CHAPTER 240

An Act to amend and reenact § 38-279.8, as amended, of the Code of
Virginia, relating to the regulation of junkyards and automobile
graveyards in areas adjacent to highways within the State.

[H 760]
Approved March 138, 1968
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 33-279.3, as amended, of the Code of Virginia be amended and
reenacted as follows:

§ 33-279.3. Junkyards.—(a) For the purpose of promoting the pub-
lic safety, health, welfare, convenience and enjoyment of public travel,
to protect the public investment in public highways, and to preserve and
enhance the scenic beauty of lands bordering public highways, it is hereby
declared to be in the public interest to regulate and restrict the establish-
ment, operation, and maintenance of junkyards in areas adjacent to the
highways within this State.

We For the purpose of this section the following definitions shall
apply

4) “Junk” shall mean old or scrap copper, brass, rope, rags, bat-
teries, paper, trash, rubber debris, waste, or junked, dismantled, or
wrecked automobiles, or parts thereof, iron, steel, and other old or scrap
ferrous or nonferrous material.

(2) “Automobile graveyard” shall mean any lot or place which is
exposed to the weather and upon which more than * five motor vehicles
of any kind, incapable of being operated, and which it would not be eco-
nomically practical to make operative, are placed, located or found.

(3) “Junkyard” shall mean an establishment or place of business
which is maintained, operated, or used for storing, keeping, buying, or
selling junk, or for the maintenance or operation of an automobile grave-
yard, and the term shall include garbage dumps and sanitary fills.

(4) “Interstate system” shall mean the system presently defined in
subsection (d) of § 103 of Title 23, United States Code.

(5) eumary highway” shall mean any highway within the State
Highway § stem as established and maintained under Article 2 (§ 33-23
et seq.), Chapter 1, Title 33 of this Code, including extensions of such
System within municipalities.

(6) “Federal-aid primary highway” shall mean any highway within
that portion of the State Highway System as established and maintained
under Article 2 (§ 33-23 et seq.), Chapter 1, Title 33 of this Code, includ-
ing extensions of such system within municipalities, which has been
approved by the Secretary of Commerce pursuant to subsection (b) of
§ 103 of Title 23, United States Code.

(7) “Visible” shall mean capable of being seen without visual aid by
& person of normal visual acuity.

(c) No junkyard shall be hereafter * established, any portion of
which is within 1,000 feet of the nearest edge of the right of way of any
interstate or primary highway or within 500 feet of the nearest edge of
the right of way of any other highway or city street, except the following:

(1) Junkyards which are screened by natural objects, plantings,
fences, or other appropriate means so as not to be visible from the main-
chee way of the highway or city street, or otherwise removed from
sight.

(2) Junkyards which are located in areas which are zoned for indus-
trial use under authority of State law or in unzoned industrial areas as
determined by the State Highway Commission.

(8) Junkyards which are not visible from the main-traveled way of
the highway or city street.

od te Any junkyard lawtully in existence on April four, nineteen hun-

ed sixty- * eight, which is within one thousand feet of the nearest edge of
the right of way and visible from the main-traveled way of any interstate
or federal-aid primary highway, and not located within an industrial area,
shall be screened, if feasible, by the State Highway Commissioner at loca-
tions on the highway right of way or in areas acquired for such purposes
outside the right of way, so as not to be visible from the main-traveled
way of such highways.

Any junkyard lawfully in existence on April four, nineteen hundred
sixty- * eight, which is within one thousand feet of the nearest edge of
the right of way of any other primary highway or within five hundred
feet of the nearest edge of the right of way of any other highway and
visible from the main-traveled way of such highway, and not located
within an industrial area, may be screened by the State Highway Com-
missioner in the same manner as junkyards adjacent to interstate or
federal-aid primary highways.

The State Highway Commissioner is hereby authorized to acquire by
purchase, gift or the power of eminent domain such lands or interests in
7 as may be necessary to provide adequate screening of such junk-
yards.

(e) When the State Highway Commissioner determines that the
topography of the land adjoining an interstate or federal-aid primary
highway will not permit adequate screening of such junkyards or the
screening of such junkyards would not be economically feasible, the State
Highway Commissioner shall have the authority to acquire by gift, pur-
chase or the power of eminent domain, such interests in lands as may be
necessary to secure the relocation, removal, or disposal of the junkyards,
and to pay for the costs of relocation, removal, or disposal, thereof. When
the State Highway Commissioner determines that the topography of the
land adjoining any other highway will not permit adequate screening or
such would not be feasible, the Commissioner may exercise the same
authority to relocate such junkyards as is vested in him in regard to
interstate and federal-aid primary highways.

(f) Any junkyard which comes into existence after April four, nine-
teen hundred sixty- * eight, and which cannot be made to conform to this
section is declared to be a public and private nuisance and may be forth-
with removed, obliterated or abated by the Commissioner or his repre-
sentatives. The Commissioner may collect the cost of such removal, obliter-
ation or abatement from the person owning or operating such junkyard.

(g) The State Highway Commission is authorized to enter into agree-
ments with the Secretary of Commerce of the United States as provided
in 23 U.S. C. § 136 with respect to control of junkyards.

(h) The State Highway Commissioner shall not be required to expend
any funds for screening or relocation under this section unless and until
federal-aid matching funds are made available for this purpose.