CHAPTER 65

An Act to amend and reenact §§ 5.07, 6.01 and 17.20 of Chapter 116 of
the Acts of the General Assembly of 1948, providing a charter for the
City of Richmond, as amended by Chapter 7 of the Acts of 1960, Chap-
ter 185 of Acts of 1958 and Chapter 64 of the Acts of 1954, relating
to the designation of an acting city manager, the time when rates of
taxes levied on real estate shall be fixed, and the powers of the board
of zoning appeals.

[H 296]

Approved February 15, 1962

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 5.07, 6.01 and 17.20 of Chapter 116 of the Acts of the General
Assembly of 1948, as amended by Chapter 7 of the Acts of 1960, Chapter
185 of the Acts of 1958 and Chapter 64 of the Acts of 1954, be amended
and reenacted as follows:

§ 5.07. Acting City Manager—Acting Directors and Heads of Bu-
reaus or Agencies.—The Council shall designate by ordinance the head of *
a department, bureau or other officer appointed by the city manager,
to act as city manager in case of the absence, incapacity, death or resigna-
tion of the city manager, until his return to duty or the appointment of
his successor. The city manager shall designate from time to time an em-
ployee in each department or bureau or agency, the head of which is ap-
pointed by him, to act as director of the department or head of the bureau
or agency in case of the absence, incapacity, death or resignation of the
director or head of the bureau or agency, until his return to duty or the
appointment of his successor, except as otherwise provided by this charter.

§ 6.01. Fiscal and tax years.—The fiscal year of the city shall begin
on the first day of July and shall end on the thirtieth day of June of the
succeeding year. The tax year for taxes levied on real estate, tangible per-
sonal property, machinery and tools and capitation taxes shall begin on the
first day of January and end on the thirty-first day of December follow-
ing, and the tax year for all other taxes shall be fixed by the council by
ordinance. The rate of taxes levied on real estate shall be fixed before the
first day of * March. The rates of all other taxes and levies, except on new
sources of tax revenues, shall be fixed before the beginning of the tax year.

§ 17.20. Powers of Board of Zoning Appeals.—The board shall have
the following powers and it shall be its duty:

(a) To hear and decide appeals where it is alleged there is error in
any order, requirement, decision or determination by the administrative
officer in the administration and enforcement of the provisions of the
ordinance.

(b) To grant variations in the regulations when a property owner
can show that his property was acquired in good faith and where by rea-
son of the exceptional narrowness, shallowness or shape of a specific piece
of property at the time of the effective date of the ordinance or where by
reason of the exceptional topographical conditions or other extraordinary
or exceptional situation the strict application of the terms of the ordinance
actually prohibit or unreasonably restrict the use of the property, or where
the board is satisfied, upon the evidence heard by it, the granting of such
variations will alleviate a clearly demonstrable hardship approaching con-
fiscation as distinguished from a special privilege or convenience sought
by the owner, provided, however, that all variations granted shall be in
harmony with the intended spirit and purpose of this chapter and the ordi-
nance.

(c) To permit, when reasonably necessary in the public interest, the
use of land, or the construction or use of buildings or structures, in any
district in which they are prohibited by the ordinance, by any agency of
the city, county or state or the United States, provided such construction
or use shall adequately safeguard the health, safety and welfare of the
occupants of the adjoining and surrounding property, shall not unreason-
ably impair an adequate supply of light and air to adjacent property, shall
not increase congestion in streets and shall not increase public danger
from fire or otherwise affect public safety.

(d) To permit the following exceptions to the districts regulations
and restrictions, provided such exceptions shall by their design, construc-
tion and operation adequately safeguard the health, safety and welfare of
the occupants of the adjoining and surrounding property, shall not unrea-
sonably impair an adequate supply of light and air to adjacent property,
shall not increase congestion in streets and shall not increase public danger
from fire or otherwise unreasonably affect public safety and shall not
diminish or impair the established property values in surrounding areas:

(1) Use of land or erection or use of a building or structure by a pub-
lic service corporation for public utility purposes exclusively which the
board finds to be reasonably necessary for the public convenience and wel-

are.

(2) Use of land or construction or use of buildings and structures in
any district in which they are prohibited by the ordinance, by educational,
religious, philanthropic or eleemosynary institutions; the use of land or
construction or use of buildings and structures in any district in which
they are prohibited by the ordinance, for cemetery purposes, airports or
landing fields, greenhouses and nurseries * and the extraction of raw ma-
terials from land, such as rock, gravel, sand and similar products.

(3) Use of land in dwelling districts immediately adjoining or separ-
ated from business, commercial or industrial districts by alleys, or widths
to be specified in the ordinance, for parking of vehicles of customers of
business, commercial or industrial establishments, provided such use shall
not extend more than the distance specified in the ordinance from the busi-
ness, commercial or industrial district.

(4) Use of buildings for dwelling purposes in districts specified in
the ordinance for use for other purposes, where it can be shown that con-
ditions in the specified districts are not detrimental to the health, safety,
or welfare of the inhabitants of such buildings and on condition that the
buildings will be removed within a time specified in the ordinance.

(5) Reconstruction of buildings or structures that do not conform to
the comprehensive zoning plan and regulations and restrictions prescribed
for the district in which they are located, which have been damaged by
explosion, fire, act of God or the public enemy, to the extent of more than
sixty per cent of their assessed taxable value, when the board finds some
compelling public necessity for a continuance of the use and such continu-
ance is not primarily to continue a monopoly, provided that nothing herein
shall relieve the owner of any such building or structure from obtaining the
approval of such reconstruction by the council or any department or officer
of the city when such approval is required by any law or ordinance.

(e) To modify the interpretation and application of the provisions
of the ordinance where the street layout actually on the ground varies from
the street layout as shown on the map fixing the districts and their bound-
aries adopted with and as a part of the ordinance.

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