CHAPTER 323

An Act to amend and reenact § 15-487 as amended, of the Code of Virginia,
relating to residence requirements of certain city and town officers.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 15-487 as amended, of the Code of Virginia be amended and
reenacted as follows:

§ 15-487. Every district officer shall, at the time of his election or ap-
pointment, have resided in the district for which he is elected or appointed
thirty days next preceding his election or appointment, and residence in any
incorporated town within the district shall be regarded as residence in the
district. Every county officer, except deputy clerks of courts of record,
shall, at the time of his election or appointment, have resided six months
next preceding his election or appointment, either in the county for which
he is elected or appointed, or in the city wherein the courthouse of the
county is, except that, if no practicing lawyer, who has resided in the
county or in such city for the period aforesaid, offer for election or ap-
pointment, it shall be lawful to elect or appoint as attorney for the Com-
monwealth for such county a nonresident, or one who has not resided in
the county, or in such city, for the period above mentioned, and except,
further, that if no qualified surveyor, who has resided in the county the
aforesaid period, offers for appointment, it shall be lawful to appoint, as
county surveyor, a nonresident, or one who has not resided in the county
for the requisite period, if the judge or the court making the appoint-
ment certifies that there is no qualified surveyor, having the requisite
qualifications as to residence, who will serve as such. Every city and town
officer except members of the police and fire departments and town attorney
shall, at the time of his election or appointment, have resided one year next
preceding his election or appointment in such city or town unless otherwise
specifically provided by charter.

17.08, 17.10, 17.11, 17.18, 17.14, 17.15, 17.29 and 18.03 of Chapter 323
of the Acts of Assembly of 1950, approved April 4, 1950, be amended and
reenacted as follows:

7.08. An ordinance authorizing the issuance of bonds shall include
a statement of the purpose or purposes of the issue, and if the purpose is
to finance one or more capital improvement projects, it shall describe
each of them sufficiently for purposes of identification, and shall estimate
the cost of the project or projects and the portion thereof to be defrayed
from sources, specifying them, other than the proposed bond issue. The
bond ordinance shall also include the amount of the proposed issue, a
statement showing the proposed issue to be within the limitation of
indebtedness as provided in § 7.03, the probable life of the purpose or
the average probable life of the purposes to be financed, as determined
by the council, * a declaration that principal of and interest on the pro-
posed issue are to be paid from ad valorem taxes on real estate and tan-
gible personal property and that the full faith and credit of the city are
pledged to such payment, and the procedure for the sale of the proposed
issue. All other matters relating to the authorization, issuance or sale of
the bonds or notes may be provided by resolution.

§ 12.07. Whenever any capital improvement project is to be under-
taken by the city or any department, board, commission or agency thereof,
except the school board and the department of public utilities, it shall be
the duty of the director of public works to cause plans, specifications and
estimates of cost of such capital improvement project to be made. The
school board and department of public utilities may utilize the services
of the department of public works in preparing plans, specifications and
estimates of cost for capital improvement projects relating to their respec-
tive functions but they may, in the discretion of the school board or
director of public utilities, as the case may be, cause such plans and spe-
cifications to be prepared by their own employees or by architects and
engineers engaged for the purpose. In the case of any capital improve-
ment project, except one relating to school buildings and grounds, if the
estimate of cost is ten thousand dollars or less it may, in the discretion
of the city manager, be constructed either by contract or by the employees
of the department of public works or the department of public utilities,
as the case may be. If the estimate of cost is more than ten thousand
dollars, such capital improvement project shall, except as hereinafter
provided, be constructed by contract. No contract for any capital improve-
ment project estimated to cost more than * ten thousand dollars shall be
let except upon sealed bids based on the plans and specifications prepared
by the department of public works or the department of public utilities,
which bids shall be advertised for, received, opened and tabulated by the
purchasing agent in the manner and subject to the conditions prescribed
by ordinance. The contract shall be awarded by the purchasing agent to
the lowest responsible bidder, provided that the city manager, when the
estimated cost of the capital improvement project is ten thousand dollars
or less, and the council in all cases, may authorize the rejection of all
bids, instruct the purchasing agent to readvertise for bids with or with-
out modification of the plans and specifications for such capital improve-
ment project or order the same to be constructed by the department of
public works or the department of public utilities, as the case may be.
A record of all bids, showing the names of the bidders and the amounts
of the bids and indicating in each case the successful bidder, together
with the originals of all sealed bids and other documents pertaining to
the award of contracts, shall be preserved by the purchasing agent for
six years in a file which shall be open to public inspection during regular
business hours. No capital improvement project which is essentially a
unit shall be divided for the purpose of evading the intent of this section.

§ 17.01. In addition to the powers granted under prevailing State
laws and elsewhere in this charter, the council is authorized and empow-
ered to make and adopt planning ordinances and approve a comprehensive
master plan for the orderly development of the city to promote health,
safety, morals, comfort, prosperity, and general welfare. * *

§ 17.02. There shall be a city planning commission which shall con-
sist of seven members appointed by the Council. One member shall be a
member of the Council who shall be appointed for a term coincident with
his term in the Council; one member shall be a member of the Board of
Zoning Appeals appointed for a term coincident with his term on such
board; * five citizen members shall be qualified voters of the city, actually
residing within the city limits, who hold no office of profit under the city
government, appointed for terms of four years; provided that the *
members of the City Planning Commission previously appointed by the *
council and in office at the effective date of this charter shall continue to
serve as members of the commission for the terms for which they were
appointed, and provided further, that three of the citizen members * shall
be appointed * to serve from the first of January, 1955, and two of the
citizen members shall be appointed to serve from the first of January, 1957.
Vacancies shall be filled for the unexpired portion of the term. A member
may be removed by the council for neglect of duty or malfeasance in
office, upon written charges and after public hearing. Members of the
City Planning Commission shall serve as such without compensation.

§ 17.08. The commission shall elect a chairman and vice-chairman
from among the citizen members appointed by the council for a term of
one year, who shall be eligible for reelection, and appoint a secretary. The
commission shall hold at least one regular meeting each month, and shall
adopt rules for the transaction of its business. * The commission shall
keep a record of its resolutions, transactions, findings and determinations
Showing the vote of each member on each question or, if absent, or fail-
ing to vote, indicating such fact which record shall be filed in the office of
the commission and shall be a public record. The commission shall appoint
such employees as it may deem necessary for its work and may contract
with city planners, engineers, architects and other consultants for services
it may require. All expenditures, exclusive of gifts to the commission,
shall not exceed the sums appropriated by the council therefor.

§ 17.04. It shall be the duty of the commission to make and adopt
a master plan *, consisting of maps, plats, charts and descriptive matter,
which shall show the commission’s recommendations for the development
of the territory covered by the plan. Such plan may include but shall not
be limited to the following:

(a) The general location, character and extent of streets, highways,
superhighways, freeways, avenues, boulevards, roads, lanes, alleys, walks,
walkways, viaducts, subways, bridges, parks, parkways, squares, play-
fields, playgrounds, recreational facilities, stadia, arenas, swimming pools,
terminals, airports and other public places or ways, and the removal,
relocation, widening, narrowing, vacating, abandonment, change of use
or extension thereof.

(b) The general location, character and extent of all public buildings,
schools and other public property and of utilities whether publicly or
privately owned, off-street parking facilities, and the removal, relocation,
vacating, abandonment, change of use, alteration or extension thereof.

(c) The general location, character, extent and design of slum
clearance, development, redevelopment, housing and neighborhood rehabili-
tation projects, including the demolition, repair or vacation of substandard,
unsafe or unsanitary buildings.
(d) A general plan for the control and routing of railways, streetcar
lines, bus lines and all other vehicular traffic.

(e) The general location, character and extent of areas of land to be
used for different purposes, whether public or private, and the develop-
ment standards to be applied to each.

(f) The general location, character and extent of use and development
of land in areas beyond the corporate limits of the city which may be
considered for annexation.

In the preparation of such plan, the commission shall make careful
and comprehensive surveys and studies of existing conditions and future
growth. The plan shall be made with the general purpose of guiding and
accomplishing a coordinated, adjusted and harmonious development of the
city and its environs which will, in accordance with existing and future
needs, best promote health, safety, morals, comfort, prosperity and general
welfare, as well as efficiency and economy in the process of development.

§ 17.06. The commission may adopt the plan as a whole by a single
resolution or may, by successive resolutions, adopt successive parts of the
plan, said parts corresponding to major geographical sections or geo-
graphical or topographical divisions of the area to be covered by the master
plan or with functional subdivisions of the subject matter of the plan, and
may adopt any amendment or extension thereof or addition thereto.
Before the adoption of the plan or any such part, amendment, extension
or addition, the commission shall hold at least one public hearing thereon,
at least fifteen days’ notice of the time and place of which shall be given
by one publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the city. The
adoption of the plan or of any such part, amendment, extension or addi-
tion shall be by resolution of the commission carried by the affirmative
vote of not less than * four members of the commission. The resolution
shall refer expressly to the maps and descriptive matter and other matter
intended by the commission to form the whole or part of the plan adopted,
which resolution shall be signed by the chairman of the commission and
attested by its secretary. An attested copy of the resolution, accompanied
by a copy of so much of the plan in whole or in part as was adopted
thereby, and each amendment, alteration, extension or addition thereto
adopted thereby, shall be certified to the council and upon approval by it
to the clerk of the circuit court of the county who shall file the same.
Approval by the council shall be by resolution.

§ 17.07. Whenever * a master plan for the city or one or more parts
thereof, geographical, topographical or functional, * shall have been
adopted and filed, as provided in the preceding section, then and thereafter
no street, square, park or other public way, ground, open space, school,
public building or structure, shall be constructed or authorized in the city
or in the planned section or division thereof unless and until the master
plan includes or 1s amended, altered or extended to include the general
location, character and extent thereof and until and unless the general
location, character and extent thereof has been submitted to and approved
by the commission; and no public utility, whether publicly or privately
owned, shall be constructed or authorized in the city or in the planned
section or division thereof unless and until the master plan includes or
is amended, altered or extended to include the general location, character
and extent thereof and until and unless its general location, but not its
character and extent, has been submitted to and approved by the com-
mission, but such submission and approval shall not be necessary in the
case of pipes or conduits in any existing street or proposed street, square,
park or other public way, ground or open space, the location of which has
been approved by the commission. * If the commission disapproves the
authorization or construction of any of the improvements enumerated
above which has been submitted to it the commission shall communicate its
reason to the council which shall have the power to overrule such action
by a recorded affirmative vote of not less than five members. The failure
of the commission to act within sixty days from the date of the official
submission to it shall be deemed approval. The widening, extension, nar-
rowing, enlargement, vacation or change in the use of streets and other
public ways, grounds and places within the city, as well as the acquisition
by the city of any land within or without the city for public purposes, or
the sale of any land then held by the city, shall be subject to * the same
provisions, and in case the same is disapproved, such disapproval may be
similarly overruled. The foregoing provisions of this section shall not be
deemed to apply to the pavement, repavement, reconstruction, improve-
ment, drainage or other work in or upon any existing street or other
existing public way.

§ 17.08. It shall be the duty of the commission to prepare and revise
annually a program of capital improvement projects for the ensuing five
years, and it shall submit the same annually to the city manager, at such
time as he shall direct, together with its recommendations, and estimates
of cost of such projects and the means of financing them, to be under-
taken in the ensuing fiscal year and in the next four years, as the basis
of the capital budget to be submitted to the council by the city manager.
In the preparation of its capital budget recommendations, the commission
shall consult with the city manager, the school board, the heads of depart-
ments and interested citizens and organizations, and shall hold such public
hearings as it shall deem necessary.

§ 17.10. In addition to the powers granted elsewhere in this charter,
the council shall have the power to adopt * in the manner provided in
§ 17.13, a comprehensive zoning plan designed to lessen congestion in
streets; secure safety from fire, panic and other danger; promote health,
Sanitation and general welfare; provide adequate light and air; prevent
the overcrowding of land; avoid undue concentration of population;
facilitate public and private transportation and the supplying of public
utility services and sewage disposal, and facilitate provision for schools,
parks, playgrounds and other public improvements and requirements.
The comprehensive zoning plan shall include the division of the city into
districts with such boundaries as the council deems necessary to carry
out the purposes of this chapter, and shall provide for the regulation and
restriction of the use of land, buildings, and structures in the respective
districts and may include, but shall not be limited to, the following:

(a) It may permit specified uses of land, buildings and structures in
the districts and prohibit all other uses.

b) It may regulate the height, area, bulk, size, design and appear-
ance of buildings and structures and the appropriateness of their use in
the districts.

(c) It may establish setback building lines and prescribe the area
of land that may be used as front, rear and side yards and courts and
open spaces.

(d) It may restrict the portion of the area of lots that may be
occupied by buildings and structures. _

(e) It may prescribe the area of lots and the space in buildings that
may be occupied by families. _

It may require that spaces and facilities deemed adequate by
the council shall be provided on lots for parking of vehicles in conjunction
with permitted uses of land and that spaces and facilities deemed adequate
by the council shall be provided on lots for off-street loading or unloading
of vehicles.

(x) It may permit the designed use and development of land not
less than ten acres in extent in a manner varying in certain respects from
the regulations and restrictions prescribed for the district or districts in
which such land is situated, provided that such designed use shall be
approved by the city planning commission and the council, and adopted
as a part of the master plan of the city.

(h) It may provide that land, buildings and structures and the uses
thereof which do not conform to the regulations and restrictions prescribed
for the district in which they are situated may be continued so long as
the then existing or more restricted use continues and so long as the
buildings or structures are maintained in their then structural condition ;
and may require that such buildings or structures and the use thereof
shall conform to the regulations and restrictions prescribed for the district
or districts in which they are situated whenever they are enlarged,
extended, reconstructed or structurally altered; and may require that such
buildings or structures and the use thereof shall conform to the regulations
and restrictions prescribed for the district or districts in which they are
situated, in any event, within a reasonable period of time to be specified
in the ordinance.

From and after the adoption of a master plan or any amendment or
extension thereof as required by this Chapter, or the land use portion
thereof, such zoning plan shall be made to conform substantially with the
master plan, and any amendments to the zoning plan shall be based upon
and in substantial accordance with the master plan.

§ 17.11. The regulations and restrictions shall be enacted with
reasonable consideration, among other things, of the character of each
district and its peculiar suitability for particular uses, and with a view
of conserving the value of land, buildings and structures and encouraging
the most appropriate use thereof throughout the city. Upon the enactment
of the ordinance dividing the city into districts and regulating and restrict-
ing the use of land, buildings and structures therein in accordance with
a comprehensive zoning plan; no land, building or structure shall be
changed from one district to another district unless the change is in
accord with the interest and purposes of this section and will not be
contrary to the comprehensive zoning plan and the enumerated factors
upon which it is based *. Aside from extensions from an existing zone *
into immediately adjoining or adjacent properties, no change in district
boundaries shall be made so as to * create an area of such size and shape,
in relation to its neighboring areas, as to comprise less than a district as
intended by this Chapter.

§ 17.13. Subject to the other provisions of this chapter, the council
shall have power by ordinance to adopt the regulations and restrictions
hereinbefore described and determine the boundaries of the districts in
which they shall apply, provide for their enforcement, and from time to
time amend, supplement or repeal the same. The council shall also have
authority to provide for the collection of fees to cover at least the costs
involved in the consideration of any request for amendment, supplement
or repeal of any such regulation, restriction or * boundaries, to be paid
to the city clerk by the applicant upon filing such request. No * ordinance
* adopting, amending, supplementing or repealing, any such regulation,
restriction or boundaries shall be adopted until: (a) the ordinance *
adopting, amending, supplementing or repealing, any such regulation,
restriction or boundaries has been referred to the city planning commis-
sion and approved by it, and in case of disapproval by the commission
subject to overrule by the council * by the affirmative vote of not less than
five members of the council; and (b) until after a public hearing in rela-
tion thereto shall be held by the council at which the parties in interest
and other persons shall have an opportunity to be heard. At least fifteen
days’ notice of the time and place of such hearing shall be given by
publication thereof in a newspaper of general circulation in the city, and
by conspicuous notices posted along the boundary line of any land involved
in any amendment, supplement or repeal of district boundaries.

§ 17.14. If a protest is filed with the city clerk against such amend-
ment, supplement or repeal, signed * by the owners of twenty per cent or
more of the total area of the lots included in such proposed change or of
the total area of the lots outside of the proposed change, any * part of
which is within one hundred and fifty feet of the boundary of such area,
the council shall not adopt the ordinance making such amendment, supple-
ment or repeal, except by * an affirmative vote of not less than five mem-
bers of the council. Each signature to such protest shall be witnessed by
a person whose affidavit to that effect is attached thereto.

§ 17.15. There shall be a board of zoning appeals which shall con-
sist of five regular members and one alternate. They shall be qualified
voters of the city, shall reside within the city limits, shall hold no office of
profit under the city government and shall be appointed by the council
for terms of four years; provided that the members of the board of zoning
appeals in office at the effective date of this charter shall continue to hold
office until the first day of January following the expiration of the terms
for which they were appointed, and the first alternate member shall be
appointed to serve until the said date; and provided, further, that the
council shall appoint two regular and one alternate member to serve for
two years, and three regular members to serve for four years from said
date. Thereafter, their successors shall be appointed for full terms of four
years. Vacancies shall be filled by the council for the unexpired portion
of the term. A regular or alternate member may be removed by the council
for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office, upon written charges and
after public hearing. Members of the board of zoning appeals shall! serve
without compensation.

§ 17.29. The planning commission shall be the platting commission
of the city, and, as such, shall have control of the platting or subdivision
of land within the city subject to restrictions as provided in § 17.07. From
and after the date on which such regulations and restrictions become
effective in the city, the owners of tracts of land to which such regulations
and restrictions are applicable, who subdivide them into two or more lots,
shall cause plats of such subdivisions, in the form prescribed by the
applicable regulations and restrictions, to be made and submitted to the
city planning commission. It shall be the duty of such commission to
consider such plat in the light of the regulations and restrictions applicable
to the same and approve or disapprove the plat in accordance therewith.
Before taking any action thereon, the city planning commission shall afford
the owner and other interested parties an opportunity to be heard after
such reasonable notice as may be provided in such regulations and
restrictions. Failure to act on any plat for a period of forty-five days shall
be deemed to constitute approval unless * such plat involves amendment
or extension of or addition to the master plan. Approval shall be attested
on that plat by the signature of the chairman or vice-chairman of the city
planning commission.

§ 18.03. The city may, in exercising the right of eminent domain con-
ferred by the preceding section, make use of the procedure prescribed by the
general law, as modified by said section or may elect to proceed as herein-
after provided. In the latter event the resolution or ordinance directing
the acquisition of any property, as set forth in the preceding section, shall
provide therein in a lump sum the total funds necessary to compensate
the owners thereof for such property to be acquired or damaged. Upon
the adoption of such resolution or ordinance the city may file a petition in
the clerks’ office of the court having jurisdiction of the subject, which
shall be signed by the city manager and set forth the interest or estate
to be taken in the property and the uses and purposes for which the
property or the interest or estate therein is wanted, or when property 18
not to be taken but is likely to be damaged, the necessity for the work or
improvement which will cause or is likely to cause such damage. There
shall also be filed with the petition a plat of a survey of the property with
a profile showing cuts and fills, trestles and bridges, or other contemplated
structures if any, and a description of the property which, or an interest
or estate in which, is sought to be taken or likely to be damaged and a
memorandum showing names and residences of the owners of the property,
if known, and showing also the quantity or property which, or an interest
or estate in which, is sought to be taken or which will be or is likely to
be damaged. There shall be filed also with said petition a notice directed
to the owners of the property, if known, copies of which shall be served
on such owners or tenants of the freehold of such property, if known. If
the owner or tenant of the freehold be unknown or a nonresident of the
State or cannot with reasonable diligence be found in the State, or if
the residence of the owner or tenant be unknown, he may be proceeded
against by order of publication which order, however, need not be pub-
lished more than once a week for two successive weeks and shall be posted
at the main entrance to the City Hall. The publication shall in all other
respects conform to §§ 8-71, 8-72, and 8-76 of the Code of Virginia.

Upon the filing of said petition and the deposit of funds provided by
the council for the purpose in a bank to the credit of the court in such
proceedings and the filing of a certificate of deposit therefor the interest
or estate of the owner of such property shall terminate and the title to
such property or the interest or estate to be taken in such property shall
be vested absolutely in the city and such owner shall have such interest
or estate in the funds so deposited as he had in the property taken or
damaged and all liens by deed of trust, judgment or otherwise upon said
property or estate shall be transferred to such funds and the city shall
have the right to enter upon and take possession of such property for its
uses and purposes and to construct its works or improvements. The clerk
of the court in which such proceeding is instituted shall record the orders
entered therein in his deed book and index them in the name of the person
or persons who had the property before and in the name of the city, for
which he shall receive the same fees prescribed for recording a deed,
which shall be paid by the city.

If the city and the owner of property so taken or damaged agree upon
compensation therefor, upon filing such agreement in writing in the clerk’s
office of such court, the court or judge thereof in vacation shall make
such distribution of such funds as to it may seem right, having due regard
to the interest of all persons therein whether such interest be vested, con-
tingent or otherwise, and to enable the court or judge to make a proper
distribution of such money it may in its discretion direct inquiries to be
taken by a special commissioner in order to ascertain what persons are
entitled to such funds and in what proportions and may direct what notice
shall be given of the making of such inquiries by such spectal commis-
sioner.

If the city and the owner cannot agree upon the compensation for
the property taken or damaged, if any, upon the filing of a memorandum
in the clerk’s office of said court to that effect, signed by either the city
or the owner, the court shall appoint commissioners provided for in
§§ 25-12 to 25-15, inclusive, of the Code of Virginia or as provided for
in § 18.02, and all proceedings thereafter shall be had as provided for in
§§ 25-12 through 25-21 and §§ 25-21 and 25-23 through 25-88 of the
Code of Virginia insofar as they are then applicable and are not incon-
sistent with the provisions of this and the preceding section, and the court
shall order the deposit in the bank to the credit of the court of such addi-
tional funds as appear to be necessary to cover the award of the commis-
sioners or shall order the return to the city of such funds deposited that
are not necessary to compensate such owners for property taken or
damaged. The commissioners so appointed shall not consider improve-
ments placed upon the property by the city subsequent to its taking nor
the value thereof nor the enhancement of the value of said property by
said improvements in making their award.

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