CHAPTER 461

An Act to amend and reenact § 78 of Chapter $28 of the Acts of Assem-
bly of 1914, approved March 27, 1914, which provided a charter for
the town of Blackstone, in the county of Nottoway, so as to confer
upon the town certain powers of emiment domain. rH 878)

Approved April 2, 1968

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 73 of Chapter 328 of the Acts of Assembly of 1914, approved
March 27, 1914, be amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 78. Water and sewers * , other public utilities and public works.
—The town council shall have power and authority to acquire or otherwise
obtain control of or establish, maintain, operate, extend and enlarge
water-works, gas-works, electric plants, and other public utilities within
or without the limits of the town; and to acquire within or without the
limits of the town by purchase, condemnation or otherwise, whatever
land may be necessary for acquiring, locating, establishing, maintaining,
operating, extending and enlarging said water-works, electric plants,
sewage disposal systems, streets, roadways, alleys and other utilities, and
the rights of way, rails, pipes, poles, conduits and wires connected there-
with or any of the fixtures or appurtenances thereof; provided, that said
town shall not have the right to acquire by condemnation the steam and
electric plants, gas and water-works, or water-power and fixtures and
appurtenances, or any part thereof, owned and operated in whole or in
part on the eighteenth day of February, nineteen hundred eight, by
any manufacturing or public service corporation, for the purpose of
acquiring, establishing, maintaining, operating or enlarging its electric
plant or water-works. In carrying out such powers and authority the
council shall have the powers conferred upon the State Highway Com-
missioner in Article 5, Chapter I, Title 88 of the Code of Virginia.
Certificates issued pursuant to §§ 33-70.3 to 338-70.11, inclusive,
Code of Virginia, as amended, and acts amendatory thereof and supple-
mental thereto, may be issued by the town council, signed by the mayor
and countersigned by the town treasurer. Such certificate shall have the
same effect as certificates issued by the State Highway Commissioner,
under the aforesaid laws, and may be issued in any case in which the town
proposes to acquire property of any kind by the exercise of its powers of
eminent domain for any lawful public purpose, whether within or with-
out the town; provided, that the provisions of §§ 33-70.1 through 33-70.11,
inclusive, Code of Virginia, as amended shall not be used except for the
acquisition of lands or easements necessary for streets, water, sewer or
utility pipes or lines or related facilities, but Code § 25-283 shall apply
in appropriate instances.
2. An emergency exists and this act is in force from its passage.