CHAPTER 262

An Act to amend and reenact § 3.01, §§ 8.05 and 8.11, as amended, § 8.14,
§ 4.02, as amended, § 8.05, §§ 9.08 and 9.06, as amended, § 9.09, and
§§ 9.12, 9.19 and 10.01, as amended, of Chapter 586 of the Acts of
Assembly of 1950, approved April 7, 1950, being the charter of the
city of Alexandria; to amend said chapter by adding thereto a section
numbered 4.08; and to repeal §§ 8.08 and 9.07 of said chapter.

({H 329]
Approved March 8, 1956

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 3.01, §§ 3.05 and 3.11, as amended, § 3.14, § 4.02, as amended,
§ 8.05, §§ 9.03 and 9.06, as amended, § 9.09, and §§ 9.12, 9.19 and 10.01,
as amended, of Chapter 586 of the Acts of Assembly of 1950, approved
April 7, 1950, be amended and reenacted and that said chapter be further
amended by adding thereto a section numbered 4.08, the amended and
new sections being as follows:

3.01. The Council shall consist of * the mayor and siz members
at large elected as provided in Chapter 10 of this charter, and they shall
serve for terms of three years or until their successors shall have been
elected and take office; provided, however, that the terms of the members
of the council incumbent at the effective date of this charter shall continue
through the thirtieth day of June 1952, or until their successors shall have
been elected and shall take office.

_ §.8.05. * The mayor shall be elected as provided by Chapter 10 of
this charter. The vice-mayor shall be elected by a majority vote of the
mayor and the six councilmen at large. The mayor shall preside over the
meetings of the council and shall have the same right to vote and speak
therein as other members. He shall be recognized as the head of the city
government for all ceremonial purposes, the purposes of military law and
the service of civil process. If a vacancy shall occur in the office of mayor
or vice-mayor, the council shall elect one of its members to the office for
the unexpired term. In the absence or disability of the mayor, the vice-
mayor shall perform the duties of mayor.

§ 3.11. Any ordinance may be introduced by any member of the
council or by the city manager at any regular meeting of the council or
at any special meeting when the subject thereof has been included in the
notice for such special meeting or been approved by the unanimous con-
sent of all members of the council]. Upon introduction, the ordinance shall
receive its first reading and, provided it shall receive an affirmative vote
of the majority of members present at this meeting, a time, not less than
three days after such introduction, and place shall be set at which the
council will hold a public hearing concerning it. If all members of the
council present at such introduction have received a copy of the proposed
ordinance not less than twenty-four hours before said introduction, then
only the title need be read for the first reading, otherwise the ordinance
shall be read verbatim. The hearing may be held at a regular or special
meeting of the council and may be adjourned from time to time. It shall
be the duty of the city clerk to cause to be published in a newspaper of
general circulation in the city, not later than the fifth day following the
introduction of the ordinance, a notice containing the time and place of
CH. 262] ACTS OF ASSEMBLY 299

the hearing and the title of the proposed ordinance. It shall also be his
duty to have the title or the full text of the proposed ordinance printed
in sufficient numbers to supply copies to meet requests or to cause it to
be published as a paid advertisement in a newspaper of general circula-
tion published in the city; except that in the event of an emergency,
whereby there is no newspaper of general circulation published im the
city, then such ordinance may be published in a newspaper af general
circulation in the city. It shall also be the duty of the city clerk to place a
copy of the ordinance in a file provided for each member of the council
for this purpose. A proposed ordinance, unless it be an emergency ordi-
nance, may be finally passed upon its second reading at either a regular
or special meeting of the council following the introduction, publication
and conclusion of the public hearing thereon.

Amendments or additions to an ordinance may be made at any time
after introduction and further publication of an amendment is not neces-
sary, except that if said amendments or additions introduce an entirely
new subject matter and radically change the overall purpose of said ordi-
nance, then they shall be handled separately and introduced as a new
ordinance. At the second reading only the title of an ordinance need be
read, unless amendments or additions have been made subsequent to the
introduction, in which case said amendments or additions shall be read
in full prior to passage.

§ 3.14. Record and * Codification of Ordinances.—Every ordinance
after passage shall be given a serial number and shall be recorded by the
clerk in a properly indexed book kept for that purpose. The council may
cause to be prepared, under the direction of the city attorney, a codifica-
tion of all ordinances in force. Such codification shall be passed by the
council as a single ordinance and without hearings or prior publication.
This codification, to be known and cited officially as the city code, shall
be printed and distributed as the council may direct. |

In 80 codifying such ordinances, the council may, without limitation
of the foregoing, arrange the various ordinances and assign to them ap-
propriate places and section numbers, create new titles, chapters, articles
and sections, correct unmistakable printers’ errors or other unmistakable
errors, make consequential changes in the titles of officers, agencies and
references which are no longer appropriate, and make such other con-
sequential changes, alterations, modifications, additions and substitutions
therein as it may deem best to the end that a complete simplified code of
ordinances in force shall be presented, but with errors, inconsistencies,
repetitions, ambiguities and conflicts eliminated.

§ 4.02. The city manager shall be the chief executive officer of the
city government. He shall be responsible to the council for the proper
administration of all affairs of the city, except those responsibilities
vested by law in the school board, and to that end he shall have power
and shall be required to:

(a) Attend all meetings of the council with the right to introduce
ordinances and to speak but not to vote.

(b) Keep the council advised of the financial condition and future
needs of the city and of all matters pertaining to its proper administration,
and to make such recommendations as may seem to him desirable.

(c) Prepare and submit the annual budget to the council as pro-
vided in Chapter 6 of this charter and be responsible for its administra-
tion after its adoption.

(d) Prepare in suitable form for publication and submit to the
council each year at its first meeting in the fourth month following the
end of the preceding fiscal year a concise, comprehensive report of the
financial transactions and administrative activities and all other opera-
tions of the city government during the fiscal year ending on the last day
300 ACTS OF ASSEMBLY [vA., 1956

of the preceding fiscal year, which report shall become a part of the
minutes of the council and shall be printed if the council so directs.

(e) Present adequate monthly financial and activity reports at a
regular meeting of the council.

(f) Give such bonds as the council may require. ;

(g) Perform such other duties as may be prescribed by this charter
or required of him in accordance therewith by the council or which may
be required of the chief executive officer of a city by the general laws of
the Commonwealth other than the duties conferred on the mayor by
this charter. .

(h) Prepare and submit to the council, whenever required by the
council, a program of capital improvement projects and a budget there-
for, covering such a term of years as council may designate.

§ 4.08. Assessment and Equalization.

(a) The city manager shall provide for the annual assessment and
equalization of assessments of real estate for local taxation, and to that
end may establish a city real estate assessment office and appoint an
assessor to assess such real estate for taxation and to equalize such
assessments,

(b) The term of office, duties, compensation, clerical assistance and
allowances shall be as determined by the Council.

(c) All duties imposed and all powers conferred by law on the Com-
missioner of the Revenue with respect to the assessment of real estate
shall be transferred to the assessor appointed pursuant hereto, except
that the Commissioner of the Revenue shall continue to prepare the land
book and make disposition of the copies thereof as required by law. The
land book shall be prepared by the Commissioner of the Revenue on
the basis of the assesments made by the assessor and certified to him.
Transfers shall be verified by the Commissioner of the Revenue.

(d) All real. estate shall be assessed at its fair market value as of
January first of each year by such assessor, and taxes for each year on
such real estate shall be extended by the Commissioner of the Revenue
on the basis of the last assessment made prior to such year, subject to
such changes as may have been lawfully made.

(e) Notwithstanding any of the provisions of §§ 58-895 and 58-899
to 58-901, inclusive, of the Code of Virginia, the corporation court of said
city or the judge thereof in vacation shall, annually, appoint for the city
a board of review of real estate assessments, to be composed of three
members, who shall be freeholders of said city. The terms of such mem-
bers shall commence on their appointment and shall expire on the thirtieth
day of November of the year in which they are appointed unless such
terms are extended. Such court or the judge thereof in vacation may
extend the terms of the members of the said board of review and shall
fill any vacancy therein for the unexpired term. The members of the said
board shall receive per diem compensation for the time actually engaged
in the duties of the board, to be fixed by the council of said city, and to
be paid out of the treasury of said city, provided, however, that the
council of said city may limit the per diem compensation to such number
of days as, in its judgment, is sufficient for the completion of the work
of the board.

Such board of review shall have and may exercise the power to
revise, correct and amend any assessments of real estate made by said
assessor in the year in which they serve, and to that end shall have all
the powers conferred upon boards of equalization by 8§ 58-908 to 58-912,
inclusive, of the Code of Virginia. Notwithstanding any provision of said
sections, however, the board of review may adopt any regulations pro-
viding for the oral presentation, without formal petitions or other plead-
CH. 262] ACTS OF ASSEMBLY 301

ings of requests for review, and looking to the further facilitation and
simplification of proceedings before the board. .

Any person of said city aggrieved by any assessment made by said
assessor or board of review may apply for relief in the manner provided
by 8§ 58-1145 to 58-1151, inclusive, of the Code of Virginia.

(f) This law shall not apply to the assessment of any real estate
ussessable wnder the law by the State Corporation Commission.

(9) All acts and parts of acts relating to the assessment of real
estate in cities not in conflict with the provisions hereof shall apply to
the assessments made hereunder.

. § 8.05. No employee in the service of the city appointed by the
city manager shall be removed from the service except for due cause
shown in a written statement to such employee made by the city manager.
The decision of the city manager in all removals shall be final. * .

§ 9.03. 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 in each month,
shall adopt rules for the transaction of its business, and shall keep a record
of its resolutions, transactions, findings, and determinations, which re-
cord shall be a public record. * The city manager may appoint a director
of planning and such additional employees as he may deem necessary
for the work of the commision and may enter into contracts for and on
behalf of the commission or permit it to contract directly with city
planners, engineers, architects and other consultants for service it may
require. All expenditures, exclusive of gifts to the commission, shall not
exceed the sums appropriated by the city council therefor.

§ 9.06. Whenever the commission shall have adopted a master
plan for the city or one or more parts thereof, geographical, topographical
or functional, and the master plan or such part or parts thereof shall
have been approved by the council and it has been certified by the council
to the clerk of the corporation court and filed by him with the court
records, then and thereafter no street square, park of public way, ground,
open space, public building or structure, shall be constructed or author-
ized in the city or in the planned section or division thereof until and
unless the general location, character and extent thereof has been sub-
mitted to and approved by the commission. No widening, extension,
narrowing, enlargement, vacation or change in the use of streets and
other public ways, grounds and places within the city * shall be author-
ized or take place unless such transactions shall have been first submitted
to and approved by the commission; and no public utility, whether
publicly or privately owned, shall be eonstructed or authorized in the
the city or in the planned section or division therof until and unless its
general location, but not its character and extent, has been submitted to
and approved by the commission; and no ordinance giving effect to or
amending the comprehensive zoning plan as provided in § 9.09 of this chap-
ter shall be adopted until such application on motion for such change has
been submitted to and approved by the commission. In case of disapproval
in any of the instances enumerated above the commission shall communi-
cate its reasons to the council which shall not have the power to overrule
such action except by a recorded affirmative vote of three-fourths of the
members of the council, except as otherwise provided in § 9.12 of this
chapter. The failure of the commission to act within sixty days from the
date of the official submission to it shall be deemed approval. The fore-
going provisions of this section shall not be deemed to apply to the
pavement, repavement, reconstruction, improvement, underground pipes
and conduits, drainage, or other work in or upon any existing street or
other existing public way.
§ 9.09. In addition to the powers granted elsewhere in this charter
the council shall have the power to adopt by ordinance a comprehensive
zoning plan designed to lessen congestion in streets, secure safety from
fire, panic and other danger, promote health, sanitation and general wel-
fare, 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 zones 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 zones and may include but shall not be
limited to the following: é

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

(b) It may restrict the height, area and bulk of buildings and
structures in the zones.

(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 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.

(g) It may provide that land, buildings and structures and the uses
thereof which do not conform to the regulations and restrictions pre-
scribed for the zone 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 zone or
zones 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 zone or zones in which they are situated,
in any event within a reasonable period of time to be specified in the
ordinance.

(h) It may require that permits be granted for special uses of
property within a zone.

(i) It may, in order to promote the general welfare through the
preservation and protection of historic places and areas of historic interest
in the city and through the preservation of the memorial character of the
George Washington Memorial Highway, provide for old and historic
districts in which no building or structure shall be erected, reconstructed,
tbe restored, or razed until approved by a Board of Architectural

eview.

(j) It may create a Board of Architectural Review which shall have
the power to pass upon the appropriateness of exterior architectural fea-
tures, including signs, of buildings and structures to be erected, recon-
structed, altered or restored in any old and historic district established in
the city and prohibit the razing of any building in such a district that
was erected prior to or during the year eighteen hundred forty-six and is
CH. 262] ACTS OF ASSEMBLY 303

of such architectural or historical interest that its removal would be to
the detriment of the public interest. .

§ 9.12. 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 zones 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 author-
ity to provide for the collection of fees to cover costs involved in the
consideration of any application for amendment, supplement or repeal
of any such regulation, restriction or determination of boundaries, to be
paid to the city treasurer by the applicant upon filing such request. No
ordinance to adopt such regulations and restrictions shall be enacted until
the application or motion for such change has been referred to the city
planning commission and until after a public hearing in relation thereto
and has been approved or rejected by it, and until after a public hearing
in relation thereto has been held by the council, provided that such public
hearings shall not be held more frequently than once every three months,
at which time the parties in interest shall have opportunity to be heard;
provided, however, that more frequent rezoning ordinances may be enacted
under the emergency ordinance provision of this charter. At least fifteen
days’ notice of the time and place of any such hearing before the council
shall be given by publication thereof in a daily newspaper of general
circulation published in the city. .

The council may approve or reject recommendations of the planning
commission subject to the provisions of § 9.06 of this chapter. It may also
refer the matter to the commission for further study. The commission
shall act on such referral within fifteen days and resubmit its reviewed
recommendations to council. If adopted by a vote of two-thirds of the
entire membership of the commission at the referral meetings, such rec-
ommendations may be modified only by a three-fourths vote of all of the
members of the council. If the commission fails to act within the pre-
scribed period or by a two-thirds vote, the council may adopt said applica-
tion or motion for change by a simple majority. The public hearing on
any matter referred by council to the planning commission for further
study may be continued over a period not to exceed thirty days and such
thirty days shall not be considered as a part of the three months time
period heretofore mentioned; except that in the event of an emergency
whereby there is no newspaper of general circulation published in the city,
then such notice may be published in a newspaper of general circulation
in the city.

§ 9.19. In exercising the powers conferred upon it the board may
reverse or affirm, wholly or partly, or may modify the order, requirement,
decision or determination appealed from, and make such order, require-
ment, decision, or determination as should be made, and to that end shall
have all the power of the director of planning. The concurring affirmative
vote of three members of the board shall be necessary to reverse any
order, requirement, decision or determination appealed from, and make
such order, requirement, decision or determination as should be made, and
to that end shall have all the powers of the director of planning. The con-
curring affirmative vote of three members of the board shall be necessary
to reverse any order, requirement, and decision or determination of the
director of planning or to decide in favor of the applicant in any matter
of which it has jurisdiction. The board shall render a written decision
which shall set forth the reason for its decision and the vote of each
member participating therein shall be spread upon its records and shall
be open to public inspection. *

§ 10.01. On the second Tuesday in June, * 1958, and on the second
Tuesday in June every third year thereafter there shall be held a general
304 ACTS OF ASSEMBLY [vA., 1956

city election at which shall be elected by the qualified voters of the city at
large, * a mayor and siz members at large of the council for terms of
three years from the first day of July following their election. A candt-
date for mayor shall file his petition therefor specifically, and a candidate
for city councilman shall file his petition therefor specifically, provided,
however, that a candidate who Psd his petition for mayor shall not have
his name printed on the ballot for city councilman. The names of all can-
didates for city council shall be listed together, alphabetically, on the
ballot; the names of all candidates for mayor shall be listed together on
the ballot, alphabetically. Immediately above the list of names of candt-
dates for city council shall appear the words “For City Council, vote for
no more than six (6)”, or some similar designation. Immediately above
the list of names of candidates for mayor shall appear the words “For
Mayor, vote for one”, or some similar designation. .

In the event no candidate shall file a petition for the office of mayor,
the ballot shall show no candidates for that office and the member of
council who receives the largest popular vote shall be the mayor of the city
and the persons receiving the next six highest votes shall be the city
councilmen.

The said election shall be held in accordance with the general laws
of me Ppmonaentia relating to primary and general elections wherever
applicable.

2. §8§ 8.08 and 9.07 of Chapter 586 of the Acts of Assembly of 1950,
approved April 7, 1950, are hereby repealed. .
8. An emergency exists and this act is in force from its passage.