CHAPTER 485
An Act to amend and reenact § 33-279.3, as amended, of the Code of
Virginia relating to the regulation of junkyards; the screening of
certain junkyards; authorizing removal of certain junkyards by the
State Highway Commissioner; and providing penalties for violation.

(H 160]
Approved April 4, 1966

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 33-279.3, as amended, of the Code of Virginia be amended and
reenacted as follows:

§ 33-279.8. * (a) For the purpose of promoting the public safety,
health, welfare, convenience and enjoyment of public travel, to protect the
public investment in public highways, and to preserve and enhance the
scenic beauty of lands bordering public highways, it is hereby declured to
be in the public interest to regulate and restrict the establishment, opera-
tion, and maintenance of junkyards in areas adjacent to the highways
within this State.

(b) For the purpose of this section the following definitions shall
apply:

(1) “Junk” shall mean old or scrap copper, brass, rope, rags, bat-
teries, paper, trash, rubber debris, waste, or junked, dismantled, or
wrecked automobiles, or parts thereof, iron, steel, and other old or scrap
ferrous or nonferrous material.

(2) “Automobile graveyard” shall mean any lot or place which is
exposed to the weather and upon which more than ten motor vehicles of
uny kind, incapable of being operated, and which it would not be econom-
tcally practical to make operative, are placed, located or found.

(3) “Junkyard” shall mean an establishment or place of business
which is maintained, operated, or used for storing, keeping, buying, or
selling junk, or for the maintenance or operation of an automobile grave-
yard, and the term shall include garbage dumps and sanitary fills.

(4) “Interstate System” shall mean the system presently defined in
subsection (d) of § 103 of Title 28, United States Code.

(5) “Primary highway” shall mean any highway within the State
Highway System as established and maintained under Article 2, Chapter 1,
Title 38 of this Code, including extensions of such system within
municipalities.

(6) “Federal-aid primary highway” shall mean uny highway within
that portion of the State Highway System as established and maintained
under Article 2, Chapter 1, Title 83 of this Code, including extensions of
such system within municipalities, which has been approved by the Secre-
tary of Commerce pursuant to subsection (b) of § 108 of Title 28, United
States Code.

(7) “Visible” shall mean capable of being seen without visual aid by a
person of normal visual acuity.

(c) No junkyard shall be hereafter established, any portion of which
is within 1,000 feet of the nearest edge of the right-of-way of any Interstate
or primary highway or within 500 feet of the nearest edge of the right-of-
way of any other highway or city street, except the following:

(1) Junkyards which are screened by natural objects, plantings,
fences, or other appropriate means so as not to be visible from the main-
na way of the highway or city street, or otherwise removed from
sight.
(2) Junkyards which are located in areas which are zoned for indus-
trial use under authority of State law or in unzoned industrial areas as
determined by the State Highway Commission.

(8) Junkyards which are not visible from the main-traveled way of
the highway or city street.
(d) Any junkyard lawfully mn existence on the effective date of this
act which ts within 1,000 feet of the nearest edge of the right-of-way and
visible from the main-traveled way of any Interstate or federal-aid primary
highway, and not located within an industrial area, shall be screened, if
feasible, by the State Highway Commissioner at locations on the highway
right-of-way or in areas acquired for such purposes outside the right-of-
way, so as not to be visible from the main-traveled way of such highways.

Any junkyard lawfully in existence on the effective date of this act
which is within 1,000 feet of the nearest edge of the right-of-way of any
other primary highway or within 500 feet of the nearest edge of the
right-of-way of any other highway and visible from the main-trauveled
way of such highway, and not located within an industrial area, may be
screened by the State Highway Commissioner in the same manner as
junkyards adjacent to Interstate or federal-aid primary highways.

The State Highway Commissioner is hereby authorized to acquire by
purchase, gift or the power of eminent domain such lands or interests in

as may be necessary to provide adequate screening of such junkyards.

(e) When the State Highway Commissioner determines that the
topography of the land udjoining an Interstate or federal-aid primary
highway will not permit adequate screening of such junkyards or the
screening of such junkyards would not be economical’y feasible, the State
Highway Commissioner shall have the authority to acquire by gift, pur-
chase or the power of eminent domain, such interests in lands as muy be
necessary to secure the relocation, removal, or disposal of the junkyards,
and to pay for the costs of relocation, removal, or disposal, thereof. When
the State Highway Commissioner determines thut the topography of the
land adjoining any other highway will not permit adequate sereening or
such would not be feasible, the Commissioner may exercise the same
authority to relocate such junkyards as is vested in him in regard to
Interstate and federal-uid primary highways.

(f) Any junkyard which comes into existence after the effective
date of this act and which cannot be made to conform to the act is
declared to be a public and private nuisance and may be forthwith re-
moved, obliterated or ubated by the Commissioner or his representatives.
The Commissioner may collect the cost of such removal, obliteration or
abatement from the person owning or operating such junkyard.

(g) The State Highway Commission is authorized to enter into agree-
ments with the Secretary of Commerce of the United States as provided in
28 U.S.C.§ 186, with respect to control of junkyards.

(h) The State Highway Commissioner shall not be required to ex-
pend any funds for screening or relocation under this section unless and
until federal-aid matching funds are made available for this purpose.

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