Some of Franklin County is zoned and some is not, and the county's own parcel viewer tells you which: a parcel whose zoning reads NZ sits outside Chapter 25, the county zoning ordinance. Where Chapter 25 does reach, it never mentions a shipping container, as codified through April 15, 2025.
Two towns the county names add a layer of their own. The Town of Rocky Mount zones its own land and writes a rule for portable storage containers by name. The Town of Boones Mill administers no zoning ordinance but keeps a floodplain ordinance. Franklin County Building Inspections issues building permits for the county and both towns. Containers Delivered does not pull permits: the owner or the owner's builder files, and the county or town desk that answers for the parcel decides.
Zoned or NZ: Franklin County's property card answers first
Chapter 25 of the Franklin County Code is not countywide. It applies to the unincorporated territory of four magisterial districts as they existed on May 25, 1988: Union Hall, Gills Creek, Rocky Mount and Boone, out of the seven the county had then.
Those are 1988 lines, so a community name on today's map does not settle a parcel. The county's Zoning Ordinance page gives the test: click your property in the county's map viewer and read the zoning on the property card. If the card lists NZ, the county's words are "your property is not zoned". Questions go to the planning office at 540-483-3027.
NZ answers the zoning question and nothing more. The county's building FAQ says its Planning and Zoning Department "requires a Land Use permit for new buildings, structures, or additions on parcels located in the County, but outside of Town limits." Building permits and the floodplain chapter run on separate tracks too.
Chapter 25 covers unincorporated land only, so it stops at the limits of Rocky Mount and Boones Mill. The Rocky Mount Magisterial District in the ordinance is not the Town of Rocky Mount; land inside the town answers to the town's own ordinance.
Chapter 25 never names a shipping container
As codified through Ordinance No. 09-04-2025, enacted April 15, 2025 (Municode Supplement 50), no section of Chapter 25 names a shipping container, cargo container, storage container, portable storage unit or trailer used for storage. The ordinance neither bans nor allows one by name, and anything adopted after that date is outside this reading.
The open question is classification. Chapter 25's "Accessory structure" entry reads "A subordinate structure located on the same lot as the principal use", its structure entry begins "Anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires permanent location", and the same definitions section carries separate accessory building and building entries with conditions of their own. The permit section speaks to "buildings or structures". Nowhere does the chapter say which of those a delivered container is, or how one is treated on a parcel with no house or other principal building.
That call belongs to the county's zoning administrator. Take your parcel number to Franklin County Planning & Community Development and ask whether a container on this lot counts as a structure or an accessory structure under Chapter 25, and whether it needs a Land Use or zoning permit.
An update is under way but not adopted. The county's September 2026 Planning Monthly lists a "Planning Commission Work Session on Articles 1 and 2 for the update of the Zoning Ordinance." Until the update is adopted, Chapter 25 as adopted and amended is the text in force.
Where the zoned districts let an accessory structure stand
If the county treats a container on your zoned parcel as an accessory structure, these are the general placement lines it publishes, not a ruling on your box. The Zoning Ordinance page posts regulations for thirteen base districts, and accessory uses are a listed permitted use in A-1, RE, R-1, B-1 and M-1, among others. A base district is not always the whole rule set, so ask whether an overlay district also covers the parcel.
- Front and side yards. As a general placement rule, Chapter 25 keeps an accessory structure out of any front or side yard required for a principal structure.
- Rear line. An accessory structure sits no closer than 12 feet to any rear property line.
- Easements. None goes on a public utility, drainage or other easement "without the written permission of the easement's grantee."
- Rear yards in A-1, RE, R-1, R-2 and RC-1. The county's posted district regulations let accessory structures up to 576 square feet stand in the rear yard at least 12 feet from the rear property line (in A-1, Sec. 25-182). That is a rear-yard allowance in five districts, not a county size cap.
- B-1 side lines. The B-1 regulations require no side setback, except that no building, structure, accessory use or outdoor storage area may sit closer than 40 feet to a residential use, living quarters or a residential district boundary.
Chapter 25 opens its placement rule with exceptions, and each district carries more dimensions than this list, so the zoning administrator reads the whole set against your lot.
On Smith Mountain Lake, the county's A-1 and RPD regulations say "In no case shall any structure be located on or below the" 800-foot contour, and Appalachian Power's shoreline FAQ, for the land within the 800-foot elevation contour that it regulates, says "No other structures may be installed within the Project boundary" beyond the few it names; getting a box onto a lake lot belongs to the Rocky Mount and Franklin County delivery page.
Rocky Mount counts a portable storage container as an accessory structure
Inside the Town of Rocky Mount, the town's own Zoning & Subdivision Ordinance governs, adopted October 21, 2024 and amended September 8, 2025. Read the town's PDF; the Municode copy is codified only through an ordinance of October 11, 2022.
Where the county is silent, the town writes containers in. Its definition of accessory structure "also includes, but is not limited to, portable storage containers", and Section 7-7-1 sets one rule for permanent storage and another for a short stay.
| Rocky Mount rule | Permanent storage, Sec. 7-7-1(D) | Temporary storage, Sec. 7-7-1(E) |
|---|---|---|
| Zoning permit | Required | Required once the container is on a lot for more than one calendar day |
| Where it may sit | Outside a fully enclosed building or structure, in C2, M1 and M2 only | At least 5 feet from the property line, or on the driveway |
| How long | Kept as permanent storage | No permit granted for more than 60 calendar days |
| Other conditions | Screened under Article 8 when visible from adjacent properties or streets; district accessory setbacks; no stacking | With town approval, one container in a legal street parking space for up to 15 days, when lack of space on the lot can be demonstrated |
Read the district list as a limit: the residential districts RA, R1, R2 and R3, and every district other than C2, M1 and M2, are not places a container may serve as permanent outdoor storage. A permanent container also "shall not be used as a principal use or main building or structure" and may carry no sign beyond the required zoning permit and the provider's contact information. Accessory structures are not permitted in front setbacks, and self-storage facilities in town may not include shipping containers.
A short stay is still a town matter: a temporary container on a Rocky Mount lot for more than one calendar day needs a town zoning permit, and it sits at least 5 feet from the property line or on the driveway. The ordinance says "No permit shall be granted for more than 60 calendar days", which is a ceiling, not a promise that the town grants a permit at all; whether a stay can run longer is a question for the town. On the building side, the town's FAQ says an accessory structure may also need a building permit from the County of Franklin, depending on its size.
Check the town line before assuming either set of rules. Rocky Mount's Planning & Zoning pages carry proposed zoning for new town parcels under a boundary adjustment, with no word on whether it has taken effect, so a parcel near the edge of town is confirmed with the town at 540-483-0907. Why that call matters is laid out in the skip-the-permit answer.
Boones Mill runs no zoning ordinance but keeps a floodplain one
The Town of Boones Mill's 2040 comprehensive plan, adopted February 14, 2023, says the town "does not administer a zoning ordinance, but development is governed by a floodplain ordinance, which was adopted in 2008." The town's published list of ordinances shows a Floodplain Ordinance and no zoning ordinance.
That does not make a Boones Mill parcel a blank slate. The county's building FAQ names the Town of Boones Mill among the places zoning approvals come from, while the town's plan says it administers no zoning, so the town is the one to ask. Call Boones Mill Town Hall at 540-334-5404, the town clerk's line rather than a zoning office, and ask what the town needs before a container goes on your lot. Building permits for Boones Mill come from Franklin County, as the town's own site says.
Chapter 9 governs the county's 100-year floodplain
Franklin County's floodplain ordinance is Chapter 9 of the county code, rewritten December 16, 2008. It applies to land in the county's jurisdiction identified as being within the 100-year floodplain as designated by the Federal Insurance Administration, and every use, activity and development there needs a permit from planning and community development "and/or the building department".
Chapter 9's definition of development reaches man-made changes to real estate, improved or not, and its examples include buildings or other structures, mobile homes, paving, filling and grading. It does not name stored materials or containers, so whether a container in a mapped floodplain counts is the county's determination; mention any fill or grading planned under the box when you ask.
Rocky Mount wrote its version more broadly. The town's ordinance defines development to include "storage of equipment or materials" and has its own Floodplain Overlay District. An NZ county parcel can still lie in the 100-year floodplain; the general siting picture is in the container in a floodplain answer.
Four Franklin County desks and the question each one settles
Four offices settle container questions in Franklin County. Franklin County Planning & Community Development handles zoning, Land Use and floodplain permits on county land outside the towns, and Franklin County Building Inspections issues building permits for the county, Rocky Mount and Boones Mill; both sit at 1255 Franklin Street, Suite 103, Rocky Mount. Inside Rocky Mount, zoning goes to the Town of Rocky Mount Planning & Zoning at 345 Donald Avenue, and in Boones Mill the first call is Town Hall.
| Office | Covers | Contact | Ask them |
|---|---|---|---|
| Franklin County Planning & Community Development | Zoning, Land Use and floodplain permits on county land outside the towns | 1255 Franklin Street, Suite 103, Rocky Mount, VA 24151; 540-483-3027; Monday through Friday, 8 am to 4:30 pm | Is my parcel zoned or NZ? Is a container a structure here, and what permit does it need? |
| Franklin County Building Inspections | Building permits in the county, Rocky Mount and Boones Mill | Same address; 540-483-3047; applications taken 8 am to 4 pm | Does this container, set and used as planned, need a building permit or an electrical permit? |
| Town of Rocky Mount Planning & Zoning | Zoning inside town limits | 345 Donald Avenue, Rocky Mount, VA 24151; 540-483-0907 | Is my parcel in town, which district is it in, and is my container permanent or temporary? |
| Town of Boones Mill, Town Hall | Town requirements and the town floodplain ordinance | 540-334-5404 | What does the town need before a container goes on this parcel? |
Virginia's building code has a storage-container provision of its own, taken line by line on the Virginia container permit page; whether it reaches your box is the county Building Official's call. A container wired in the Containers Delivered shop in Woodlawn leaves roughed in only; its final hookup and inspection belong to a licensed electrician, so the modified container permit answer is worth a read before you call.
Land over the county line answers to that county's desks. For those parcels, turn to the Floyd County container rules or the Patrick County permit guide.