Westmoreland County
Westmoreland County waterfront permits and contractors
Planning a pier, boat lift, bulkhead, riprap or living shoreline in Westmoreland County? This page covers who to call, how the county’s waterfront permits work, what to know inside the Town of Colonial Beach, and the licensed contractors who work here.
Who to call
Westmoreland County Land Use Administration
- Phone: (804) 493-0120
- Office: George D. English Sr. Memorial Building, 111 Polk Street, Montross
- Mail: P.O. Box 1000, Montross, VA 22520
- Hours: Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
- Permits online: the county takes permit applications through its online permit portal.
Call before you sign a contract. Staff can tell you whether your project goes before the wetlands board, which county permits apply and when the next filing deadline is.
How it works in Westmoreland
- One application starts it. Your contractor or agent files a Joint Permit Application with the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC). VMRC shares it with the county and the other agencies that need to see it, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
- The wetlands board may hold a hearing. Work in tidal wetlands, beaches or dunes goes before the Westmoreland County Wetlands Board. Hearings start at 1:30 p.m. on the third Monday of the month at the George D. English Sr. Memorial Building in Montross. Copies of each application can be reviewed at the Land Use Administration office during business hours before the hearing.
- The Bay Act covers the land side. The county enforces the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act, which protects a 100 foot buffer of natural vegetation along tidal shores and wetlands, called the Resource Protection Area. Clearing, grading or building in that buffer needs county review.
- County permits come last. Once the water side is approved, Land Use Administration will tell you whether you also need a building, zoning or land disturbance permit.
What gets built here
About 85 waterfront permit applications a year come from Westmoreland, based on state records for 2023 through 2025, on Lower Machodoc Creek, the Potomac, Mattox Creek, Nomini Creek, the Yeocomico River and Monroe Bay at Colonial Beach. Recent wetlands board hearings have covered bulkhead replacements, riprap revetments, riprap sills with beach nourishment and marsh plantings, and a boat ramp replacement with a pier extension.
Inside the Town of Colonial Beach
Colonial Beach is an incorporated town with its own zoning, including its own Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area rules. If your property is inside town limits, the land side of your project is reviewed by the town, not the county.
- Who to call: Planning and Community Development, 315 Douglas Avenue, Colonial Beach, VA 22443, (804) 224-7506, Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
- Good to know: the town’s rules call for a water quality impact assessment for land disturbance in the Resource Protection Area, a woodlot management permit before trees or shrubs are removed for shoreline erosion control, and erosion and sediment control for land disturbance over 2,500 square feet.
- Water side: the Joint Permit Application to VMRC still starts the process. Ask the town and the county which wetlands board will hear your project.
Building on the Potomac?
Most of the Potomac belongs to Maryland, right up to the low-water line on the Virginia shore, so piers that reach into the river raise questions this page doesn’t cover. We’re researching them carefully and will add a guide.
Contractors who work in Westmoreland
Every listing shows the contractor’s Virginia license as the state lists it. Contact them directly.
See all Northern Neck counties or the Northern Neck permits overview.
Office details were checked in November 2026 against the Westmoreland County and Town of Colonial Beach websites and the county wetlands board’s public hearing notices. Schedules change, so confirm with the office before you plan around a date.