CHAPTER 279

An Act to amend and reenact § 15.1-493 of the Code of Virginia, relating
to preparation and adoption of zoning ordinances and maps and amend-
ments thereto.

[S 150]

Approved March 31, 1964

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 15.1-493 of the Code of Virginia be amended and reenacted
as follows:

§ 15.1-493. The local commission of each county or municipality
may, and at the direction of the governing body shall, prepare a pro-
posed zoning ordinance including a map or maps showing the division
of the territory into districts and a text setting forth the regulations
applying in each district. The commission shall hold at least one public
hearing on such proposed ordinance or any amendment of an ordinance,
after notice as required by § 15.1-431, and may make appropriate
changes in the proposed ordinance or amendment as a result of such
hearing. Upon the completion of its work, the commission shall present
the proposed ordinance or amendment including the district maps to
the governing body together with its recommendations and appropriate
explanatory materials.

After June twenty-ninth, nineteen hundred and sixty-two, no zoning
ordinance shall be amended or reenacted unless the governing body has
referred the proposed amendment or reenactment to the local commis-
sion for its recommendations. Failure of the commission to report
* ninety days after the first meeting of the Commission after the pro-
posed amendment or reenactment has been referred to the commission,
or such shorter period as may be prescribed by the governing body,
shall be deemed approval.

Before approving and adopting any zoning ordinance or amend-
ment thereof, the governing body shall hold at least one public hearing
thereon, pursuant to public notice as required by § 15.1-431, after which
the governing body may make appropriate changes or corrections in
the ordinance or proposed amendment; provided, however, that no
additional land may be zoned to a different classification than was con-
tained in the public notice without an additional public hearing after
notice required by § 15.1-431. An affirmative vote of at least a majority
of the members of the governing body shall be required to adopt, amend
or reenact a zoning ordinance.

The adoption or amendment prior to March 1, 1964 of any plan or
ordinance under the authority of prior acts shall not be declared invalid
by reason of a failure to advertise, give notice or conduct more than one
public hearing as may be required by such act or by this chapter, provided
a public hearing was conducted by the governing body prior to such adop-
tion or amendment.