Chap. 379.—An ACT to provide for the regulation of the subdivision and use of
certain lands in the unincorporated areas of certain counties, to confer certain
powers upon the governing bodies of such counties, to prescribe conditions
under which such regulation shall become effective, and to prescribe penalties ;
and to repeal Chapter 189 of the Acts of Assembly of 1928, approved March
14, 1928, relating to the same matters, and all acts amendatory there a 416

Approved March 28, 1946

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia :

, 1. Section 1. When subdivision jurisdiction effective—(a) In
addition to any other power and authority conferred upon it by any gen-
eral law, the governing body of any county adjoining any county in this
State having a density of population in excess of one thousand inhabit-
ants per square mile according to the last preceding United States census
shall have the powers with respect to subdivision specified in this act,
from and after the time the governing body of such county shall have
adopted regulations governing subdivisions within its unincorporated area
and authority of planning as provided in this act.

(b) From and after the effective date of regulations adopted under
this act, any owner or proprietor of any tract of land who subdivides the
same into three or more parts as provided by law, shall cause a plat of
such subdivision with reference to known or permanent monuments to be
made and recorded in the office of the Clerk of the court of the county in
which deeds are admitted to record, in the county in which the land so
subdivided lies; the provisions of this act shall not apply to the subdivi-
sion of land not involving any new public street, any easement, or any
right of way connecting two public streets.

Section 2. Subdivision regulations——(a) Such regulations may
provide for the size, scale and other details of the plat to be recorded, for
the harmonious development of the county, for the coordination of streets
within the subdivision with other existing or planned streets or with the
master plan of the region in question.

(b) Such regulations may require monuments of specific type, es-
tablishing street and property lines to be erected, and may include re-
quirements as to the extent to which and the manner in which streets
shall be graded, graveled or otherwise improved and water, sewer and
other utility mains, piping, connections or other facilities shall be in-
stalled as a condition precedent to the approval of the plat. The regula-
tions or practice of the governing body of the county, or their designated
agents, provided for in this act, may provide for the tentative approval of
the plat previous to such improvements and installation; but any such
tentative approval shall not be entered on the plat. Such regulations
may provide that, in lieu of the completion of such work previous to the
final approval of a plat, the governing body of the county, or its designated
agents, may accept a bond, in an amount and with surety or conditions
satisfactory to such governing body, providing for and securing to the
county, the actual construction and installation of such improvements and
utilities within a period specified by such governing body, and the county
is hereby granted the power to enforce such bond by all appropriate legal
and equitable remedies. Such regulations may provide that upon final
approval the plat shall be filed for recordation within ninety days or ap-
proval of plat shall be withdrawn and approved plat marked void and re-
turned to approving official. Such regulations may provide, in lieu of a
bond, for the completion of such work previous to the final approval of a
plat.

(c) The governing body of any county shall not adopt any regula-
tion under this act until notice of intention so to do has been published
once a week for two successive weeks in some newspaper published, or
having general circulation, in such county. Such notice shall specify the
time and place at which persons affected may appear before the govern-
ing body and present their views. Ten days after the final notice has
been so published any person affected may appear before the governing
body, personally or by counsel, and present such views relative to the pro-
posed regulations as he so desires. Similar notice shall be given of
amendments to any. regulations issued under this act and procedure
thereon shall conform to the provisions of this paragraph.

(d) Such regulation and amendments, if adopted, shall be adopted
by the governing body of the county, by ordinance. A certified copy of
such regulations and all amendments thereto shall be filed in the office of
the county, designated in the regulations by any such governing body,
and in the office of the clerk of the circuit court of the county where the
land or any part lies, and in which clerk’s office deeds are admitted to
record. Any plat to be approved and recorded hereunder shall be sub-
mitted for approval to the governing body of the county or to such of-
ficial or board including the planning commission as the governing body
in the regulations designates.

Section 3. Action on Plats—(a) No clerk of any court shall file
or record a plat of a subdivision required by this act to be recorded until
such subdivision plat has been approved as required by this act, except
that where no regulations have been adopted, such plat or plats may be
recorded without such approval.

(b) In any such county for which regulations requiring approval
and recordation of plats have been adopted, an owner or proprietor of any
tract of land who desires to subdivide same into three or more parts, two
of which are parcels of land for the purpose, whether immediate or future,
of transfer of ownership in building development, shall submit a plat
covering same to the governing body of the county or its designated
agent, for approval, and after the adoption of such regulations as set
forth in this act no land or parcel of land shall be divided and sold or
conveyed one part at a time over an extended period in order to avoid
meeting the requirements of this act, but upon the same or conveying
of the second parcel of land the provisions of this act shall apply.

(c) Every such plat shall be prepared by a surveyor or civil engineer
duly licensed as such by the Commonwealth of Virginia, who shall en-
dorse upon each plat a certificate signed by him setting forth the source
of title, if by deed or will, and the place of record of the last instrument
in the chain of title, if by descent, and certify that all of the land included
in the subdivision is within the original boundaries of the original tract
or tracts. When said plat shall be of land acquired from more than one
source Of title the outlines of the several tracts shall be indicated by red
ink lines drawn upon said plat, or by easily distinguished dashed lines
drawn thereon, and the respective tracts propertly identified either upon
said plat or in said certificate.

(d) The recordation of such plat shall operate to transfer, in fee
simple, to the Commonwealth of Virginia such portion of the premises
platted as 1s on such plat set apart for streets 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 to erect, put
down, and maintain a gas water and electric works, pipes, wires and fix-
tures, from erecting, putting down and maintaining the same along or
under the portions so set apart, except as such improvements or installa-
tions may be regulated as provided for under this law. They shall not,
however, obstruct or hinder the passage over such streets or alleys, fur-
ther than is reasonably necessary while laying down, erecting or repairing
such works, pipes, wires and fixtures.

(e) Any such plat may be vacated by the proprietors thereof, at
any time before the sale of any lot therein, by a written instrument, de-
claring the same to be vacated, duly executed, acknowledged or proved
and recorded in the same clerk’s 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 the plat
and with the approval of the governing body which approved the plat,
and its approval shall be obtained as provided herein for the approval and
recordation of the original, and shall not be vacated otherwise.

(f) The clerk of court in whose office the plats aforesaid have been
recorded shall write in plain legible letters across any plat so vacated the
word “vacated”, and also make a reference on the same to the volume
and. page in which said instrument of vacation is recorded.

Section 4. Penalties—Any person who, being the owner or agent
of the owner of any land, affected by any regulations adopted hereunder,
transfers or sells or agrees to sell or negotiates to sell any land divided in
violation of this act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and the description
of such lot or parcel by metes and bounds in the instrument of transfer
or other document used in the process of selling or transferring shall not
exempt such person or the transaction from such penalties or from the
remedies provided by law for carrying into effect any ordinance or ordi-
nances adopted under the powers conferred upon the governing body pre-
scribed by such governing body, in conformity with the provisions of
section twenty-seven hundred forty-three of the Code of Virginia.

Section 5. Validity—If any clause, sentence, paragraph or part of
this act shall for any reason be adjudged by a court of competent juris-
diction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair or invalidate
the remainder of this act, but shall be confined in its operation to the
clause, sentence, paragraph or part thereof directly involved in the con-
troversy in which the judgment shall have been rendered.

2. Chapter one hundred eighty-nine of the Acts of Assembly of
nineteen hundred twenty-eight, approved March fourteen, nineteen hun-
dred twenty-eight, and all acts amendatory thereof are hereby repealed.

3. An emergency exists and this act is in force from its passage.