Chap. 235.—An ACT to prescribe the conditions for and method of abandoning
parts of the secondary highway system which it is necessary to flood in impound-
ing the waters of a stream for purposes of a water supply for a municipally owned
water works system; to impose on the city or town owning said system the duty
of relocating, furnishing the right of way for and constructing a road in lieu of
that to be abandoned, all subject to the approval of the State Highway Com-
mission and to provide that title to such relocated highway or road shall vest in
the Commonwealth as a part of the secondary highway system, and all public
rights in the abandoned road shall vest in said city or town. [H B 229]

Approved March 27, 1940

1. Beit enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, as follows:

Section 1. Wherever any city or town which owns and operates
a water works system for the purpose of supplying such city, or town,
and its inhabitants with water, finds it necessary to enlarge its water
supply, for the accomplishment of which, it is necessary to impound
the water of a stream without the corporate limits of such city, or
town, by means of a dam erected in such stream, and the impounding
of the water thereof would result in the overflow, or flooding, of a
section or sections of a road or roads within the secondary system
of State highways, thereby necessitating the alteration and relocation
of said road, or roads, and the council of said city or town shall by
ordinance declare such necessity, and that it is the intention of such
city or town to comply with the requirements of this act, as here-
inafter set forth, said road proposed to be flooded may be discon-
tinued and abandoned but only after the said city or town has com-
plied with the following provisions and requirements:

(a) The said city or town shall certify to the board of super-
visors of the county in which the said road or the greater part thereof
lies a copy of the ordinance adopted by its council as aforesaid, and
the board of supervisors, upon receipt of same, shall within thirty
days consider the question of the reasonableness of the action con-
templated by said city ordinance, and shall propose and publish as
required by law an ordinance approving or disapproving the said
action contemplated by the city or town, and shall conduct a hearing
there on. In the event that, after said hearing, the board of super-
visors disapproves said proposed flooding, discontinuance and aban-
donment of said road, the said city or town shall have, as of right, an
appeal to the circuit court of said county where the question of the
reasonableness of said proposed flooding and abandonment shall be
heard de novo by said circuit court, or the judge thereof in vacation,
and judgment shall be rendered according to its decision. From
this judgment a writ of error will lie, in the discretion of the Supreme
Court of Appeals as in other cases at law.

(b) When and if there shall be a final approval of the abandon-
ment of said road by the board of supervisors or the court, as the
case may be, said city or town shall, solely at its own expense, submit
to the Highway Commission plans and specifications for a proposed
relocation of said highway, containing such information and facts
as to location, elevations and other matters as the Highway Com-
missioner may require. The Highway Commission shall have the
power to change, alter and amend said plans so as to conform to the
Commission’s views as to the location, width and type of construction
of such road to be built on the new location, provided, however, that
the new road shall be so located that it will not be flooded by the
water to be impounded, and provided further, that the Commission
may not require a more expensive type or character of road than
the one to be abandoned. The Commission shall either approve said
plans and specifications as proposed by said city or town, or as amended
by the Commission.

(c) Upon the approval of said plans and specifications by said
Commission it shall be the duty of said city or town, solely at its
own expense, to acquire, in the name of the Commonwealth of Vir-
ginia, either by purchase or condemnation, the right of way necessary
to construct the highway on the new location as shown by said plans
as approved by said Commission, and, in the event of condemnation,
the proceedings shall be instituted in the name of said city or town
and shall in all respects conform to the proceedings which would be
applicable if they had been instituted by the State Highway Com-
missioner, but the title to said lands acquired in said proceedings
shall, when the award of the Commissioners has been paid, vest in
the Commonwealth of Virginia in the same manner as if the Highway
Commissioner had instituted and conducted said proceedings, and
had paid the amount of said award.

(d) It shall be the duty of said city or town to pay out of its
own funds all costs incident to all surveys, plans, specifications, blue-
prints, or other matters relating to the relocation of said highway,
and the entire cost of acquiring, by purchase or by condemnation,
the right of way aforesaid.

(e) Upon the acquisition of said right of way as hereinabove
provided, it shall be the duty of said city or town to grade the same
and construct thereon, in accordance with the plans and specifications
approved by the State Highway Commission, as aforesaid, the road or
highway thereby required.

(f) When said road or highway shall have been completed, it
shall be the duty of said city or town to notify the Highway Com-
missioner, who shall promptly cause an inspection thereof to be
made by the Highway Department. If the Department approves
same the Highway Commissioner shall notify said city or town, in
writing, of such fact. If the Department disapproves of same, it
shall notify said city or town, specifying the Department’s objections
and recommendations for remedying or removing them, and it shall
be the duty of said city or town to promptly carry out said recom-
mendations. ,

Section 2. When the said city or town shall have been notified
by the State Highway Commissioner of final approval of the con-
struction of said road or highway, the same shall immediately become
a part of the secondary highway system of the State, and the public
shall be vested with the same rights of travel thereover as it possessed
with respect to other highways in said system; and thereupon the
part of said road or highway which it is proposed to flood shall be
deemed to be abandoned and all public rights therein shall vest in
said city or town.