Chap. 500.—An ACT to amend and reenact Sections 1, 2, and 3 of Chapter 379
of the Acts of Assembly, 1946, approved March 28, 1946, relating to subdivision
and use of land in certain counties. [S 21

Approved April 5, 1948

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That sections one, two, and three of chapter three hundred
seventy-nine of the Acts of Assembly, nineteen hundred forty-six,
approved March twenty-eight, nineteen hundred forty-six, be amended
and reenacted as follows:

Section 1. When subdivision jurisdiction effective——(a) In ad-
dition to any other power and authority conferred upon them by any
general law, the governing body of any county adjoining any county
in this State having a density of population in excess of one thousand
inhabitants per square mile according to the last preceding United States
census, and the governing body of any municipality in such county, shall
have the powers with respect to subdivision specified in this act, from and
after the time the governing body of such county or municipality shall
have adopted regulations governing subdivisions within its area of con-
trol and authority of planning as provided in this act.

(b) From and after the effective date of regulations adopted under
this act, any owner or proprietor of any tract of land who subdivides the
same as therein provided, shall cause a plat of such subdivision with
reference to known or permanent monuments to be made and recorded
in the office of the clerk of the court of the county in which deeds are
admitted to record, in the county in which the land so subdivided lies.

Section 2. Subdivision regulations—(a) Such regulations may
provide for the size, scale and other details of the plat to be recorded,
for the harmonious development of the county, for the coordination of
streets within the subdivision with other existing or planned streets or
with the master plan of the region in question.

(b) Such regulations may require monuments of specific type,
establishing street and property lines to be erected, and may include
requirements as to the extent to which and the manner in which new
1008 ACTS OF ASSEMBLY [va., 1948

streets shall be graded, graveled or otherwise improved and water,
sewer and other utility mains, piping, connections or other facilities
shall be installed as a condition precedent to the approval of the plat.
The regulations or practice of the governing body, or their designated
agents, provided for in this act, may provide for the tentative approval
of the plat previous to such improvements and installation; but any
such tentative approval shall not be entered on the plat. Such regulations
may provide that, in lieu of the completion of such work previous to the
final approval of a plat, the governing body of the county, or its des-
ignated agents, may accept a bond, in an amount and with surety or con-
ditions satisfactory to such governing body, providing for and securing
to the governing body, the actual construction and installation of such
improvements and utilities within a period specified by such governing
body, and the governing body is hereby granted the power to enforce such
bond by all appropriate legal and equitable remedies. Such regulations
may provide that upon final approval the plat shall be filed for recorda-
tion within sixty days or ‘approval of plat shall be withdrawn and
approved plat marked void and returned to approving official. Such
regulations may provide, in lieu of a bond, for the completion of such
work previous to the final approval of a plat.

(c) The governing body of any county or municipality therein
shall not adopt any regulation under this act until notice of intention
so to has been published once a week for two successive weeks in some
newspaper published, or having general circulation, in such county.
Such notice shall specify the time and place at which persons affected
may appear before the governing body and present their views. Ten
days after the final notice has been so published any person affected may
appear before the governing body, personally or by counsel, and present
such views relative to the proposed regulations as he so desires. Similar
notice shall be given of amendments to any regulations issued under
this act and procedure thereon shall conform to the provisions of this
paragraph. . .

(d) Such regulation and amendments, if adopted, shall be adopted
by the governing body by ordinance, A certified copy of such regulations
and all amendments thereto shall be filed in the office of the county, or
municipality designated in the regulations by any such governing body,
and in the office of the clerk of the circuit court of the county where the
land or any part lies, and in which clerk’s office deeds are admitted
to record. Any plat to be approved and recorded hereunder shall be sub-
mitted for approval to the governing body or to such official or board
including the planning commission as the governing body in the regula-
tions designates.

Section 3. Action on Plats—(a) After the effective date of the
regulations permitted and adopted under the provisions of the preceding
sections, no clerk of any court shall file or record a plat of a subdivision
required by this act to be recorded until such subdivision plat has been
approved as required by regulations adopted under this act, or any
general law except that where no regulations have been adopted, such
plat or plats may be recorded without such approval.

(b) In any such county, or municipality therein, for which regula-
tions requiring approval and recordation of plats have been adopted,
whenever an owner or proprietor of any tract of land therein desires
to subdivide same, he shall submit a plat of the proposed subdivision to
the governing body or its designated agent, for approval, and after the
adoption of such regulations as set forth in this act no land or parcel of
land shall be divided and sold or conveyed one part at a time over an
extended period in order to avoid meeting the requirements of this act.

(c) Every such plat shall be prepared by a surveyor or civil
engineer duly licensed as such by the Commonwealth of Virginia, who
shall endorse upon each plat a certificate signed by him setting for the
source of title, if by deed or will, and the place of record of the last
instrument in the chain of title, if by descent, and certify that all of
the land included in the subdivision is within the original boundaries of
the original tract or tracts. When said plat shall be of land acquired
from more than one source of title the outlines of the several tracts
shall be indicated by red ink lines drawn upon said plat, or by easily
distinguished dashed lines drawn thereon, and the respective tracts
properly identified either upon said plat or in said certificate.

(d) The recordation of such plat shall operate to:transfer, in fee
simple, to the respective counties or municipalities in which the land
lies such portion of the premises platted as is on such plat set apart
for streets, alleys, or other public use and to transfer to such county or
municipality any easement indicated on such plat to create a public
right of passage over the same; but nothing herein contained shall pre-
vent 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 and electric works, pipes,
wires and fixtures, from erecting, putting down and maintaining the same
along or under the portions so set apart, except as such improvements or
installations may be regulated as provided for under this law. They shall
not, however, obstruct or hinder the passage over such streets or alleys,
further than is reasonably necessary while laying down, erecting or re-
pairing such works, pipes, wires and fixtures.

(e) Any such plat may be vacated by the proprietors thereof, at
any time before the sale of any lot therein, by a written instrument de-
claring the same to be vacated, duly executed, acknowledged or proved
and recorded in the same clerk’s 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 the plat and with the approval of the governing body which
approved the plat, and its approval shall be obtained as provided herein
for the approval and recordation of the original, and shall not be
vacated otherwise.

(f) The clerk of court in whose office the plats aforesaid have
been recorded shall write in plain legible letters across any 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.

2. An emergency exists and this act is in force from its passage.