Chap. 281.—An ACT to provide for the recordation of plats of subdivision of
land located in or within not more than five miles of any city of a population
not in excess of 100,000, according to the last United States census, for the
vacation thereof, for the construction of public improvements therein and for
the rights of such cities in connection therewith. [H B 228]

Approved March 21, 1928

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That every
owner or proprietor of any tract of land situated within the corporate
limits of any city or within three miles of the corporate limits of any
such city in the State of Virginia, provided said city has a population
not in excess of 100,000, according to the last United States census,
who may hereafter subdivide the same into three or more parts for
the purpose of laying out any town or city, or any addition thereto,
or any part thereof or suburban lots, may cause a plat of such sub-
division with reference to known or permanent monuments to be made,
which shall accurately describe all the subdivisions of such tracts or
parcels of land, and giving the dimensions and length and breadth
thereof and the breadth and courses of all the streets and alleys estab-
lished therein. Descriptions of lots or parcels of land in such sub-
divisions, according to the number and designation thereof on said
plat, contained in conveyances or for the purpose of taxation and
copies of such plats or extracts therefrom, properly attested by the
clerk in whose office said plats are recorded, shall have the same force
and effect as evidence that copies of deeds may have, and shall be
deemed good and valid for all intents and purposes.

2. Every such plat shall contain a statement to the effect that the
above or foregoing subdivision of (here insert a correct description of
the land or parcel subdivided) as appears in this plat, is with the free
consent and in accordance with the desire of the undersigned owners
and proprietors which shall be signed by the owners and proprietors,
and shall be duly acknowledged before some officer authorized to take
acknowledgments of deeds, and when thus executed and acknowledged
said plat, subject to the provisions contained in section four of this
act, shall be filed for record and be recorded in the office of the
clerk of the proper court of the county or city.

3. The recordation of such plat shall operate to transfer, in fee
simple, to the Commonwealth cf Virginia such portion of the premises
platted as is on such plat set apart for streets or other public use and
to create a public right of passage over the same; but nothing herein
contained shall prevent the persons who set apart such land for streets
and alleys, their heirs and assigns, where otherwise they have the right
and power so to do, from erecting, putting down and maintaining gas,
water, telephone, sewer and electric works, pipes, wires, fixtures and
systems along or under the portions so set apart. ‘They shall not,
however, obstruct or hinder the passage over such streets or alleys
further than is reasonably necessary while laying down, erecting, re-
pairing or removing such works, pipes, wires and fixtures, such removal,
however, to be only with the consent of the chief engineering ofhcer of
such city in event such works, pipes, wires, and fixtures have been con-
structed or placed in accordance with plans and specifications approved
as hereinafter in section five of this act prescribed.

4. No such plat, however, shall be recorded by the clerk of any
court of this Commonwealth, until the dimensions and location of any
such streets, alleys or lots, as indicated on said plat, shall be approved
by the chief engineering officer of said city, if the land be situated
entirely within said city or if said land or part thereof be in a county,
by the chief engineering officer of the city adjoining and by the board
of supervisors or the engineers of roads of the courity (or if there be
no engineer of roads of such county, by the county surveyor of such
county), or if said chief engineering officer and the board of super-
visors or road engineer, or county surveyor, as the case may be, fail
to agree or to act within the hereinafter-mentioned time after applica-
tion thereto by the party interested, by the judge of the circuit court of
the county wherein said land or part thereof lies; provided, however,
that this section shall apply only after such city shall place on file,
accessible to the public in the chief engineering officer’s office, a map
covering the location in question officially approved by said city, show-
ing in general a comprehensive plan for the future development and
laying out of its main proposed thoroughfare, or thoroughfares, which
plan may be subject to reservations, conditions and exceptions as in
the judgment of the city is wise, including the right to make such
reasonable and suitable modifications thereof as may be needful in the
judgment of the said city, but this section is subject to the conditions
that where two or more cities are adjacent to each other, and separated
by natural barriers, the authority of each such city, under this act,
in the discretion of the other shall terminate at such natural barrier.

Any person desiring to have a subdivision plat certified, as herein
provided, where the platted property lies wholly or partly within a
county, shall apply therefor and file a copy thereof with the officers
aforesaid who are to act hereunder; and if the same be not acted upon
as herein provided, either favorably or unfavorably, within thirty days
after the same is filed, then the judge of the court aforesaid, upon
not less than ten days’ previous notice to said city by the applicant.
shall have the jurisdiction of such application and dispose thereof, in
his discretion, in accordance herewith; and on a hearing thereof. the
judge shall enter an order of record either approving or disapprov-
ing such plan as being either in conformity with, or not in conformity
with said plan of said city or town, which order shall state the facts
and be a matter of permanent record of said court. And upon an
order of approval so entered the clerk shall record the plat. Should
the officers in the first instant disapprove the application, the applicant
shall be entitled to an appeal to the said court, under such reasonable
rules in relation thereto as the court shall allow. If the property in
question lies wholly within the city then the circuit court of the city,
or corporation court of the city, if there be no circuit court in said
city, shall have jurisdiction in the same manner as is herein provided
for the said circuit court of said county or counties. No plat sub-
dividing any tract of land situated within the corporate limiis of any
city of not more than one hundred thousand inhabitants according to
the last preceding United States census, or within three miles of the
corporate limits of any such city, into three or more parts for the
purpose of laying out any town or city, or any addition thereto, or any
part thereof or suburban lots, shall hereafter be recorded except in
conformity with the provisions of this act.

5. In event the proprietors or owners of any such subdivision
desire to construct in, on or under any street or alleys located in that
portion of such subdivision which lies beyond the corporate limits of
any such city, any gas, water, sewer or electric light or power works,
pipes, wires, fixtures or systems, they may present plans or specifica-
tions therefor to the chief engineering officer of any such city adjoining
or within three miles of the corporate limits of any such city, who
shall within one hundred and eighty (180) days thereafter approve or
disapprove the same, and in event of his failure either to approve or
disapprove any such plans or specifications within such period, such
plans and specifications may be submitted after ten days’ notice to
such city, to the judge of the circuit court of the county wherein the
land embraced within said subdivision, or any part thereof lies, for
his approval or disapproval, and his approval thereof shall, for all
purposes of this act be treated and considered as the approval of said
chief engineering officer, and from the decision of such judge in
approving or disapproving such plans or specifications there shall be
no appeal; provided, however, that nothing herein contained shall be
construed as granting the right of appeal from the action of said chief
engineering officer in approving or disapproving such plans and
specifications.

Nothing in this act contained shall be so construed as to prevent the
owner or proprietor of any such subdivision, where otherwise he has
the right and power so to do, from erecting, putting down and maintain-
ing gas, water, sewer, telephone and electric works, pipes, wires, fix-
tures and systems and other like improvements along or under any
streets or alleys in such subdivision, under plans or specifications which
have not been approved in the manner hereinbefore prescribed.

6. Any such plat may be vacated by the proprietors thereof, at any
time before the sale of any lots therein, by a written instrument, declar-
ing the same to be vacated, duly executed, acknowledged or proved
and recorded in the same 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 said plat and with the approval of the city and county officers men-
tioned in section four of this act and the approval of said office:
shall be obtained as provided in said section four, for the approv:z
and recordation of the original and shall not be vacated otherwise.

7. The clerk of the circuit court of the county or corporation o
circuit court of the city in whose office the plats aforesaid are recorde
shall write in plain legible letters across the plat so vacated the wor
“vacated,” and also make a reference on the same, to the volume an
page in which said instrument of vacation is recorded.

8. Nothing in this act contained shall be construed as an obliga
tion upon any city to pay for grading, or for paving, sidewalks, cur
and gutter improvements or construction except as may be provide
by laws heretofore or hereafter enacted, relative to annexation o
territory by cities and towns.

9. If any provision or part of this act shall for any reason b
adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, sucl
judgment shall not invalidate the remainder of this act, but shall b
confined in its operation to the provision or part thereof directl;
involved in the controversy in which such judgment has been rendered
The provisions of this act shall not apply to the county of Arlington.