Chap. 468.—An ACT to provide for the recordation of plats of subdivision of land
located in or within five miles of cities of a population in excess of 150,
according to the last United States census, for the vacation thereof, for the
construction of public improvements therein and for the rights of such cities
in connection therewith. {S B 165]

Approved March 21, 1924.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That every
owner or proprietor of any tract of land situated within the corporate
limits of any city containing more than one hundred and fifty thousand
inhabitants, according to the last preceding United States census, or
within five miles of the corporate limits of any such city, who may here-
after subdivide the same into three or more parts for the purpose of
laying out any town or city, or any addition thereto, or any part there-
of or suburban lots, may cause a plat of such subdivision with reference to
known or permanent monuments to be made, which shall accurately
describe all the subdivisions of such tracts or parcels of land, and giving
the dimensions and length and breadth thereof and the breadth and
courses of all the streets and alleys established therein. Descriptions of
lots or parcels of land in such subdivisions, according to the number and
designation thereof on said plat, contained in conveyances or for the
purpose of taxation and copies of such plats or extracts therefrom, prop-
erly attested by the clerk in whose office said plats are recorded, shall
have the same force and effect as evidence that copies of deeds may have,
and shall be deemed good and valid for all intents and purposes.

2. Every such plat shall contain a statement to the effect that the
above or foregoing subdivision of (here insert a correct description of the
land or parcel subdivided) as appears in this plat is with the free con-
gent and in accordance with the desire of the undersigned owners and
proprietors, which shall be signed by the owners and proprietors, and
shall be duly acknowledged before some officer authorized to take ac-
knowledgments of deeds, and when thus executed and acknowledged
said plat, subject to the provisions contained in section four of this act,
shall be filed for record and be recorded in the office of the clerk of the
proper court of the county or city.

3. The recordation of such plat shall operate to transfer, in fee
simple, to the Commonwealth of Virginia such portion of the premises
platted as is on such plat set apart for streets or other public use and to
create a public right of passage over the same; but nothing herein con-
tained shall prevent the persons who set apart such land for streets and
alleys, their heirs and assigns, where otherwise they have the right and
power so to do, from erecting, putting down and maintaining gas,
water, telephone, sewer and electric works, pipes, wires, fixtures and
systems along or under the portions so set apart. They shall not, how-
ever, obstruct or hinder the passage over such streets or alleys further
than is reasonably necessary while laying down, erecting, repairing or
removing such works, pipes, wires and fixtures, such removal, however,
to be only with the consent of the chief engineering officer of such city
in event such works, pipes, wires and fixtures have been constructed or
placed in accordance with plans and specifications approved as herein-
after in section five of this act prescribed.

4. No such plat, however, shall be recorded by the clerk of any
court of this Commonwealth, until the dimensions and location of any
such streets, alleys, or lots, as indicated on said plat, shall be approved
by the city engineer of said city, if the land be situated entirely within
said city, or if said land or part thereof be in a county, by the city engi-
neer of the city adjoining and by the board of supervisors or the engineer
of roads of the county (or if there be no engineer of roads of such county,
by the county surveyor of such county), or if said city engineer and the
board of supervisors or road engineer, or county surveyor, as the case
may be, fail to agree or-to act within the hercinafter mentioned time
after application thereto by the party interested, by the judge of the cir-
cuit court of the county wherein said land or part thereof lies; provided,
however, that this section shall apply only after such city shall place on
file accessible to the public in the city engineer’s office, a map covering
the location in question, officially approved by said city, showing in
general a comprehensive plan for the future development and laying out
of its main proposed thoroughfare, or thoroughfares, which plan may
be subject to reservations, conditions and exceptions as in the Judgment
of the city is wise, including the right to make such reasonable and
suitable modifications thereof as may be needful in the judgment of the
said city.

Any persons desiring to have a subdivision plat certified, as herein
provided, where the platted property lies wholly or partly within a
county, shall apply therefor and file a copy thereof with the officers
aforesaid who are to act hereunder; and if the same be not acted upon
as herein provided, either favorably or unfavorably, within thirty days
after the same is filed then the judge of the court aforesaid, upon not
less than ten days’ previous notice to said city by the applicant, shall
have jurisdiction of such application and dispose thereof, in his discre-
tion, in accordance herewith; and on a hearing thereof, the judge shall
enter an order of record either approving or disapproving such plan as
being either in conformity with or not in conformity with said plan of
said city, which order shall state the facts and be a matter of permanent
record of said court. And upon an order of approval so entered the
clerk shall record the plat. Should the officers in the first instant dis-
approve the application, the applicant shall be entitled to an appeal to
the said court, under such reasonable rules in relation thereto as the
court shall allow. If the property in question lies wholly within the
city, then the circuit court of the city shall have jurisdiction in the same
manner as is herein provided for the said circuit court of said county or
counties. No plat subdividing any tract of land situated within the
corporate limits of any city containing more than one hundred and fifty
thousand inhabitants according to the last preceding United States
census, or within five miles of any such city, into three or more parts for
the purpose of laying out any town or city, or any addition thereto, or
any part thereof or suburban lots, shall hereafter be recorded except in
conformity with the provisions of this act.

_ 5. In event the proprietors or owners of any such subdivision de-
sire to construct in, on or under any streets or alleys located in that
portion of such subdivision which lies beyond the corporate limits of
any such city, any gas, water, sewer or electric light or power works,
pipes, wires, fixtures or systems, they may present plans or specifica-
tions therefor to the chief engineering officer of any such city adjoining
or within five miles thereof, who shall within one hundred and eighty
(180) days thereafter approve or disapprove the same, and in event
of his failure either to approve or disapprove any such plans or specifi-
cations within such period, such plans and specifications may be sub-
mitted after ten days’ notice to such city, to the judge of the circuit
court of the county wherein the land embraced within said subdivision,
or any part thereof lies, for his approval or disapproval, and his approval
thereof shall, for all purposes of this act be treated and considered as
the approval of said chief engineering officer, and from the decision of
such judge in approving or disapproving such plans or specifications
there shall be no appeal: provided, however, that nothing herein con-
tained shall be construed as granting-the right of appeal from the action
of said chief engineering officer in approving or disapproving such
plans and specifications, and provided further, that in event the im-
provements contemplated by such plans and specifications are con-
structed under plans and specifications which have not been approved
in one of the methods hereinbefore prescribed, such owner or pro-
prietor shall have the right to remove them upon annexation by the
city of the territory in which they may be laid, and the said city shall
at no time thereafter make use of them for public purp without
paying the owner thereof just compensation therefor.
In event the whole or any part of any such subdivision,
located in any county and is made and platted pursuant to this act,
shall thereafter be made, by annexation proceedings or otherwise, &
part of any city, then so much of such works, pipes, wires and systems
as shall have been laid and constructed in accordance with plans ad
specifications approved either by the chief engineering officer of such
city, or by the judge of said circuit court in the manner aforesagd,
and as shall be works of public improvement or utility of that natujre
which such city has theretofore owned or operated within its limi
and as shall be located in, upon or under any street or alley to be mad
a part of such city by such annexation or other proceeding, shall b
and become the property of such city, which shall within six months
after such annexation become effective, pay therefor to the owners
thereof the fair value thereof as of the date such payment becomes due,
provided the same, or the use thereof, may by said city be made subject
to the same charges or assessments imposed by such city upon or for
the use of other like public facilities. In event the owners thereof and
said city are unable to agree upon such fair value, then the same shall
be determined by three disinterested appraisers to be appointed, upon
the petition of either party in interest, by the court in such annexation
or other proceedings and the cost of such appraisal shall be borne as
such court, in its discretion, may determine. Any and all payments
made hereunder shall constitute and be considered as credits upon the
sum or sums of money authorized or required to be set apart for and
expended upon public improvements in territory annexed under the
provisions of chapter one hundred and twenty of the Code of Virginia.
Nothing in this act contained shall be so construed as to prevent
the owner or proprietor of any such subdivision, where otherwise he
has the right and power so to do, from erecting, putting down and
maintaining gas, water, sewer, telephone and electric works, -pipes,
wires, fixtures and systems and other like improvements along or under
any streets or alleys in such subdivision under plans or specifications
which have not been approved in the manner hereinbefore prescribed.
6. Any such plat may be vacated by the proprietors thereof, at
any time before the sale of any lots therein, by a written instrument,
declaring the same to be vacated, duly executed, acknowledged or

proved and recorded in the same office with the plat to be vacated,
and the execution and recordation of such writing shall operate to
destroy the force and effect of the recording of the plat so vacated and
to divest all public rights in, and to reinvest such proprietors with the
title to, the streets, alleys, commons, and public grounds laid out or
described in such plat. In cases where lots have been sold, the plat
or any part thereof, may be vacated upon the application of all the
owners of lots in said plat and with-the approval of the city and county
officers mentioned in section four of this act and the approval of said
officers shall be obtained as provided in said section four for the approval
and recordation of the original, and shall not be vacated otherwise.

7. The clerk of the circuit court of the county or corporation court
of the city in whose office the plats aforesaid are recorded shall write
in plain legible letters across the plat so vacated the word ‘‘vacated,”’
and also make a reference on the same to the volume and page in which
said instrument of vacation is recorded.

8. Nothing in this act contained shall be construed as an obliga-
tion upon any such city to pay for grading, or for paving, sidewalks,
curb and gutter improvements or construction except as may be pro-
vided by laws heretofore or hereafter enacted relative to annexation
of territory by cities and towns.

9. If any provision or part of this act shall for any reason be ad-
judged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such
judgment shall not invalidate the remainder of this act, but shall be
confined in its operation to the provision or part thereof directly in-
volved in the controversy in which such judgment has been rendered.

10. An emergency existing, this act shall be in force from its pas-
sage.