ADU rules in Wheeling

Wheeling's zoning ordinance (Part Thirteen, Chapter Three of the Codified Ordinances, in effect since April 18, 2001) allows an accessory apartment only inside the house: §1335.11(p) opens with "No accessory building shall be used as a residence" and requires the apartment to be "part of the principal dwelling", and §1335.11(l) bars sleeping quarters and cooking facilities in any accessory building. Residential districts also allow only one principal structure per lot (§1331.12(b)(1)), so a backyard cottage cannot be built as a second house either. This is the operative text on 2026-10-10. W. Va. Code §8-42-2(a) and (b) (2026 SB 659) require municipalities to allow at least one attached, detached or internal ADU by right on every lot with a single-family dwelling, and §8-42-3(c) makes conflicting local rules invalid from January 1, 2027, so the detached prohibition becomes unenforceable on that date unless the city amends first.

One accessory apartment is an accessory use inside an owner-occupied single-family dwelling in R-1B, R-1C, R-2 and R-3 (§§1335.06 to 1335.09), in R-4 and R-5 by reference to those lists (§1335.10, §1347.01(d)), and in the C-1 and C-2 commercial districts (§1339.03(b)(5), §1339.04(b)(5)). It is not listed in R-1A, whose accessory uses are only customary accessory buildings, garages, playhouses and similar structures, and home occupations, nor in the NWSD and EWSD special districts or the downtown D districts. The unit must be a complete housekeeping unit with its own entrance carved out of the existing house: §1335.11(p)(3) allows no exterior alteration other than entranceways and building-code work, (p)(4) bars any new entrance or alteration on the front, and (p)(5) requires public water and sewer, so an addition built to hold the unit does not qualify. From January 1, 2027, §8-42-2 requires an attached or internal ADU by right on every lot with a single-family dwelling, R-1A included, and the no-addition rule likely conflicts with §8-42-2(b) and (d)(7).

§1335.11(p)(6) caps the apartment at 500 square feet or 25 percent of the principal dwelling's total floor area, whichever is less, so a 1,600 sq ft house supports at most a 400 sq ft unit; floor area is the gross area of all floors measured from the exterior walls (§1327.02). No separate height rule applies because the unit must sit inside the existing house; detached accessory buildings are capped at 15 feet and, in total, at 50 percent of the principal building's ground floor area (§1335.11(h), (j)) but cannot be dwellings. W. Va. Code §8-42-2(c) sets the protected ADU at up to 75 percent of the house's gross floor area or 1,000 sq ft, whichever is less, for attached and detached units (no stated cap for internal units), and §8-42-2(d)(7) bars more onerous development standards, so the 500 sq ft and 25 percent cap is likely invalid from January 1, 2027.

The principal dwelling must be owner-occupied (§1335.11(p)(2)), and every district listing allows the apartment only "in an owner-occupied single-family dwelling". The text is a standing condition of the use rather than an application-time test, and it attaches to the principal dwelling; the code does not say whether an owner living in the apartment instead satisfies it. No deed restriction or recorded covenant is required to secure it. Enacted W. Va. Code §8-42-2 contains no owner-occupancy clause, so this rule survives January 1, 2027; §8-42-2(d)(8) only bars requiring a restrictive covenant concerning an ADU or conditioning a permit on one.

§1335.11(p)(8) and each residential district listing require one additional off-street parking space for the apartment, and Table 9-A in §1355.10 lists "Accessory dwelling unit: 1 space per d.u." on top of the single-family dwelling's 2 spaces (§1355.10(b) sums the requirements of multiple uses on a site). The Planning Commission may modify, reduce or waive parking requirements under §1355.02(k), and front-yard parking is prohibited in residential districts (§1335.12(b)). W. Va. Code §8-42-2(d)(1) bars requiring additional parking or fees in lieu for an ADU, so the extra space becomes unenforceable from January 1, 2027.

Where listed, the accessory apartment is a use by right that needs a zoning permit (§1335.11(p)(9)), issued as a certificate of zoning compliance by the zoning office (§1377.03), plus the usual building permits; no public hearing is involved. Planning Commission site plan review does not apply, because §1373.03(b) excludes one-family and two-family dwellings and their accessory structures and wholly internal renovations. In R-1A, where the use is not listed, §1331.04(a) lets an unlisted use be sought as a conditional use from the Board of Zoning Appeals after notice and hearing, but §1372.01(a) bars using that route to convert a residential structure in a residential district where a zoning amendment is the more appropriate process, so it is not a dependable ADU path.

Nothing in the zoning code bars renting the accessory apartment, but the principal dwelling must stay owner-occupied, so in practice the apartment is the rentable unit; each dwelling unit is limited to a family of up to three unrelated persons (§1327.02), and no home occupation may operate in the apartment (§1335.11(p)(7)). The codified ordinances contain no short-term rental ordinance, rental registration or rental license (client-scoped code searches on 2026-10-10 found none), and the Article 791 hotel occupancy tax excludes facilities providing fewer than three rooms. The zoning code does not address nightly rental of an accessory apartment; the nearest defined use is a bed and breakfast (the owner's primary residence, up to ten rooms for transient guests), allowed only by Planning Commission special permit after a public hearing in R-2, R-3, R-4, NWSD and EWSD. W. Va. Code §8-42-3(a) preserves municipal power to regulate short-term rentals, and there is no separate-sale provision because the apartment must be part of the owner-occupied house.