
products, drugs, perfumes, pharmaceuticals,
perfumed toilet soap, toiletries, food and
tobacco products
• Monument stone works
• Offices, administrative, business or
professional
• Park and ride lot, of 50 or fewer spaces
• Post office
• Printing service
• Public use/Public facility
• Public utility lines, water, sewer, or other
• Research, experimental, testing or
development activity
• Retail sales and service incidental to any other
permitted use
• Solar energy system, minor (no more than
50% of parcel or 1 acre, whichever is less)
• Telecommunication tower, attached
• Veterinary service; animal hospital
• Wholesale business, storage warehouses
Accessory structures are also allowed, subject to the requirements of Sec. 10-41 (1).
What uses require a Special Use Permit?
Some uses are allowed in the M-L district with the permission of the Board of Supervisors through the Special Use Permit
process (applications available from the Planning Dept.). These include:
• Airport
• Amateur radio tower greater than 75 ft.
• Contractor’s service establishment w/ permitted
outdoor storage of equipment and/or materials
• Farm machinery sales and service
• Feed and seed stores and mill
• Kennel, indoor
• Mini-warehouse
• Motor vehicles rentals
• Park and ride lot of more than 50 spaces
• Public utility plant, water, sewer, or other
• Public utility substation
• Recreation establishment
• Recycling facility
• Shooting range, indoor
• Solar energy system, major (more than 50% of
parcel or greater than 1 acre in project area)
• Telecommunications facility, micro wireless
• Telecommunications facility, small cell
• Telecommunications tower, freestanding
• Travel Center
• Use listed in subsection 10-31(3), if a
manufacturing process is to take place outside
• Use similar to other uses listed above
08/2022
Building & Lot Requirements
Each zoning district has different lot and building requirements; which are meant to insure the compatibility of new
development with the existing development in the surrounding area.
Minimum Lot Area:
One (1) acre for lots sharing access with another lot, two
(2) acres otherwise, except for public utility or public
sewer installations which shall be in accordance with
Montgomery County Subdivision Ordinance.
Lot Access:
Lots shall be accessed from a shared access drive
connected to a road in the VDOT system wherever
possible. Access drives or roads shall be a hard-surfaced
road designed by a professional engineer to
accommodate projected volumes, loads and vehicle
types and approved by the Zoning Administrator and the
Fire Marshall. Lot access for M-L uses shall avoid
impacting residential subdivisions with primary access
and through traffic.
Maximum Floor Area Ratio: 0.40
Maximum Coverage:
Maximum coverage by buildings is fifty (50) percent.
Total Impervious Surface:
The total impervious surface located on a lot shall not
exceed eighty (80) percent of the gross site area.
Minimum Width:
Seventy-five (75) feet for lots sharing access with
another lot, one hundred fifty (150) feet otherwise.
Minimum Yards:
• Front: Fifty (50) feet when opposing street
frontage is residential district; thirty five (35) feet
otherwise.
• Side: Thirty-five (35) feet when adjacent lot is
residential district; ten (10) feet otherwise.
• Rear: Thirty-five (35) feet when adjacent lot is
residential district; ten (10) feet otherwise.
Maximum Building Height:
Fifty (50) feet.
Use Limitations
Screening & buffering: Notwithstanding other buffer, landscaping and screening requirements of this chapter, outside
storage areas for materials, equipment or trash must be screened from adjacent streets or from adjacent land not zoned
for industrial use. The purpose of such screening shall be to substantially reduce, but not necessarily eliminate, public
views of outside storage areas. Acceptable screening shall be approved by the zoning administrator.
Off-street parking & loading: Off-street parking permitted in required front yard, and must be in accordance with section
10-44.
Indoor/outdoor operations: All manufacturing operations must take place within a completely enclosed building, unless
permission for outside operations is specifically granted by the Board of Supervisors in a special use permit.
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Montgomery County Planning & GIS Services
755 Roanoke Street Suite 2A, Christiansburg, VA 24073
CALL 540-394-2148 | EMAIL mcplan@montgomerycountyva.gov
VISIT www.MontgomeryCountyVA.gov/Planning
A zoning permit and/or site plan may be required to proceed with the uses listed on this data sheet. See section 10-53 of the Montgomery
County Code, or call the Planning Department, to determine the required development approvals.
This sheet is intended to only be a guide for development regulations in this zoning district. Please see Chapter 10 of the Montgomery County
Code for the specific regulations. The full texts of the zoning and subdivision ordinances are available at the Planning Department Webpage or
at www.municode.com.