CHAPTER 113

An Act to amend and reenact 8§ 3.2, 3.4, 4.8, 4.6, and 6.1 of Chap. 482
of the Acts of Assembly of 1964, approved March 81, 1964, which
provided a charter for the town of Vienna; and to further amend said
chapter by adding thereto a chapter numbered 8-A consisting of
sections numbered 8-A.1, 8-A.2, 8-A.8, 8-A.4 and 8-A.5, a chapter
numbered 8-B consisting of sections numbered 8-B.1, 8-B.2, 8-B.8, and
$ 9.4 relating, respectively, to filling vacancies on the council; conduct
of municipal elections; the constitution of a quorum necessary for
reconsideration of action; the maximum salaries of the mayor and
councilmen; the power of the council to collect fees, rents or charges
for use of public water system or sewage disposal system; the power
of the town to acquire property for public purposes, the ownership
and use thereof; the power of eminent domain and alternative pro-
cedures tn condemnation; the enhancement in value of property re-
maining after condemnation; the disposal of unclaimed funds in con-
demnation cases; the creation of architectural control districts and the
Board of Architectural Review; its purposes; and the authority of the
counciu to license dogs.

[H 220]

Approved March 8, 1966

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 3.2, 3.4, 4.8, 4.6 and 6.1 of Chapter 432 of the Acts of
Assembly of 1964, approved March 31, 1964, be amended and reenacted;
and that the said chapter be further amended by adding thereto a chapter
numbered 8-A consisting of sections numbered 8-A.1, 8-A.2, 8-A.3, 8-A.4,
8-A.5, a chapter numbered 8-B consisting of sections numbered 8-B.1,
8-B.2, 8-B.3 and 9.4; the amended and new sections being as follows:

§ 3.2. Vacancies on Council.—Vacancies on the council shall be filled
within forty-five days for the unexpired terms by a majority vote of the
remaining members; provided, however, that where a vacancy shall occur
more than eighteen months prior to expiration of the term, such vacancy
shall be filled by a majority vote of the remaining members only until a
successor shall have been chosen by the qualified * electors of the town and
shall have qualified as provided by law. In the town election to be held on
the second Tuesday in June next following the occurrence of such vacancy
there shall be elected by the qualified electors of the town a member of the
council to fill each such vacancy for the unexpired term. The term of office
of any councilman so elected shall begin on the first of September next
following his election.

_ § 3.4. Conduct of Municipal Elections.—Elections in the town of
Vienna shall be conducted pursuant to, and in accord with, §§ 24-28, 24-56,
24-170, 24-171, 24-172, 24-173, 24-174, and 24-175, inclusive, of the Code
of Virginia, except insofar as same are amended by subsection (a) of this
section of the charter.

(a) The mayor shall issue to those elected certificates of election
which shall be countersigned by the Town Clerk. Tie votes shall be decided
by lot, and contests shall be tried and finally determined by * a majority
vote of all members of council tn office and serving at the time the con-
tested election is held.

§ 4.3. Quorum; Reconsideration of Action.—* Five members of the
council shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. No vote
taken at any meeting shall be reconsidered or rescinded at any subsequent
special meeting unless at such special meeting there be as many members
of the council present as were present when such vote was taken.

§ 4.6. Council to Fix Salaries.—The council is hereby authorized to
fix the salary of the mayor, members of the council, members of boards or
commissions, and all appointed officers and employees of said town, at a
sum not to exceed any limitations placed by the laws and Constitution of
the State of Virginia; provided, that the salary of the mayor shall not be
fixed at an amount greater than * three thousand * dollars per annum and
the salary of each member of the council shall not be fixed at an amount
greater than * eighteen hundred dollars per annum.

§ 6.1. Fiscal Control_—The council shall have the power to control
and manage the fiscal and municipal affairs of the town and all property,
real and personal, belonging to said town, and to make such ordinances,
orders, and resolutions relating to the same as it may deem necessary.
The council may direct and authorize the Town Manager to examine the
records and books of the office of Treasurer. The council shall have the
further power to purchase, hold, sell and convey all real and personal
property, within or without, the corporate limits, necessary for its use and
purposes.

(a) The council shall have power and authority to acquire, or other-
wise obtain control of or establish, maintain, operate, extend and enlarge
waterworks, sewage disposal plants, gasworks, electric plants, and other
public utilities within or without the limits of the town; to acquire within
or without the limits of the town by purchase, condemnation, but insofar
as such power of condemnation is exercised as to lands of a public service
corporation, § 25-233 shall be applicable, or otherwise, whatever land may
be necessary for acquiring, locating, establishing, maintaining, operating,
extending and enlarging said waterworks, sewage disposal plants, electric
plants and other utilities, and the rights of way, rails, pipes, poles, con-
duits and wires connected therewith or any of the fixtures or appurte-
nances thereof; and promulgate and enforce reasonable rates, rules and
regulations for use of same, any or all of which rates, rules and regula-
tions the council may alter at any time without notice.

(b) In the event the fees, rents, or charges, charged for the use and
services of the public water system or sewage disposal system, by, or in
connection with, any real estate, shall not be paid when due, interest shall
at the time begin to accrue thereon at the rate of one per cent per month.
Such fees, rents, charges and the interest due thereon shall constitute a
lien, which shall rank on a parity with liens for unpaid town or county
taxes, against the property, which lien may be indexed and filed among the
Judgment Records of the Circuit Court of Fairfax County, the cost of such
filing to be included in the total amount of such lien. Such fees, rents, *
charges and the interest due thereon also may be recovered by the town of
Vienna by action at law, or suit in equity *.

(c) The council shall have the power and authority to require the
owners or occupants of the real estate within the corporate limits of the
town which may front or abut on the line of any sewer or water pipe line
or conduit to make connections therewith, and to use such sewer pipes and
conduits and water furnished by the town under such ordinances and
regulations as the council may deem necessary to secure the proper service
thereof and to improve and secure good sanitary conditions; and shall have
the power to enforce the observance of all such ordinances and regulations
by the imposition and collection of fines and penalties, to be collected as
other fines and penalties under the provisions of this act.

Chapter 8-A

ACQUISITION OF PROPERTY FOR ROADWAY PURPOSES

§ 8-A.1. Acquisition, ownership and use of property.—The town
shall have, for the purpose of carrying out any of its powers and duties
in the construction or reconstruction of roadways and streets, power to
acquire by gift, bequest, purchase or lease, and to own and make use of
within the town lands, buildings, other structures and personal property,
including any interest, right, easement or estate therein and in acquiring
such property to exercise, within the town, the right of eminent domain,
as hereinafter provided in this chapter.

§ 8-A.2. Eminent domain.—The town is hereby authorized to acquire
by condemnation proceedings lands, buildings, structures and personal
property or any interest, right, easement, or estate therein of any person
or corporation, whenever in the opinion of the council a public necessity
exists therefor, which shall be expressed in the resolution or ordinance
directing such acquisition, and whenever the town cannot agree on terms
of purchase or settlement with the owners of the subject of such acquist-
tion because of the incapacity of such owner, or because of the inability to
agree on the compensation to be paid or other terms of settlement or pur-
chase, or because the owner or some one of the owners is a nonresident
of the State or cannot with reasonable diligence be found in the State or
is unknown.

Such proceedings shall be instituted in the Circuit Court of Fairfax
County. The provisions of § 25-238 of the Code of Virginia shall apply
as to any property owned by a corporation possessing the power of eminent
domain that may be sought to be taken by condemnation under the pro-
tistons of this act.

§ 8-A.3. Alternative procedures in condemnation.—The town may,
tn exercising the right of eminent domain conferred by the preceding
section, make use of the procedure prescribed by the general law or may
elect to proceed as hereinafter provided. In the latter event the resolution
or ordinance directing the acquisition of any property, as set forth in the
preceding section, shall provide therein in a lump sum the total funds
necessary to compensate the owners thereof for such property to be
acquired or damaged, the amount of such sum to be determined by two
competent impartial appraisers. Upon the adoption of such resolutton or
ordinance the town shall file a petition in the clerk’s office of the Circuit
Court of Fairfax County, which shall be signed by the town manager and
set forth the interest or estate to be taken in the property and the uses and
purposes for which the property or the interest or estate therein is wanted,
or when property is not to be taken but 1s likely to be damaged, the neces-
sity for the work or improvement which will cause or is likely to cause such
damage. There shall also be filed with the petition a plat of a survey of the
property with a profile showing cuts and fills, trestles and bridges, or other
contemplated structures if any, and a description of the property which, or
an interest or estate in which, 1s sought to be taken or likely to be damaged
and a memorandum showing names and residences of the owners of the
property, tf known, and showing also the quantity of property which, or
an interest or estate in which, 1s sought to be taken or which will be or
uw likely to be damaged. There shall be filed also with said petition a notice
directed to the owners of the property, if known, copies of which shall be
served on such owners or tenants of the freehold of such property, tf
known. If the muner or tenant of the freehold be unknown or a nonresi-
dent of the State or cannot with reasonable diligence be found in the State,
or if the residence of the owner or tenant be unknown he may be proceeded
agatnst by order of publication which order, however, need not be published
more than once a week for two successive weeks and shall be posted at a
matn entrance to the courthouse. The publication shall in all other respects
conform to §§ 8-71, 8-72 and 8-76 of the Code of Virginia.

Upon the filing of said petition and the deposit of the funds provided
by the council for the purpose with the clerk of the court in such proceed-
tings and the filing of a certificate of deposit therefor, the interest or estate
of the owner of such property shall terminate and the title to such property
or the twnterest or estate to be taken in such property shall be vested
absolutely wn the town and such owner shall have such interest or estate
mm the funds so deposited as he had in the property taken or damaged and
all liens by deed of trust, judgment or otherwise upon said property or
estate shall be transferred to such funds and the town shall have the right
to enter upon and take possession of such property for its uses and purposes
and to construct tts works or improvements. The clerk of the court shall
make and certify a copy of the petition, exhibits filed therewith, and orders,
and record the same in his deed book and index them in the name of the
person or persons who had the property before and in the name of the
town, for which he shall receive the same fees prescribed for recording
a deed, which shall be paid by the town.

If the town and the owner of property so taken or damaged agree
upon compensation therefor, upon filing such agreement in writing in the
clerk’s office of such court the court or judge thereof in vacation shall
male such distribution of such funds as to it may seem right, having due
regard to the interest of all persons therein whether such interest be
vested, contingent or otherwise, and to enable the court or judge to make
a proper distribution of such money it may in its discretion direct inquiries
to be taken by a special commissioner in order to ascertain what persons
are entitled to such funds and in what proportions and may direct what
notice shall be given of the making of such inquiries by such special
commissioner.

If the town and the owner cannot agree upon the compensation for
the property taken or damaged, if any, upon the filing of a memorandum
in the clerk’s office of said court to that effect, signed by either the town or
the owner, the court shall appoint commissioners provided for in § 25-46.20
of the Code of Virginia, as amended, and all proceedings thereafter shall
be had as provided in $§ 25-46.17 to 25-46.84, inclusive, of the Code of
Virginia, as amended, insofar as they are then applicable and are not
inconsistent with the provisions of this and the preceding section, and the
court shall order the deposit in bank to the credit of the court of such
additional funds as appear to be necessary to cover the award of the com-
missioners or shall order the return to the town of such funds deposited that
are not necessary to compensate such owners for property taken or
damaged. The commissioners so appointed shall not consider improvements
placed upon the property by the town subsequent to its taking nor the
value thereof nor the enhancement of the value of said property by said
improvements in making their award.

§ 8-A.4. Enhancement in values, when considered.—In all cases here-
wnder the enhancement, if any, in value of the remaining property of the
owner by reason of the construction or improvement contemplated or
made by the town, shall be offset against the damage, if any, resulting to
such remaining property of such owner by reason of such construction or
improvement, provided such enhancement in value shall not be offset
against the value of the property taken, and provided further, that tf such
enhancement in value shall exceed the damage there shall be no recovery
over against the owner for such excess.

§ 8-A.5. Unclaimed funds in condemnation cases.—Whenever any
money shall have remained for five years in the custody or under the con-
trol of the court enumerated in § 8-A.2, in any condemnation proceeding
instituted therein by the town, without any claim having been asserted
thereto such court shall, where the amount is one hundred dollars or more,
cause a publication to be made once a week for two successive weeks in a
newspaper of general circulation published in the town, setting forth the
amount of such money, the source from which it was derived and the pro-
ceeding in which it ts held, and requiring all persons having any claim to
said money to appear before said court within such time after the comple-
tion of the publication as the court may prescribe, and establish their claim.
If the sum be less than one hundred dollars, the court shall direct the same
to be paid into the treasury of the town, and a proper receipt for the pay-
ment taken and filed among the records of the proceeding. If no person
shall appear and show title in himself the court shall order the money,
after deducting therefrom the costs of such publication if such publication
1s made, and any other proper charges, to be paid into the treasury of the
town and a proper receipt for the payment to be taken and filed among
the records of the proceeding. The director of finance shall, in a book pro-
vided for the purpose, keep an account of all money thus paid into the
town treasury, showtng the amount thereof, when, by whom, and under
what order tt was paid and the name of the court and as far as practicable,
a desertption of the suit or proceeding in which the order was made and,
as far as known, the names of the parties entitled to said funds. Money
thus paid tnto the treasury of the town shall be paid out on the order of
the court having jurisdiction of the proceeding, to any person entitled
thereto who had not asserted a claim therefor in the proceeding tn which
tt was held, upon satisfactory proof that he is entitled to such money. If
such claim be established the net amount thereof, after deducting costs
and other charges, shall be paid to the claimant out of the treasury of
the town on the warrant of the director of finance. No claim to such
money shall be asserted after ten years from the time when such court
obtatned control thereof, provided, however, if the person having such
claim was an infant, insane, or imprisoned at the time the claim might
have been presented or asserted by such person, claim to such money may
be asserted withtn five years after the removal of such disability.
Chapter 8-B
ARCHITECTURAL CONTROL DISTRICTS

§ 8-B.1. Architectural Control Districts.—In order to protect and
promote the general welfare, and to prevent deterioration of the appear-
ance of the town which would tend to create hazards to public health,
safety and morals and destroy opportunity for the development of business
and industry, the Town Council may designate, within land areas zoned
for tndustrial, commercial and public building use, architectural control
districts in which no structure shall be erected, reconstructed, altered or
restored untu approved by a board of architectural review.

§ 8-B.2. Board of Architectural Review.—The counctl may create a
Board of Architectural Review. The Board shall consist of five citizens of
the town appotnted by majority vote of the council for terms not to exceed
three years. At least one member of the Board shall be an architect regis-
tered tn Virgenia and at least one shall be a member of the Virginia State
Bar. The council shall prepare and publish appropriate standards, rules,
regulations and procedures for the operation of the Board and to carry
out the purposes and objectives herein set forth; provided that the council
shall not adopt as part of any such standards a specific architectural style;
tt shall provide for appeals to the Town Council from any final decision of
the Board, which appeal shall stay the Board’s decision pending the out-
come of the appeal before the council. The council, on appeal, shall apply
the same standards as those established for the Board and may affirm,
reverse, or modify the decision of the Board, in whole or in part. Parties
aggriered by the decision of the Town Council shall have the right to appeal
to the Circuit Court of Fairfax County for review by filing a petition, at
law, setting forth the alleged illegality of the Town Council's action, pro-
rided such petition is filed within thirty days after the final decision 18
rendered by the Town Council. The filing of the said petition shall stay
the council’s decision pending the outcome of the appeal to the court.
The court may reverse or modify the decision of the council, in whole or in
part, if tt finds upon review that the decision of the council is contrary to
law or that tts decision is arbitrary and constitutes an abuse of discretion,
or 1t may affirm the decision of the council.

§ 8-B.3. Purpose of Board.—The purpose of the Board shall be to
assure that all buildings erected in the designated architectural control
districts conform to accepted architectural standards for permanent butld-
mgs, as contrasted with engineering standards designed to satisfy safety
requirements only, and exhibit external characteristics as to material,
texture, color, lighting, dimensions, line and mass of demonstrated archt-
tectural and aesthetic durability; and to prevent the erection tn such dis-
tricts of buildings of extremely unusual design, buildings the external
characteristics of which are designed to serve as advertisements or com-
mercial displays or buildings which in terms of material, texture, color,
dimension, lighting, line or mass exhibit characteristics likely to deteriorate
rapidly or be of short term architectural or aesthetic acceptability, be
plainly offensive to human sensibilities or otherwise constitute a reason-
ably foreseeable detriment to the community.

§ 9.4. Authority to License Dogs.—Notwithstanding any other pro-
vision of law the Town Council shall have power to impose and collect a
dog license tax not in excess of five dollars per dog per year and such
tax shall be the only license tax on dogs required of residents within the
town. The dog license tax shall be collected by the Director of Finance.
The Town Council may appoint a dog warden for the town and such
deputy wardens as may be required. Such warden and deputy wardens
shall have authority to enforce all dog laws within the town. The town
may provide facilities for the capture and confinement and disposition of
unlicensed dogs or dogs owned, kept or harbored im violation of the dog
laws. The Town Council may enact local ordinances corresponding in
nature and scope and not in conflict with the provisions of Chapter 9 of
Title 29 of the Code of Virginia, and may repeal, modify or amend such
ordinances provided that no penalty imposed by such ordinances shall be
greater than the penalty imposed for a similar offense under Chap. 9
of Title 29 of the Code of Virginia. The Director of Finance of the town
shall not be required to remit any portion of the funds collected from the
licensing of dogs to the State Treasurer.

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