A Salem driveway apron is set by the city before it is poured
Salem's street works differently from the counties around it. The city's Engineering page says "The City of Salem is responsible for maintaining all the roads within the city limits," VDOT's districts page says "Arlington and Henrico counties maintain their own roads, as do cities and many towns," and under 24VAC30-151-40(A), "County and city permits must be secured for work on roads and streets under the county or city jurisdictions." The LUP-PE in the VDOT entrance permit guide is written for roads VDOT maintains, and a street inside Salem is the city's.
Salem's code then puts the apron itself in the city's hands. Section 74-39 covers the crossover, where a driveway crosses the pavement or sidewalk: it is to be "located, constructed and paved in accordance with city plans and specifications," the owner pays its cost above the usual cost of the sidewalk, and the city manager will locate it and "specify the dimensions, alignment and grade therefor." So the apron's width, where it meets the curb line and the grade it falls at are the city's to set first, and the drive behind it is formed to meet that grade.
City crews or a Right-of-Way Permit for a Salem entrance
Salem gives an owner a second route to a new entrance. For the owner's primary residence, the Engineering page says "Residential property owners can apply and pay applicable fees to request that the City modify or install a new driveway entrance, sidewalk, or curb and gutter," and the approved, paid work order goes to the city's Streets and General Maintenance Department. On new residential construction that concrete "will not be done by city forces," and when a contractor builds the entrance for an owner, the page says a Right-of-Way Permit "will need to be obtained instead."
The city's Book of Rates and Fees prices this work on a sheet titled Driveway/Curb Cut Permit Fees, with Engineering as the assessing department. The sheet says a Driveway Cut Permit form must be completed to change an existing driveway or add one, charges by the linear foot, payable in advance, in rate columns for 2024 to 2025 and 2025 to 2026, and says "Work must be performed within 45 days of permit." It also says a new house needing a driveway entrance pipe "must install a Class III concrete pipe." Both the sheet and the Engineering page count the curb radii in an entrance's length. How the 45 days runs, the pipe size and the amounts are Engineering's to answer at 540-375-3032.
The permit is the city's, and the book the city builds from is VDOT's. Engineering's permit page says "The City of Salem expects current VDOT standards and specifications to be utilized unless stated otherwise," and the city "reserves the right to inspect any job upon completion to ensure restoration is satisfactory." Road and lane closures under the right-of-way rules run weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and "48-hour notice is required prior to closing." When a pour needs a pump, a trailer line pump's hose can carry the concrete over the curb and the sidewalk, so ask Community Development before the date is set whether a truck or a pump setup at your curb counts as a closure.
VDOT's Salem District, the Roanoke County line and the city
The shared name is worth untangling. VDOT's Salem District, one of nine districts VDOT divides Virginia into, takes in Roanoke County as well as the City of Salem; its district office is at 731 Harrison Ave. in Salem, and its Salem Residency, covering Roanoke, Craig and Botetourt counties, is at 714 S. Broad St. in Salem. Those are state highway offices with Salem addresses. VDOT's own page adds "If you have questions, contact your VDOT district office or the public works department of the individual town or city," and for a Salem street that city desk is Community Development, 21 South Bruffey Street, 540-375-3032. Where a drive meets a road VDOT maintains outside the city, what a VDOT entrance permit is explains the instrument.
The city line itself needs the same care. We found no city or county page that says which addresses carrying a Salem mailing address sit outside the city limits, so confirm the parcel first: the city's GIS application searches by address, street name or tax id number and carries layers for tax parcels and zoning, and Community Development houses the GIS staff. On the county side, Roanoke County's Office of Building Safety enforces the building code "within Roanoke County" from 5204 Bernard Drive in Roanoke, 540-772-2065, and the work there is covered under concrete work in Roanoke. Other nearby desks are gathered on the concrete permits overview.
Zoning comes first in Salem, and the patio exception is narrow
In Salem the zoning permit comes ahead of the building permit. The permits page says "Zoning permits are required regardless of structure size," section 106-504 of the zoning ordinance names patios, fences and the non-structural re-roof of a residential structure as the exceptions, and the fee book puts the order in one line: "A Building Permit will not be issued until a Zoning Permit is obtained." Where a site plan is required, the zoning permit waits for it; otherwise the administrator sets what the review needs, a concept plan at a minimum.
The patio exception is narrower than the word. Salem's code defines a patio as "A level surfaced area directly adjacent to a principal building," averaging no more than 30 inches above finished grade and without walls or a roof. A level slab against the back of the house fits. A pad out by the back fence, or a slab going under a roof, sits outside that definition, and the code defines a structure as "Anything that is constructed or erected with a fixed location on the ground," so ask the Zoning Administrator at 540-375-3032 before counting on the exception. The same call covers setbacks and easements, which the permits page says may still apply when no building permit is needed.
What Salem's zoning code says a driveway surface has to be
Salem's zoning ordinance names what parking in front of a house is made of. Section 106-404.11 requires off-street parking to be a hard surface of bituminous concrete or concrete, and between the right-of-way and the rear building line a single-family or two-family house "must utilize bituminous concrete, concrete or chip seal type of hard surface," with gravel allowed past that line; on a corner lot the side building line takes that role. The city engineer may also require surfaces or techniques that cut stormwater runoff. Engineering reads the section as reaching driveways in most cases, and the city's Development Guide sends anyone "Adding or changing parking" to Planning and Zoning at 540-375-3032.
The building desk looks at a driveway separately. Salem's permits page lists driveways among the work a permit is not required for "unless greater than 5,000 square feet in size," along with on-grade patios, and puts new exterior stairs or stoops on the side that needs one; the statewide exemption list is taken apart in the Virginia concrete permit guide. So on a gravel-to-concrete conversion in front of a Salem house, concrete is on the zoning list, a drive over 5,000 square feet also goes to the building desk, and the apron at the curb stays with Engineering. Reaching and pouring a Salem lot is covered on concrete work in Salem, VA.
Salem inspects the steel before any concrete goes in
Building Inspections, part of Community Development at 21 South Bruffey Street, enforces the statewide building code within the City of Salem. The office's phone is 540-375-3036, and the permits page says "Permits are issued only between 8 am and 4 pm, Monday through Friday." Since the permit system changes effective July 1, 2025, applications go through the city's online permit portal instead of paper or email, and the building page says the 2021 code editions are the ones enforced from January 18, 2025.
Salem's inspection list runs in construction order and puts each inspection ahead of the concrete. The footing inspection comes "After installation of reinforcement and before placement of concrete," the foundation inspection after the forms and steel, and the slab inspection once the under-slab trade work is approved and the reinforcement, vapor barrier and insulation are in; the city's 2019 house guide adds that at the footing inspection "rebar will need to be on chairs." Requests go through the portal by 4 p.m. for the next business day, and "Only the permit holder may request an inspection." The FAQ says the permit must be posted "at least five feet from the finished grade," or "the inspection will not be made." On pour day the order is steel on chairs, permit posted, inspection passed, then the trucks.
The fee side is the city's permit fee schedule, effective July 1, 2022, which prices a building permit by the amount of the contract or the estimated cost and lists the zoning permit, residential plan review, trade permits and a third-visit reinspection fee as separate lines, with a state levy and a technology fee added to every permit fee. Section 18-36 of the city code doubles the permit fee when work starts before the permit is obtained, and the Building Permit Fees sheet in the city's Book of Rates and Fees caps that doubling. The figures are the building desk's to quote.
Shrink-swell soil and footings under a Salem house or garage
Salem asks about the ground under a footing on paper. The permits page lists "Shrink-swell soil test results" for a new residential building permit, next to a certified plat showing easements and structures, and the city's 2019 house guide explains why: "certain areas are prone to differential settlement," and "If the soil analysis results from moderate to very high shrink-swell potential, an engineered footing will be required." Any new construction or exterior addition also needs a plat with its distances from the property lines "before a permit application will be reviewed."
Detached garages and carports carry their own footing line in the city's undated handout on sheds, carports and garages: a structure between 257 and 400 square feet needs "a permanent foundation system at least 24 inches below final grade," typically concrete piers or continuous concrete footings, and one over 400 square feet "must be supported on continuous footings at least 24 inches below finished grade." How a footing figure relates to the frost line is covered in frost depth and footing codes, and the building desk confirms the depth on your permit.
Land disturbance, gutters and water at a Salem street
Engineering holds the dirt side of the job too. The department says it "is certified by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to administer, inspect, and review all land disturbing within Salem," and its permits page says "A land disturbing permit is required for any land-disturbing activity equal to or greater than 5,000 square feet in the City of Salem," the line section 30-138 of the city code draws. A single-family house disturbing from 5,000 up to 10,000 square feet uses an agreement in lieu of plan, a full erosion and sediment control plan starts at 10,000 square feet, and an acre or more adds a DEQ general permit. Where a contractor does the work under a construction contract, section 30-92 puts the erosion plan's "preparation, submission and approval" on the owner. The city's agreement in lieu asks for silt fence and a construction entrance before grading and says "Streets and gutters are to remain free of sediment."
Water leaving a lot is a street question in Salem too. Section 18-4 of the city code bars building or grading that concentrates water and sends it "across any street, alley or other public way" except in a covered drain built to plans the city manager approves, and it holds the building permit until that water is provided for. Section 74-7 bars obstructing or impeding the flow of water in a street, gutter, alley or drain, which is the rule an apron's edge at the gutter line has to respect. Below grade, Engineering says "The City will only mark utilities that are located in the City's right-of-way or public easements," so a private line on the owner's side is worth finding before a footing goes in; the dig law is covered under 811 and utility locates. We place the locate request for the digging we do.