Chap. 325.—An ACT to authorize and enforce the Norfolk and Vir-
ginia Beach railroad company to exercise control over the lands
sold at Virginia Beach, for the proper regulation of drainage and
other sanitary matters. |

Approved March 1, 1886.

Whereas the Norfolk and Virginia Beach railroad and im-
provement company has established on the coast of the Atlan-
tic ocean, in Princess Anne county, a sea-side watering place,
known as Virginia beach, and has connected the same with the
city of Norfolk by the construction of a railway, and it is the
purpose of the said company to sell and lease the lands owned
by it in the said county on or near the ocean in lots or parcels,
which it is contemplated will be used and occupied as resi-
dences by those seeking the benefit of the satd resort for health
or pleasure, and for other purposes; and it is desirable that,
until a borough or town shall be established there, the said
company shall be clothed with the proper authority to control
and protect the sanitary measures necessary for the protection
of the health and convenience of the residents and property
owners, and of the said company’s lands, and to prevent and
abate nuisances; therefore,
1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
the board of directors of the Norfolk and Virginia Beach rail-
road and improvement company be and they are hereby au-
thorized and empowered to make and establish such rules and
regulations as to them shall seem proper, not inconsistent with
the laws of this state or of the United States, for the proper
drainage, grading and enclosing of the lots or parcels of land
sold and conveyed or leased by the said company to any party
or parties, on or near the ocean in Princess Anne county afore-
said, at the watering place aforesaid, and to prevent or abate
the establishment of any nuisance by any of the owners or oc-
cupants of any of the said lots.

2. Such rules and regulations as may be established by the
said board of directors shall be printed and posted at one or
more public places on the said premises, and the purchaser or
lessee of any lot of land, or their assigns, shall hold the same
subject to such rules and regulations, if embodied in the deed
for the.said lots, or if at the time of the execution and delivery
of the said deeds a printed copy of such rules and regulations
shall be delivered to the purchaser or lessee of such lots of
land: provided, that in all such deeds or leases a reference
shall be made to this act.

3. The said board shall have the right to cause any nuisance,
which may be created on any of the said premises, to be abated,
and it may provide for a proper system of drainage and require
the same to be complied with; and to that end whenever a
nuisance of any kind, which shall violate any of said rules or
regulations, has been or is about to be created by any person,
on the premises aforesaid, the said board may cause a notice, in
writing, to be served on the owner or occupant or the tenant in
possession of the said lot or premises to abate the same within
five days from the service of such notice; and if such nuisance
be not abated within the time limited, then the said board,
through its agent or employes, may enter into and upon the
said premises and abate the same, and may recover from the
owner or the occupant of said premises the cost of abating such
nuisance in an action or warrant brought before any justice of
the peace in said county, subject to the laws now in force in
regard to the trial of warrants for small claims before such jus-
tices; and in the trial of any such warrant the justice shall have
the right to hear and determine the question as to the existence
of such nuisance or other violation of such rules and regula-
tions, and if he shall find that no such violation of said rules or
regulations was established, then such warrant shall be dismissed
at the cost of said company; and if the owner or occupant shall
fail or refuse to comply with such ruies and regulations as may
be established in regard to the drainage or other sanitary pro-
tections of said property and premises, then the said company
may enforce the same at the cost of such owner or occupant of
such lots or premises, such cost to be recovered by the said
company as hereinbefore provided.

4. This act shail be in force from its passage, but shall at all
times hereafter be subject to amendment, modification or re-
peal by the general assembly of Virginia.