Paving, fill and grading in the floodplain district start with a zoning permit
Radford's floodplain rules sit in Division 15 of the city's zoning ordinance, which Ordinance 1731 rewrote in full on May 11, 2020. Sec. 120.1-127.1 is the line a concrete job meets: "All uses, activities and development occurring within any floodplain district shall be undertaken only upon the issuance of a zoning permit." The division's definition of development names "filling, grading, paving, excavation" beside buildings, so a driveway, a patio slab or a load of fill inside the district counts the same as a house.
The division makes the zoning administrator its floodplain administrator, the office that reviews applications "to determine whether proposed activities will be located in the Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA)." Each one has to show "The elevation of the 100-year flood" and "Topographic information showing existing and proposed ground elevations", which for concrete means the ground before the pad and the finished grade after, settled on paper before anyone sets a form.
The districts come from FEMA's flood study and maps for the city, "dated June 19, 2020, as amended or revised", and FEMA's own community listing, in a copy captured July 11, 2026, gives that date as Radford's current effective map date. Where a lot sits against that line is the zoning administrator's first call: ask the Community Development Department, 540-731-3603, before a river lot's base and fill get priced.
Fill in the floodway waits on an engineer's study
Inside the district the division draws a tighter line, the floodway, defined as "the channel of a river or other watercourse and the adjacent land areas that must be reserved in order to discharge the base flood without cumulatively increasing the water surface elevation more than a designated height." Fill placed there takes up room a flood has to pass through.
Sec. 120.1-124 allows no encroachment in a floodway, fill included, "unless it has been demonstrated through hydrologic and hydraulic analysis performed in accordance with standard engineering practice that the proposed encroachment will not result in any increase in flood levels within the community during the occurrence of the base flood discharge." The division says that work "shall be undertaken only by professional engineers or others of demonstrated qualifications", with the results going to the floodplain administrator for review.
So near the river, raising a low driveway or building up a pad with fill inside the floodway is an engineering question before it is a concrete one, and the study comes before any fill is ordered. Ask the floodplain administrator where the floodway runs first.
Where a falling lot changes the zoning answer
Radford's zoning ordinance turns on grade in two places that reach flatwork: a patio's height in a required yard and a parking area's slope. We found no steep-slope permit in the zoning ordinance or the erosion chapter; ask the zoning administrator if a lot is unusually steep.
Sec. 120.1-164 lets uncovered porches, steps, landings, patios and decks project up to six feet into a required yard, no closer than two feet to a lot line, provided they "do not exceed a height of 30 inches above the adjacent natural ground level". Covered ones, and ones taller than 30 inches, "shall be subject to all yard requirements." On a lot that drops away, the outside edge of a level patio climbs above the natural ground fast, and past 30 inches it has to meet the full setback, so stepping it down or keeping it out of the required yard gets decided before forming.
Sec. 120.1-218 says "No finished grade within any parking area shall exceed ten percent" and has parking areas built "with respect to drainage so as to prevent damage to abutting properties and public streets". The ordinance defines a parking area as land "used for the parking of motor vehicles", so a parking pad benched into a hillside is the kind of surface that cap is written for; confirm the reading with the zoning administrator before the pad is graded.
Where the grade calls for a wall first, Radford's own inspection chart says walls retaining more than 48 inches of unbalanced fill, or over 24 inches tall and resisting lateral loads beyond soil, "shall be designed by a Registered Design Professional (RDP)". The state code's own retaining wall triggers are laid out in when a retaining wall needs an engineer, and the work side of a falling lot is covered on concrete work in Radford.
Erosion control runs through the Engineering & G.I.S. Department
Radford's erosion and sediment control rules are Chapter 31 of the city code, as amended by Ordinance 1709 effective January 28, 2019, the chapter the city's stormwater program plan still cited in its February 2026 revision. Sec. 31-35 says no person shall engage in land-disturbing activity in the city "until he has acquired a land-disturbing permit", and the chapter's definition leaves out a list of activities that includes "Disturbed land areas of less than 10,000 square feet in size."
The city's zoning FAQ prints a lower figure, 5,000 square feet, and its site plan checklist asks for an erosion plan on site developments disturbing more than 5,000 square feet, so plan around the number the Engineering & G.I.S. Department gives for the lot, at 540-731-3603.
For a new one or two family home, the city's form is an agreement in lieu of an erosion plan. The signer certifies the disturbed area is under 10,000 square feet, and the agreement says "The owner or his representative shall utilize mulching, silt fencing and a gravel construction entrance to ensure that silt does not leave the property during construction," in place first, with a call to the Engineering Department before land disturbance begins. The entrance is "a stabilized stone pad of VDOT # 1 stone with a filter fabric underliner" wherever traffic enters a public road or paved area.
That stone pad is what a loaded ready-mix truck crosses on pour day, and on a wet, sloping lot it keeps the street clean, which Chapter 90 of the city code asks in its own terms: no soil or mud left on a street "so as to create a hazard to the traveling public." The entrance and the silt fence go in before the first load, not after the first rain.
A new drive onto a city street goes through the city engineer
Radford's Public Works Department lists urban highway maintenance among its duties, and its streets division works "on city owned property and rights of ways". VDOT's permit rule, 24VAC30-151-40, draws the line in one sentence: "County and city permits must be secured for work on roads and streets under the county or city jurisdictions." A drive that ties into a city street is a city permit; state roads follow the VDOT entrance permit process, and whether a given street is the city's is a question for the Engineering & G.I.S. Department.
Sec. 120.1-217 says curb cuts and driveways connecting with public streets "shall conform to the standards of the Virginia Department of Transportation and shall be approved by the city engineer." The department posts a drawing titled "Residential Concrete Driveway Entrance for Streets with Curb and Gutter Detail" and a right-of-way permit application, dated April 2020, under which no construction begins until a city designated agent has inspected and approved the location, with at least 24 hours' notice for each inspection unless agreed otherwise.
Where a finished drive crosses a public sidewalk, Chapter 90 of the city code says the crossing "shall be covered with a pavement suitable to the purpose", "to be approved by the city engineer according to uniform standards." On pour day the same chapter bars driving a vehicle over a sidewalk crossing, curb or gutter until it has been bridged with "sufficient timbers or other material to be protected from injury." Keeping trucks off a curb at all is covered under curb damage from delivery trucks.
The building permit desk at 10 Robertson Street
Radford's Building Official enforces the Uniform Statewide Building Code inside the city. Applications go to 10 Robertson Street, in person or by mail, and the Building Official's line is 540-267-3179.
For new construction the city routes a signature sheet to the zoning office, the City Engineer's office for "public access, drainage and erosion control", and the Water/Wastewater Department, and "After the signature sheet is returned to the Building Official's office, a building permit may be issued." The Building Official's page starts the process with the zoning classification from the zoning administrator and a site plan submitted to that office, and Sec. 120.1-255 holds the building permit until the zoning permit it requires has been issued.
The city's Required Residential Inspections chart names inspections including footer, foundation wall rebar and slab preparation. On a falling lot one of its notes matters more than usual: drain tile and waterproofing "are required for structures with finished floor levels below exterior grade," which a basement cut into a bank has on its uphill side. The residential application has the signer state they are responsible for ensuring all required inspections are requested and performed.
What the state code exempts, and what it says about flatwork, is set out in the Virginia concrete permit guide. Before any digging, the locate: We place the locate request for the digging we do. The law behind that ticket is explained under Virginia's 811 dig law.
Radford's fee papers, and where the amounts sit
Radford's planning and zoning fee schedule, on its Applications & Forms page when read in September 2026, lists rezoning, special use permits, variances, site plan and engineering review, subdivisions, zoning confirmation letters and comprehensive plan amendments. The council sets the zoning permit filing fee by general rule and the erosion permit fee by resolution, and its building permit fee schedule, the city's buildings chapter says, "shall be placed on file in the office of the city clerk". We found no building permit fee schedule posted on the Building Official's page in September 2026; the residential application's office box lists a permit fee, a state surcharge, and water and sewer fees, and the Building Official at 540-267-3179 has the amounts. Budget the permit side as its own line; other localities' desks are collected on the concrete permits hub.
Commercial lots and parking areas start with a site plan
Radford's zoning ordinance sends every use other than a detached single-family dwelling, and any parking lot or facility built for more than ten spaces, through site plan review, naming "careful use of difficult topography" among its reasons. The city's checklist adds changes to other sites that add 5,000 square feet or more of impervious surface, and wants the plans certified by an architect, engineer or surveyor licensed in Virginia.
Parking areas holding three or more required spaces, with their entrances and exits, have to be paved with a dust-free, all-weather hard surface, and Sec. 120.1-218 names concrete among the materials. Site plan review looks at "grading and treatment of slopes and stream valleys" and at drainage and erosion controls, so on a commercial pad or lot on a slope the grades are settled in the approved plan and the concrete follows it. Site plan questions go to the Community Development Department; its site plan application prints 540-267-3188.