CHAPTER 878

An Act to amend and reenact § 15-152.25 of the Code of Virginia, relating
to period during which counties not to be subject to annexation.

{H 248]
Approved March 29, 1958

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 15-152.25 of the Code of Virginia be amended and reenacted
as follows:

§ 15-152.25. No city or town, having instituted proceedings to annex
territory of a county, shall again seek to annex territory of such county
within the five years next succeeding the entry of the final order in any
annexation proceedings under this article or previous acts except by mutual
agreement of the governing bodies affected, in which case the city or town
moving to dismiss the proceedings before a hearing on its merits may file
a new petition five years after the filing of the petition in the prior suit.
Nor shall any county be made defendant in any annexation proceeding
brought by any city, except by consent of the county governing body, more
frequently than once in any five-year period following the conclusion of any
annexation proceeding instituted against it by any city; provided, how-
ever, that this provision shall not apply to any suits brought by consent of
the county governing body; nor shall this provision apply to any annexa-
tion proceedings pending and undetermined on the effective date of this
amendment. ‘

Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions, a city shall have the right
to file and maintain an annexation proceeding against any county against
which it has not filed such a proceeding during the preceding eight years.

In any annexation proceeding pending on June 28, 1952, the party
seeking annexation may proceed therein, in which event the proceedings
thereafter to be taken shall conform, so far as practicable, to those herein
prescribed, provided, that any such proceeding in which there shall not
have been a hearing on the merits shall, on motion of the city or town, or
the county involved, be dismissed at the cost of the moving party, including
such reasonable attorney fees, engineering fees, witness fees, and other
costs as the court may determine and allow, in which event the party seek-
ing annexation may, notwithstanding any other provision of this article,
institute new proceedings hereunder for the annexation of any territory
included in the proceeding so dismissed. .

This section shall apply to any city which was a town at the time of
the filing of such petition.