Chap. 269.—An ACT to provide for the recordation of plats of subdivision of
land located in or within not more than two miles of any incorporated town,
for the vacation thereof, for the construction of public improvements therein
and for the rights of such incorporated towns in connection therewith.

[S B 223]
Approved March 24, 1930

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 incorporated town within two miles of the corporate limits
of any such town in the State of Virginia, who may hereafter sub-
divide the same into three or more parts for the purpose of laying out
any town or city, or any addition thereto, or any part thereof or subur-
ban 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 sub-divisions, 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,
properly 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
consent 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
acknowledgments of deeds, and when thus executed and acknowl-
edged, 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
contained 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 town
in event such works, pipes, wires, and fixtures have been constructed or
placed in accordance with plans and specifications approved as here-
inafter 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 town council, town manager, mayor or chief engineering officer
of said town, if the land be situated entirely within said town or if
said land or part thereof be in a county, by the chief engineering of-
ficer of the town adjoining and by the board of supervisors or the
engineers 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 town
council, town manager, mayor or chief engineering officer and the
board of supervisors or road engineer, or county surveyor, as the case
may be, fail to agree or to act within the hereinafter-mentioned time
after application thereto by the party interested, by the judge of the
circuit court of the county wherein said land or part thereof lies; pro-
vided, however, that this act shall apply only after such town shall
have recorded in the office of the clerk of the circuit court of said
county a map covering the location in question, officially approved by
said town, showing in general a comprehensive plan for the future de-
velopment and laying out of its main proposed thoroughfare, or thor-
oughfares, which plan may be subject to reservations, conditions and
exceptions as in the judgment of the town is wise, including the right
to make such reasonable and suitable modifications thereof as may be
needful in the judgment of the said town.

Any person 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 town by the applicant,
shall have the jurisdiction of such application and dispose thereof, in
his discretion, 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 town, 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 disapprove 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 town then the circuit court of the county wherein the land
lies shall have jurisdiction in the same manner as 1s herein provided
for the said circuit court of said county or counties. No plat sub-
dividing any tract of land situated within the corporate limits of any
town or within two miles of the corporate limits of any such town, 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 street or alleys located in that
portion of such subdivision which les beyond the corporate limits of
any such town, any gas, water, sewer or electric lights or power works,
pipes, wires, fixtures or systems, they may present plans or specifica-
tions therefor to the town council, town manager, mayor or chief en-
gineering officer of any such town who shall within thirty (30) days
thereafter approve or disapprove the same, and in event of his failure
either to approve or disapprove any such plans or specifications within
such period, such plans and specifications may be submitted after ten
days’ notice to such town, 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 ap-
proval of said town council, town manager or chief engineering of-
ficer, 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 contained 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; except as above pro-
vided.

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 specifi-
cations which have not been approved in the manner hereinbefore pre-
scribed.

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, de-
claring 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 di-
vest all public rights in, and to reinvest such proprietors with the title
to, the streets, alleys, commons and public grounds laid out or de-
scribed 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 town and coun-
ty 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 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 town to pay for grading, or for paving, sidewalks, curb
and gutter improvements or construction except as may be provided by
laws heretofore or hereafter enacted, relative to annexation of terri-
tory by cities and towns.

9. If any provision or part of this act shall for any reason be
adjudged 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.
The provisions of this act shall not apply to the county of Arlington
The provisions of this act shall not become effective until the town
council shall adopt its provisions as to land within the corporate limits
of the town and the board of supervisors shall adopt its provisions
as to land within two miles of the corporate limits of any town and it
shall be lawful for either the town council or the board of supervisors
as the case may be to adopt the provisions of this act merely by refer-
ence to it.