CHAPTER 232

An Act to amend and reenact §§ 2.2, 4.10 as amended, 4.18, 6.1, 6.2, 8.8
and 17.11 of Chapter 218 of the ‘Acts of Assembly ‘of 1960, approved
March 9, 1960, which provided a charter for the city of Colonial
Heights and to amend said chapter by adding sections numbered
17.11-1, 17.86, 20.31 and 20.32, the amended and new sections relating,
respectively, to the general powers of cities set forth in the general
statutes of Virginia made applicable to the city; procedure for pass-
ing, recording and publishing ordinances, the fiscal and tax years,
budget and levy for the fiscal year 1966-1967, annual assessment and
equalization of assessments, considerations to be observed in adopting
regulations, the uniformity ‘of regulations in a district; special assess-
ments; vacation of streets, alleys and easements; appointment of bail
commissioner; terms of circuit court for the city; and to repeal
§ 17-127.17 of the Code of Virginia, relating to terms of the circuit
court for such city.

[H 221]

Approved March 31, 1966

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That 8§ 2.2, 4.10 as amended, 4.13, 6.1, 6.2, 8.8 and 17.11 of Chapter

213 of the Acts of Assembly of 1960, approved March 9, 1960, be amended

and reenacted, and that the said chapter be further amended by adding

38 M7.11-1, 17.36, 20.81 and 20.32, the amended and new sections being as
ollows:

8 2.2. Powers enumerated by the General Statutes of Virginia.

The general powers applicable to cities set forth in §§ 15.1-6 through
15.1-87.2 of Chapter 1, Title 15.1 of the Code of Virginia of 1950, and all
the powers set forth in §§ 15.1-837 through 15.1-907 of Chapter 18 of
Title 15.1 of the Code of Virginia of 1950, as in force on * January 1, 1966,
are hereby conferred on and vested in the city of Colonial Heights.

§ 4.10. Procedure for Passing Ordinances.

An ordinance may be introduced by any member or committee of the
council or by the city manager at any regular meeting of the council or at
any special meeting when the subject thereof has been included in the
notice for such special meeting or been approved by a majority vote of
all elected members of the council. No ordinance, or resolution having
the effect of an ordinance, or resolution suspending an ordinance, unless
it be an emergency measure, shall be passed until it has been read by title
at two meetings not less than * siz days apart counting the day of intro-
duction and the date of adoption as a part thereof, one of which shall be
a regular meeting and the other of which may be either an adjourned or
called meeting. * Any ordinance or resolution read at one such meeting
may be amended and passed as amended at the next such meeting, provided
that the amendment does not materially change the ordinance. No ordinance
or section thereof shall be revised or amended * by tts title or section
number only, but the new ordinance shall contain the entire ordinance, or
section or subsection as revised or amended. The ayes and noes shall be
taken and recorded upon the passage of all ordinances or resolutions and
entered upon the journal of the proceedings of the council. Except as other-
wise provided in this charter an affirmative vote of a majority of the
members elected to the council shall be necessary to adopt any ordinance
or resolution. Unless another date is specified therein and except as other-
wise provided by this charter, an ordinance shall take effect on the tenth
day following its passage. All ordinances and resolutions having the effect
of an ordinance shall be authenticated by the signature of the presiding
officer and the city clerk. Every ordinance of a general or permanent
nature shall be published in full once within ten days after its final pass-
age by posting a copy thereof at the front door of the municipal building
and at one other public place in the city or when ordered by the council
by publication in a newspaper published or circulated in the city for such
time as the council may direct; provided, that the foregoing requirements
as to publication shall not apply to ordinances reordained in or by a
general compilation or codification of ordinances printed by authority of
the council. A record or entry made by the city clerk, or a copy of such
record or entry when certified by him shall be prima facie evidence of the
terms of the ordinance and its due publication. All ordinances and resolu-
tions of the council may be read as evidence in all courts and in all other
proceedings in which it may be necessary to refer thereto, either from the
original record thereof, from a copy thereof certified by the city clerk, or
from any volume of ordinances printed by authority of the council.

§ 4.13. Record and Publication of Ordinances.

Every ordinance after passage shall be given a serial number and shall
be * kept tn a safe place by the clerk in * his office in the municipal build-
tng. Within one year after the first day in * January, 1966, there shall be
prepared under the direction of the city attorney, who is hereby author-

to employ such assistance as he deems necessary for the purpose, a
codification or revision of all ordinances in force. Such codification shall be
passed by the council as a single ordinance and without prior publication.
Upon its passage, it shall be published in bound or loose-leaf form. This
codification, to be known and cited officially as the city code, shall be fur-
nished to city officers and shall be sold to the public at a price to be fixed
by the council. A similar codification shall be prepared, passed, * without
prior publication, and distributed, as above provided, at least every five
years. It shall be the duty of the city clerk to cause all ordinances adopted

be printed or reproduced as promptly as possible after their adoption
in substantially the same style and format as the codification or revision
of ordinances and sold at such prices as the council may establish.

§ 6.1. Fiscal and Tax Years.

* The fiscal year of the city of Colonial Heights shall begin on the
first day of * July and shall end on the * thirtieth day of * June of the
succeeding year. Unless and until otherwise provided by council by or-
dinance, the tax year for taxes levied on real estate, tangible personal
property, machinery and tools shall begin on the first day of January and
end on the thirty-first day of December following, and the tax year for
all other taxes shall be fixed by the council by ordinance. Unless and until
otherwise provided by council by ordinance, the rates of all taxes and
levies, except on new sources of tax revenue, shall be fixed before the
beginning of the tax year. The council shall have the power and may by
ordinance provide for the tax year for taxes levied on real estate, or
tangible personal property, or machinery and tools, or all other taxes to
begin on the first day of July and end on the thirtieth day of June of the
succeeding year. The council shall also have the power to fix the rates
or levies on real estate, or tangible personal property, or machinery and
tools, or all other taxes at the time of adoption of the general fund budget.

§ 6.2. Budget and Levy for the Fiscal Year * 1966-1967.

a. Upon the passage of this act, the * City Manager shall prepare and
submit to the council, for its information, a general fund budget for the
ensuing fiscal year * beginning July 1, 1966, and ending June 30, 1967,
based upon detailed estimates furnished by the several departments and
other divisions of the city government.

b. A brief synopsis of the general fund budget for the fiscal year *
beginning July 1, 1966, and ending June 80, 1967, shall be published in a
newspaper having a general circulation within the city and notice given
of a public hearing at least seven days prior to the date set for hearing, at
which any citizen of the city shall have the right to attend and state his
views thereon.

c. Upon the passage of this act and after due notice has been given
as provided in § 6.2b, council shall adopt a general fund budget for the
* fiscal year * beginning July 1,1966, and ending June 80, 1967, and council
shall at the time of the adoption of said budget * lay its levy, if any, at
such rates fixed by council at the time of such levy and adoption of said
budget, on all real estate, tangible personal property, * machinery and
tools, and all other sources of tax revenue subject to taxation for city pur-
poses. Upon final adoption, the general fund budget shall be in effect for
the * fiscal year beginning July 1, 1966, and ending June 80, 1967.

§ 8.8. Annual Assessment and Equalization of Assessments.

The council * may, in lieu of the methods prescribed by general law,
provide by ordinance for the annual or quadrennial assessment and re-
assessment and equalization of assessments of real estate for local taxation
* and to that end may appoint one or more persons as assessors to assess
or reassess for taxation the real estate within the city and to prescribe
their duties and terms of office. Such assessors shall make assessments and
reassessments on the same basis as real estate is required to be assessed
under the provisions of general law and shall have the same authority as
the assessors appointed under the provisions of general law and shall be
charged with duties similar to those thereby imposed upon such assessors,
except that such assessments or reassessments shall be made annually and
the assessments and reassessments so made shall have the same effect as tf
they had been made by assessors appointed under the provisions of gen-
eral law. And the council * may authorize the commissioner of revenue to
act as the assessor provided * herein, and provided further that applica-
tion for relief from assessments may be made to the circuit court * of
appropriate jurisdiction.

§ 17.11. Considerations to be Observed in Adoption of Regulations. *

The regulations and restrictions shall be enacted with reasonable con-
sideration, among other things of the character of each district and its
peculiar suitability for particular uses, and with a view of conserving the
value of land, buildings and structures and encouraging the most appro-
priate use thereof throughout the city. Upon the enactment of the ordinance
dividing the city into districts and regulating and restricting the use of
land, buildings and structures therein in accordance with a comprehensive
zoning plan; no land, building or structure shall be changed from one dis-
trict to another district unless the change is in accord with the interest
and purposes of this section and will not be contrary to the comprehensive
zoning plan and the enumerated factors upon which it is based and the
regulations and restrictions applicable to the districts involved in the
§ 17.11-1. Uniformity of Regulations within a District—Special Use

ermits.

(a) The regulations and restrictions shall be uniform and shall apply
equally to all land, buildings, and structures and to the use and to each
class or kind thereof throughout each district but the regulations and
restrictions applicable in one district may differ from those provided for
other districts.

(b) The council shall have the power to authorize by ordinance
adopted by not less than five affirmative votes the use of land, buildings,
and structures in a district that does not conform to the regulations and
restrictions prescribed for that district and to authorize the issuance of
special use permits therefor, whenever it is made to appear that such
special use will not be detrimental to the safety, health, morals and general
welfare of the community involved, will not tend to create congestion in
streets, roads, alleys and other public ways and places in the area involved,
will not create hazards from fire, panic or other dangers, will not tend to
overcrowding of land and cause an undue concentration of population,
not adversely affect or interfere with public or private schools, parks, play-
grounds, water supplies, sewage disposal, transportation or other public
requirements, conveniences and improvements, and will not interfere with
adequate light and air. No such ordinance shall be adopted untiu (1) the
ordinance has been referred to the city planning commission for investiga-
tion of the circumstances and conditions upon which the council 1s em-
powered to authorize such use and until the commission has reported to
the council the results of such investigation and its recommendations with
respect thereto, and (2) until after a public hearing in relation to such
ordinance is held by the council at which the persons in interest and all
other persons shall have an opportunity to be heard. At least fifteen days
notice of the time and place of such hearing shall be given by publication
thereof in a daily newspaper of general circulation published in the city.
The council shall have the power to require such other notice as tt may
deem expedient. The city planning commission may recommend and the
council may impose such conditions upon the use of the land, buildings
and structures as will, in tts opinion, protect the community and area
involved and the public from adverse effects and detriments that may
result therefrom.

§ 17.36. Vacation of streets, alleys, and easements by agreement of
abutting land owners.

Notwithstanding any other provisions of law to the contrary, and in
addition to any other methods provided by law, any street, alley or ease-
ment, or part thereof, shown on a plat of subdivision or other plat, hereto-
fore or hereafter recorded, may be vacated by all owners of properties
abutting such street, alley, or easement, or part thereof, to be vacated, by
instrument in writing signed by all owners of properties abutting such
street, alley, or easement, or part thereof, to be vacated, approved by the
city council, acknowledged in the manner of a deed and filed for record tn
the Clerk’s Office of the Circuit Court. In the case of an alley separating
lots or parcels of land within any block bounded by one or more streets,
it shall be presumed that only property owners within such block and
whose properties abut the alley have any rights or privileges therein. In
the case of a street, it shall be presumed that only property owners reason-
ably needing to use such street as a means of ingress and egress to and
from their properties have any rights or privileges therein. As used in this
section, the word “‘street’’ shall include any road, avenue, drive or park-
way; and the word “owners” shall include lien creditors; and as used in
this section, the word “easement” shall include drainage easements, sewer
easements and other easements of a public nature, not constituting a
street, alley or passageway.

§ 20.81. Appointment of Bail Commissioner.

The circuit court of the city, or the judge thereof in vacation, may
appoint one of the commissioners in chancery of the court bail commis-
stoner for the city. Such court or judge may appoint a justice of the peace
to serve as a bail commissioner for the city. The fees of the bail commts-
sioner for admitting a person to bail and the powers and duties of such
_ commissioner shall be as provided under the provisions of the general

w.

§ 20.382. Terms of Circuit Court. ;

The regular terms of the circuit court for the city of Colonial Heights
shall begin on the third Monday in the months of February, June and
October, provided that the senior judge of the circuit may provide for such
other terms as the business of the court may require. In the event the
senior judge of the circuit court provides for terms of court other than the
regular terms of court provided for herein then a notice of all terms,
when so fixed, shall be posted on the front of the courthouse of the city.
2. § 17-127.17 of the Code of Virginia is repealed.

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