Chap. 128.—An ACT to confer upon the city of Hopewell the power of super-
vision of subdivisions of tracts of land in said city, or within three miles of
the corporate limits of same; descriptions of lots in) such subdivisions and
copies of such plats as evidence. [H B 150]

Approved March 10, 1928

Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia as follows:

l. Every owner or proprietor of anv tract of land situated within
the corporate limits of the city of Hlopewell, Virginia, or within three
miles of the corporate limits of said city, who may hereafter sub-
divide the same into three or more parts, for the purpose of laving
out any town or city, or any addition thereto, or any part thereof, or
suburban lots, may cau-e 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. Descrip-
tions of lots or parcels of land in such subdivisions, according to the
number and designation thereof on said plat, contained in convey-
ances or for the purpose of taxation and copies of such plats or ex-
tracts therefrom properly attested by the clerk in whose office said
Pats 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
Proprictors, and shall be duly acknowledge before some officer author-
ized to take acknowledgments 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
imple, to the Commonwealth of Virginia when the board of super-
isors, 1f the land so platted be located wholly within a county, has
iccepted such streets and lands for public use by proper resolution,
uch portion of the premises platted as is on such plat set apart for
treets 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 to erect, put down,
and maintain a gas, water, telephone service and electric works, pipes,
wires and fixtures, from erecting, putting down and maintaining the
same 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, or repairing
such works, pipes, wires and fixtures. ,

4. No such plat, however, shall be recorded by the clerk of any
court of this Commonwealth, until the dimensions and location of
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
engineer of the city 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
city engineer and the board of supervisors or road engineer, or county
surveyor, as the case may be, fail to agree or 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; 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 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 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 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 city by the applicant, shall
have jurisdiction of such application and dispose thereof, in his dis-
cretion, 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 firs
instance disapprove the application, the applicant shall be entitled te
an appeal to the said court, under such reasonable, rules in relation
thereto as the court shall allow. If the property in question lies whol]:
within the city, then the circuit or corporation court of the city sha]
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 the city of Hope-
well, Virginia, or within three miles of said 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 re-
corded 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
the city of Hopewell, any gas, water, sewer, telephone or electric light
or power works, pipes, wires, fixtures or systems, they may present
plans or specifications thereof to the chief engineering officer of the
city of Hopewell, adjoining or within three miles thereof, who shall
within ninety (90) 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 specifica-
tions may be submitted, after ten (10) days notice to the city of Hope-
well, 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 pur-
poses of this act be treated and considered as the approval of said
chief engineering officer, and from the decision of said judge in ap-
proving or disapproving such plans or specifications there shall be no
appeal ; provided, however, that nothing herein contained shall be con-
strued as granting the right of appeal from the action of said chief
engineering officer in approving or disapproving such plans and speci-
fications, and provided further, that in event the improvements con-
templated by such plans and specifications are constructed under plans
and specifications which have not been approved in one of the methods
hereinbefore prescribed, such owner or proprietor 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 purposes without paying the owner thereof just
compensation.

In the event the whole or any part of any such subdivision which
is located in any county and is made and platted pursuant to this act,
shall thereafter be made, by annexation proceedings or otherwise, a
part of the city of Hopewell, then so much of such works, pipes, wires
and systems as shall have been laid and constructed in accordance with
plans and specifications approved either by the chief engineering off-
cer of the city of Hopewell, or by the judge of said circuit court in
the manner aforesaid, and as shall be works of public improvement
or utility of that nature which said city has theretofore owned or
operated within its limits and as shall be located in, upon or under
any street or alley to be made a part of said city by such annexation
or other proceeding, shall be and become the property of said city,
which shall within six months after such annexation becomies 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 said 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 disinter-
ested appraisers to be appointed, upon the petition of either partv 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 consti-
tute 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 construed as to prevent the
owner or proprietor of such subdivision, where otherwise he has the
right and power so to do, from erecting, putting down and maintain-
ing gas, water, sewer, telephone and electric works, pipes, wires, fix-
tures 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, 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
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 or 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 ap-
proval and recordation of the original, and shall not be vacated other-
wise.

7. The clerk of the circuit court of the county or corporation
court of the city in whose office the plat aforesaid 1s 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 obligation
upon the city of Hopewell to pay for the grading, or for paving of
sidewalks, curb and gutter improvements or construction except as
may be provided 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
confirmed in its operation to the provisions or part thereof directly
involved in the controversy in which such judgment has been rendered.