Chap. 273.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 10, 10-a and 10-b of an
act entitled an act to provide a new charter for the town of Blacksburg, ap-
proved March 12, 1912, as heretofore amended. [H B 300]

Approved March 28, 1934

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That sec-
tions ten, ten-a and ten-b of an act entitled an act to provide a new
charter for the town of Blacksburg, approved March twelfth, nine-
teen hundred and twelve, be amended and re-enacted so as to read
as follows:

Section 10. That the said council shall also have power and author-
ity to make all necessary provisions to prevent accidents by fire; to
designate such parts of said town as it may deem advisable within
which no building of wood shall be erected; to regulate and control
the erection of all buildings, by ordinance, and to order the removal
of any building which shall hereafter be erected contrary to such regu-
lations at the expense of the builder or owner thereof, and to cause any
building which clearly appears to be unsafe to be taken down at the
expense of the owner thereof; to supply the town with water for all
necessary purposes; to prevent the pollution of water and injuries to
the water works, it shall have jurisdiction now or as may hereafter
be given by the general law to towns for such purposes, to organize
fire companies; and to purchase engines, hose, fire hooks, ladders, and
other fixtures necessary and useful for preventing accidents by fires;
to establish, enlarge, maintain and operate a system of sewerage, gas
works, electric light works, poor house for the reception and main-
tenance of the poor and destitute, burying’ ground and stone quarry,
within or without the said town, and to contract or agree with the
owner or owners of the land for the use or purchase thereof, or to
have the same condemned according to law, for the location, extension,
or enlargement of its said works, water pipes, wire and fixtures, con-
nected therewith, poor house, burying ground, and stone quarry, and
shall have the power by ordinance or otherwise to protect from injury
the said works, pipes, wire, fixtures and land, or anything connected
therewith, whether within or without the limits of the said town. The
council of said town shall also have power and authority to negotiate
any loan or loans, in the manner prescribed by law, for the purpose
of buying necessary real estate, for the erecting of buildings, for the
purchase of any and all material for its water works, gas, or electric
light works, poor house, burying ground, quarry, and its sewers, and
the construction of the same, and for the general improvement of the
town, so that the amount borrowed shall not exceed that allowed by
law ; and shall also have authority to issue registered or coupon bonds
for said loan or loans, payable at not more than thirty years after date
of said bonds, bearing interest at a rate not greater than six per centum
per annum, payable semi-annually. They shall also have power and
authority to establish markets and regulate the same, to regulate the
sale of fresh meats of all kinds and to regulate huckstering and peddling
upon the streets of the town; to graduate and pave, or in any other
manner improve the streets, walks, and alleys of said town, and have
them kept in good order, and properly lighted and paved, and to re-
quire the payment by the property owners benefited by such works or
improvements, of such portion of the costs thereof as may be allowed
by law, and to make such sum a lien upon their real estate, and col-
lectible in the same manner as is hereinafter provided for the collection
of taxes generally; to prevent the cumbering or obstruction of the
streets, sidewalks, alleys, lanes, or bridges in the said town in any
manner whatsoever, and to have full and complete control of same;
to change, direct and protect the water courses in said town; to pre-
vent and punish by reasonable fines, the practice of firing guns, or in
any manner setting fire to powder, within the said town; to regulate
and direct the location of all buildings for storing gunpowder, nitro-
glycerine, dynamite, or other explosives; to regulate and prohibit the
exhibition of fireworks and the making of bonfires in sheds and yards
within the said town; to license and regulate shows and other public
exhibitions, and the same to tax to such extent as they may deem
reasonable and expedient; to prescribe rules for the orderly building
of houses and chimneys; to regulate blacksmith shops and all other
shops, structures and business considered likely to occasion accidents
by fire, and the erection of stoves and stove-pipes; to regulate the
erection of privies, stables and cow sheds, and prescribe their locations ;
to regulate butcher stalls and slaughter houses; to remove and abate
nuisances within said town at the expense of those who may occasion
them, or of the owner or owners of the land whereon the same may
be; to restrain the exercise of any dangerous, offensive or unwholesome
business, trade or employment therein; to prevent the sale of cider of
any kind except the pure juice of the apple when offered for sale by the
person, firm, or corporation growing the fruit from which the cider is
made; to require and compel the owners or occupants of houses in the
town to connect their water closets and water drains with the sewers
of the town, or otherwise comply with such regulations as to sewerage
as the council may prescribe; to prohibit horses, mules, hogs, dogs,
cows, and other animals from running at large within the limits of
said town; to prohibit and regulate the raising and keeping of hogs in
said town, or any part thereof; to prevent the exhibition of stud horses
and jackasses in said town; to prevent the riding, driving, or move-
ment of horses or animals or vehicles of any kind at a fast or improper
speed, throwing stones, or committing any act, on the streets, side-
walks, or alleys, dangerous to or annoying to persons on same, and to
punish the abuse or cruel treatment of horses or other animals in said
town; to prevent vice and immorality, obscenity, or profanity, to re-
strain and punish drunkards and street beggars and vagrants, to sup-
press houses of ill-fame and gambling houses, and punish persons en-
gaged in gambling; and generally to pass all by-laws, ordinances, or
regulations, or orders not contrary to the Constitution and laws of the
United States or of this State, which the said council may think neces-
sary and proper for carrying into effect the foregoing powers, and such

other powers as are now and may hereafter be vested in them by the
laws of this State, and to amend or repeal the same at their pleasure,
and to enforce the observance of such by-laws, ordinances, orders and
regulations under penalties not exceeding one hundred dollars, or im-
prisonment not exceeding six months, or both, fines to be recovered,
with costs, in the name of said town before the mayor, or any council-
man of said town, in the absence of the mayor, and applied in aid of the
taxes imposed upon said town.

The council shall have the power to appoint a board of health to
settle all questions of sanitation and for the protection of the said
town. It shall have the power by ordinance to set forth the duties of
said board and may at any time call for the resignation of any or all
members thereof if, in the opinion of the council, said member or
members of said board are not doing their duty. The board shall have
at least one doctor on same. In order to better preserve the public
health, the council of said town shall have the power to extend its
water and sewer lines to inhabited districts outside of and adjacent to
the corporate limits and to sell water to and collect a sewer tax from
the inhabitants of such districts. The council of said town shall have
the power to create a plumbing board, whose duty shall be to license
plumbers. The town shall provide by sinking fund or otherwise, a
proportion of the annual income of said town, which will pay off and
discharge any bond issue under the provisions of this section.

The council shall also have the power when erecting any building
for municipal purposes whether erected from the proceeds of a bond
issue or otherwise to include in said building stores which the town
is authorized to lease to others and derive a revenue therefrom.

Section 10-a. Said council shall have power to lay a special levy
for school purposes, or to donate money from the general fund for
said purposes.

Section 10-b. The council, whenever all of its members by a
recorded affirmative vote decide that it is to the interests of the said
town to do so, may sell or exchange any real or personal property
belonging to said town, and said property may be sold either at private
or public sale, as said council may deem most expedient, and in case
of sale of real estate it shall be conveyed by deed executed on behalf
of said town by the mayor and clerk, to which the common seal of said
town shall be affixed.

Provided, however, that no such sale or exchange at public or
private sale shall be made except on the approval of the circuit court of
Montgomery county, or the judge thereof in vacation, by an order duly
entered of record in the clerk’s office of said court, and until notice
thereof shall have been given of the terms, if a private sale or exchange,
and of the time, place and terms of such public sale or exchange, by
publication thereof for a period of thirty days in some newspaper pub-
lished in the county of Montgomery, and once a week in at least four
successive weekly issues thereof.

2. An emergency is hereby declared to exist and this act shall be
in force from its passage.