Counties, Cities and Towns Passed HB113 Subdivision ordinances; tree preservation. Provides that a locality shall not require, but may permit, the removal of trees to create stormwater management facilities if certain requirements can otherwise be met. Patron - Callahan HB218 Local offices of consumer affairs. Provides that local offices of consumer affairs have authority to investigate complaints regardless of whether the complainant is a citizen of the locality. Patron - Keating HB335 Organization of local government. Clarifies the existing law which gives localities authority to organize its departments by expanding such authority to offices, boards, commissions and agencies and the organizational structure thereof. The bill also provides that, notwithstanding any other provision of law, general or special, no locality shall establish any governmental entity which has authority to offer telecommunications equipment, infrastructure or services. Exceptions are provided for certain intragovernmental uses and for the Town of Abingdon (described by proximity to Interstate 81.) Localities are permitted to sell their existing telecommunications infrastructure and equipment. The act contains a sunset clause of July 1, 2000. Patron - Callahan HB339 Liens for water and sewer charges. Adds Orange County and any towns located within Orange County to the list of counties allowed to enact an ordinance to provide that taxes or charges imposed for water or sewer service shall be a lien on the real estate served by such water line or sewer. Certain restrictions apply to residential rental real estate. Patron - Davies HB341 Adoption of ordinances and resolutions. Provides that a governing body may adopt an ordinance or resolution by a recorded voice vote unless otherwise provided by law. Also, the bill validates previously adopted resolutions unless a constitutional provision has been violated and states that the act is declarative of existing law. Patron - Callahan HB368 Board of zoning appeals. Clarifies that in the nineteenth judicial circuit the chief judge of the circuit court or his designated judge shall make appointments to the board. Patron - Devolites HB396 County manager plan of government (Arlington County); election of board; filling vacancies. Provides that the local electoral board shall set and announce the candidate filing deadline for a special election to fill a vacancy in the county board promptly after the circuit court sets the date for the special election. This bill is identical to Senate Bill 61. Patron - Brink HB448 Credit for excessive water or sewer charges. Allows a locality to provide a partial credit for excessive water and sewer charges where high water usage is caused by damaged pipes, leaks, accidents or other unintentional causes. Patron - Darner HB491 Screening of automobile graveyards and junkyards. Allows Shenandoah County (described by population) by ordinance to require the screening of automobile graveyards and junkyards. Patron - Weatherholtz HB501 Provision of sewer services; Town of Front Royal. Provides that the Town of Front Royal (described by population) may provide sewer services to industrial and commercial users outside its boundaries and collect such compensation therefor as may be contracted for between the town and such user. Front Royal shall not thereby be obligated to provide sewer services to any other users outside its boundaries. Patron - Guest HB502 Provision of water; Town of Front Royal. Provides that the Town of Front Royal (described by population) may provide water supplies to industrial and commercial users outside its boundaries and collect such compensation therefor as may be contracted for between the town and such user. Front Royal shall not thereby be obligated to provide water supplies to any other users outside its boundaries. Patron - Guest HB510 Destruction of trees and shrubs in parks maintained by park authorities. Adds parks maintained by park authorities to those areas of the Commonwealth where it is a Class 3 misdemeanor to injure or destroy a tree, shrub, etc., without appropriate permission. Patron - Deeds HB533 Sheriff's motor vehicles. Allows markedmotor vehicles used by sheriffs' offices, with the concurrence of the governing body and the sheriff to be either brown or white. Patron - Dickinson HB563 Agricultural and forestal districts. Modifies the procedures required for (i) district creation and expansion and (ii) local review of agency and public service corporation proposals to acquire interests in land within a district. Time periods assigned to various steps in the creation and expansion process are eliminated, but the overall period during which a locality must act on applications (six months) has not been changed. Agencies and public service corporations are currently required to notify the locality 30 days before acquiring interest in land within a district. Under the bill, the notice period is 90 days, notice must also be given to district landowners, and the notice to the locality must include detailed information about the proposal. For the second stage of the local review process, the vote required for the locality to allow the proposal to proceed is increased. This is a recommendation of the Joint Subcommittee Studying Agricultural and Forestal Districts. Patron - Davies HB568 Local planning commissions; approval of telecommunications facilities. Requires local planning commissions' determinations concerning proposed telecommunications facilities to comply with the requirements of the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996. The bill further stipulates that a telecommunications facility application shall be deemed approved if a commission fails to act on it within 90 days of its submission unless the governing body or the applicant has authorized an extension of time. A governing body may not grant an extension that is longer than 60 days. If the commission has not acted on the application by the end of the extension, the application is deemed approved. Patron - Keating HB619 Acquisition of land by towns for development of business and industry. Makes section, which currently applies to all localities, applicable to towns only. This amendment is not intended to affect the authority of counties and cities to acquire land for such purposes but reinstates the section as it existed prior to the Title 15.1 recodification. The Code Commission recommended this bill in order to eliminate a possible conflict created by the recodification amendment. Patron - DeBoer HB641 Regional Cooperation Act. Allows planning district commissions to use the name "regional commission" or "regional council." Other changes (i) emphasize that planning district commissions serve state governments as well as local governments, (ii) clarify that localities are not required to adopt the regional strategic plan, and (iii) remove the requirement that a locality shall act in conformity with any regional strategic plan that it adopts. This bill is identical to Senate Bill 616. Patron - Hall HB648 Stormwater management; cemeteries may be exempt from fees. Allows localities to exempt cemeteries from local stormwater management fees. Patron - Jones, J.C. HB650 Local planning commission studies. Allows local planning commissions to conduct an analysis of the public facilities that would be needed to support full implementation of the locality's comprehensive plan. "Public facilities" includes but is not limited to water and sewer treatment plants, roads, schools, and public safety facilities. Patron - Day HB677 Donations to charitable organizations; Salvation Army. Clarifies that localities may make donations of gifts or property to the Salvation Army. Patron - Diamonstein HB783 Service of civil papers by towns. Allows town police officers, with the concurrence of the local sheriff, to serve civil papers, and make return thereof, only when the town is the plaintiff and the defendant can be found within the corporate limits of the town. Patron - Phillips HB845 Memorials for war veterans. Replaces a cross-reference to wars for which localities may erect monuments with a listing of such wars and clarifies that localities may appropriate money to permanently care for monuments and memorials for war veterans. Also, it shall be unlawful to place Union monuments on previously designated Confederate memorials or to place Confederate monuments on previously designated Union memorials. Patron - Reid HB852 Provisions for subdivision of a lot for conveyance to a family member. Allows localities to define "immediate family" to include aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews for purposes of family subdivision provisions. Patron - Morgan HB897 Assessments for local road improvements. Adds the City of Hopewell (described by population) to those cities with the authority to impose taxes or assessments upon the abutting property owners for the initial improving and paving of an existing street. Not less than 50 percent of such abutting property owners who own not less than 50 percent of the property abutting such street must first request the improvement or paving. Patron - Ingram HB943 Authority of county administrator to maintain centralized system of accounting. Authorizes a county administrator to maintain a centralized system of accounting for the county. This bill restores a portion of § 15.1-117 (7) which was deleted as part of the Title 15.1 recodification. Patron - Dickinson HB950 Authority to cut grass; Henry County. Adds Henry County (described by population) to the list of those counties which may by ordinance require that the owner of occupied residential real property cut the grass on such property when growth exceeds 12 inches in height. Patron - Armstrong HB1019 Local assessments for relocation of utility lines. Allows the City of Williamsburg (described by population) to impose assessments on owners of abutting property for underground relocation of utility distribution lines, only upon landowner petition or agreement between the landowners and local governing body. Patron - Grayson HB1042 Local water supply systems. Provides that local water rates shall be fair and reasonable and payable as directed by the locality. Patron - Jackson HB1079 Open video systems. Allows localities to regulate an open video system to the maximum extent permitted by federal law. This bill is identical to Senate Bill 578. Patron - Hull HB1100 Water and waste authorities. Reduces the notice and publication requirement for authorities setting fees or charges for refuse collection. Under current law, a preliminary schedule of fees or charges must be published twice, and a public hearing must be held no sooner than 60 days after the second publication. This bill allows a single publication with a hearing to be held no sooner than 15 days after publication. The notice and publication requirements for fees related to sewage disposal and stormwater control facilities are unchanged. There are technical corrections. Patron - Jones, S.C. HB1148 Cable television; use of rights-of-way. Provides that if a franchised cable television operator has been authorized to use the public rights-of-way in a locality and is obligated to pay a franchise fee to such locality, such cable television operator shall not be subject to any permit, occupancy, inspection or similar fee with respect to its use of such rights-of-way, by the locality or the Commonwealth Transportation Board. However, localities and the Board may charge certain fees to recover costs incurred for the issuance of a permit to perform work within the rights-of-way and for certain inspections. There are some technical amendments. Patron - Robinson HB1298 Community development authorities; service districts. Allows a local governing body to adopt the ordinance or resolution creating a community development authority in an expedited manner if all the petitioning landowners waive the right to withdraw their signatures from the petition. Patron - Hall HB1396 Decisions of zoning administrator. Requires the zoning administrator to make a decision or determination on zoning matters within 90 days of a request unless the requester has agreed to a longer period. Patron - Hull HB1405 Industrial Development and Revenue Bond Act. Provides for the payment of real estate brokerage fees and modifies the form required to be submitted to a local governing body for an industrial development facility financing request. The form must indicate the goods and services which will be purchased from companies inside Virginia and outside Virginia. Patron - Cranwell SB61 County manager plan of government (Arlington County); election of board; filling vacancies. Provides that the local electoral board shall set and announce the candidate filing deadline for a special election to fill a vacancy in the county board within three days after the circuit court sets the date for the special election. This bill is identical to HB 396. Patron - Whipple SB62 Boards of zoning appeals. Allows the circuit court, at the request of a locality, to appoint up to three alternates to the board of zoning appeals. Patron - Couric SB218 Property of Henrico County in the City of Richmond. Repeals special acts of 1898 and 1912 which recognized the Henrico courthouse property located in the City of Richmond. Emergency. Patron - Marsh SB249 Lien for water and sewer charges and taxes; City of Fairfax. Adds the City of Fairfax to those localities granted authority to provide by ordinance that charges for water or sewer service shall be a lien on the real estate served. Also, such liens will apply for service provided outside of the locality. Patron - Woods SB273 Group homes for aged, infirm or disabled persons. Requires Henry County (described by population) to consider a residential facility in which no more than eight aged, infirm or disabled persons reside, with one or more resident counselors or other staff persons, as residential occupancy by a single family. Similar provisions are also added for the City of Lynchburg (described by population) with regard to four such residents. Patron - Reynolds SB309 Board of zoning appeals. Provides that boards of zoning appeals for any locality within the nineteenth judicial circuit may be appointed by the chief judge or his designated judge or judges in the circuit, upon concurrence of such locality. This bill is identical to HB 368. Patron - Howell SB367 Authority to cut grass; certain counties. Adds the Counties of Augusta, Henry and Rockingham (described by population) to the list of those counties which may by ordinance require that the owner of occupied residential real property cut the grass on such property when growth exceeds 12 inches in height. Patron - Reynolds SB480 Placement of amateur radio antennas. Requires local ordinances involving the placement, screening or height of antennas to reasonably accommodate amateur radio antennas and to impose the minimum regulation necessary to accomplish the locality's legitimate purpose. No local ordinance shall (i) restrict amateur radio antenna height to less than 200 feet above ground level (in less densely populated localities) or 75 feet above ground level (in more densely populated localities) as permitted by the Federal Communications Commission or (ii) restrict the number of support structures. Localities may continue to regulate amateur radio antennas with regard to certain screening, setback, placement, and health and safety requirements. Patron - Edwards SB570 Vested rights. Provides that a landowner's rights shall be deemed vested in his zoning and not affected by a subsequent amendment to a zoning ordinance when the landowner (i) obtains or is the beneficiary of a significant affirmative governmental act allowing development of a specific project, (ii) relies in good faith on the affirmative governmental act, and (iii) incurs extensive obligations or expenses in diligent pursuit of the specific project which is the subject of the affirmative governmental act. Actions deemed to be "significant affirmative governmental acts" are listed. Patron - Saslaw SB578 Open video systems. Allows localities to regulate an open video system to the maximum extent permitted by federal law. This bill is identical to HB 1079. Patron - Whipple SB616 Regional Cooperation Act. Allows planning district commissions to use the name "regional commission" or "regional council." Other changes (i) emphasize that planning district commissions serve state governments as well as local governments, (ii) clarify that localities are not required to adopt the regional strategic plan, and (iii) remove the requirement that a locality shall act in conformity with any regional strategic plan that it adopts. This bill is identical to HB 641. Patron - Ticer SB707 Municipal or recreational purpose restrictions. Provides that any municipal or recreational purpose restriction placed on real property acquired by the Commonwealth or by any locality from the Commonwealth shall be satisfied if the property is used for tourism purposes which benefit the locality's tourism industry. Patron - Stolle Failed HB460 Planning district commissions; preparation of regional strategic plans. Deletes the current exemption of planning districts in which regional planning is conducted by multi-state councils of government from the requirement of preparing regional strategic plans. Patron - Callahan HB549 Removal of certain nonconforming structures. Allows the City of Petersburg (described by population) by ordinance to require the removal of certain nonconforming structures in historic districts after a seven-year period. Patron - DeBoer HB605 Flood prevention; Town of Grundy. Requires the Town of Grundy to gain referendum approval prior to constructing flood-control structures. Patron - Stump HB724 Advisory referenda in certain counties. Permits voters in King George County to petition the circuit court to hold an advisory referendum. The petition must be signed by voters equal in number to at least 25 percent of the number of votes cast for president in the county in the last presidential election. Patron - Murphy HB758 Board of zoning appeals. Deletes provisions which provide that an appeal to the Board of Zoning Appeals will stay enforcement action. This will have the effect of allowing the zoning administrator to proceed with enforcement of zoning matters while an appeal is pending with the board. Patron - Tata HB811 Local employee grievance procedures; employee representatives. Addresses party representation in locality employees' grievance proceedings. Under current law, an employee may not be represented by counsel, except at the final management step. Moreover, only the grievant, a local government official and witnesses may be present in such proceedings' preliminary stages. This bill stipulates that all parties must represent themselves in preliminary management step meetings as follows: (i) the locality will be represented by the appropriate local government official (although an attorney may serve in this role if he is appearing pro se), and (ii) the grievant may be accompanied by a friend or relative familiar with the facts of the case and not an attorney. The bill leaves undisturbed current law permitting either side to employ counsel in the final management step. Patron - Woodrum HB887 Advisory referendum; King William reservoir. Provides for an advisory referendum in King William County at the November 1998 election on the question of whether the proposed reservoir should be built in the County. Patron - Davis HB1035 American Heritage Rivers Initiative. Prohibits localities from participating in the American Heritage Rivers Initiative created by Presidential Executive Order without the nomination package for inclusion in the initiative having first been approved by the General Assembly and the Governor. State agencies are prohibited from assisting in the development of nomination packages. State agencies may assist in implementation only if the nomination package is approved by the General Assembly and the Governor. Patron - Wagner HB1086 Centralized competitive purchasing by counties. Eliminates the authority of a county to include school boards in the county's centralized purchasing. Patron - Bryant HB1227 Governing bodies; prohibition on discharge. Provides that a member of a governing body shall not be discharged from employment as a result of his absence from employment due to attendance at regular meetings of the governing body upon giving reasonable notice to his employer of such absence. Any employer violating the provisions of this section shall be subject to a civil penalty of up to $2,500. The section to be repealed is identical except that it applies only to the board of supervisors of Buchanan County. With the amendments proposed by this bill, the old section needed to be renumbered and placed in a new chapter. Patron - Tate HB1261 Regulating or prohibiting handguns in city public facilities. Allows cities to regulate or prohibit handguns in city public facilities, subject to certain exceptions. Any penalties provided for a violation of such ordinance shall not exceed those for a Class 1 misdemeanor. Patron - Baskerville SB136 Town contraction; voter petition. Allows the contraction of town limits to be initiated by a petition of 51 percent of the voters of any territory within a town adjacent to an unincorporated area of a county or 51 percent of the owners of real estate in number and land area in a designated area of the town. The existing town contraction procedure is initiated by a town council ordinance. With both procedures, a special court makes the final determination as to whether a petition is granted. Patron - Reynolds SB253 Water and sewer connections; York County. Adds York County to those counties that may require connection to their water and sewer systems by owners of property that can be served by the systems. Such connection may be required only if the property does not have a domestic source of potable water and an adequate system for the disposal of sewage. Patron - Norment SB257 Local assessments for relocation of utility lines. Allows the Cities of Williamsburg and Alexandria and Prince William County to assess owners of abutting property for underground relocation of utility distribution lines. Patron - Norment SB436 Regulating or prohibiting handguns in certain public parks. Allows the City of Richmond (described by population) by ordinance to regulate or prohibit handguns in public parks, subject to certain exceptions. Any penalties provided for a violation of such ordinance shall not exceed those for a Class 1 misdemeanor. Patron - Marsh SB663 Provision of communications services by localities. Provides that a political subdivision may own, operate, or authorize other entities to operate on its behalf, a communications system network which may provide cable, video, telephone, data transmission, or other information or on-line programming services to customers within the boundaries of such political subdivision; however, if any service offered or proposed to be offered is or becomes available in the same area from a private provider, the political subdivision providing communications services shall comply with, and be subject to, all federal, state and local statutory and regulatory requirements applicable to such a private provider. The political subdivision shall also estimate the amount of all federal, state and local taxes and fees that would be required to be paid for each fiscal year and the amount of capital costs that would be incurred in each fiscal year if the political subdivision providing communications services were a private provider, and such estimates shall be imputed into the cost of service charged by such political subdivision providing communications services in each fiscal year. Such a political subdivision shall also comply with various accounting procedures, provide access to rights-of-way and meet various other requirements. Patron - Watkins Carried Over HB336 Size, terms, meeting schedules and officers of governing bodies. Provides that, notwithstanding any other provision of law, any locality may by ordinance (i) change the size of the governing body within limits set by general law, and (ii) provide that the terms of members extend for concurrent periods or expire at different times. Patron - Callahan HB360 Local ordinances to prohibit driving under the influence. Restores a section repealed as part of the recodification of Title 15.1. Although local authority to enact such ordinances also exists in § 46.2-1313, continuing such authority in Title 15.2 may help eliminate confusion. Patron - Albo HB440 Authority to impose road impact fees. Adds Stafford County (described by population) to the localities authorized to impose road impact fees. Patron - Howell HB447 Defacement of structures. Permits localities by ordinance to provide that whenever a property owner, after reasonable notice, fails to remove or repair the defacement of a building owned by him, and the locality has such defacement removed or repaired by its agents or employees, the cost and expenses thereof shall be chargeable to and paid by the owner of such property and may be collected by the locality as taxes are collected. Patron - Darner HB581 Road maintenance fees in certain county subdivisions. Provides that upon a petition of a landowners' association, the Circuit Court of Mecklenburg County (described by population) may conduct a hearing and modify covenant provisions of any previously recorded deed of dedication or other document relating to road maintenance fees. Such petition shall be made only after approval by a majority of the association members. All lot owners within the subdivision shall be made a party to the cause regardless of whether they are subject to deed restrictions related to road maintenance. If the court finds that the roads in the subdivision require maintenance in excess of that provided for with the road maintenance funds specified in the covenants to ensure the convenience or public health, safety, and welfare of the subdivision or to permit emergency vehicles ready access to the residents of the subdivision, the court may increase the fees required for road maintenance to the extent reasonably necessary. Alternatively, the court may order that such fees be set by the board of directors of the landowners' association. The court may impose such fees on all parties to the cause, whether or not such property owners are subject to deed restrictions related to road maintenance. This section shall apply only to subdivisions where (i) the county requires that road maintenance be provided by a landowners' association, (ii) public road maintenance is not provided by the Commonwealth, (iii) roads maintained by the landowners' association provide the sole ingress and egress to landowners as well as to law-enforcement and emergency vehicles and (iv) some, but not all, lots within the subdivision contain deed restrictions related to road maintenance. Patron - Ruff HB1005 Public utilities. Excludes telecommunications services from those public utilities that a locality may acquire or establish. Patron - Hall HB1029 Subdivision ordinances. Allows localities to require applicants for major water-consuming projects to demonstrate that sufficient water is available to serve the proposed project without harming existing water users. A locality may deny issuance of a building permit if the applicant is unable to demonstrate such sufficiency. Patron - Grayson HB1092 Local curfews. Restricts local curfews for minors to nighttime hours. Patron - Katzen HB1201 Salaries of governing bodies. Provides that no governing body shall increase its annual salary unless such governing body has taken an affirmative vote on the increase. Patron - O'Brien HB1243 Board of zoning appeals. Provides that members of a board of zoning appeals shall be appointed by the governing body rather than the circuit court. Patron - Wardrup HB1362 Special exceptions in certain counties. Provides that in Fauquier County (described by population) a zoning ordinance shall not require that a special exception or special use permit be obtained for any residential use at the density for which it is zoned in any residential, agricultural or conservation zone. Patron - Scott HB1365 Local grievance procedure; definition of grievance. Clarifies that an act of retaliation includes increasing the penalty which the employee has grieved at any time after the employee initiates, uses, or participates in the grievance procedure. Patron - Scott SB139 Franklin County road maintenance. Allows Franklin County by ordinance to authorize a majority of lot owners on a private road to collect a pro-rata share of the reasonable costs of road maintenance from each lot owner. Patron - Reynolds SB326 Annexation moratorium. Extends the current moratorium on annexation proceedings until July 1, 2010. Patron - Newman SB331 Control of firearms. Deletes provisions which preserve the validity of local firearm control ordinances adopted prior to January 1, 1987. The bill also (i) repeals a 1944 act which allowed Arlington County (described by population density) to require sellers and purchasers of pistols and revolvers to obtain a permit, (ii) repeals provisions which allow any county to require sellers of pistols and revolvers to furnish the name and address of purchasers, and (iii) requires localities to destroy records kept pursuant to certain firearm control ordinances. Patron - Hanger SB355 Adequate public facilities. Allows high-growth localities, as part of a subdivision or zoning ordinance, to determine whether public facilities are adequate to support the services which will be required by a proposed subdivision or rezoning. Prior to adopting such provisions, a locality shall clearly identify in its comprehensive plan the (i) public facilities whose adequacy will be used in making such determination, (ii) areas of potential growth where such provisions are applicable and (iii) existing public facilities and public facility needs in those potential growth areas. Patron - Chichester SB361 Defacement of structures. Permits localities in the Northern Virginia Planning District to require that whenever a property owner, after reasonable notice, fails to remove or repair the defacement of a building owned by him, and the locality has such defacement removed or repaired by its agents or employees, the cost and expenses thereof shall be chargeable to and paid by the owner of such property Patron - Whipple SB472 Official map. Gives localities additional time to acquire property after denying a building permit because the property concerned is shown on the official map as a future or proposed right-of-way. Currently, the locality must acquire the property, either through negotiation or by filing condemnation proceedings, within 120 days from the date of denial. The bill increases the period for unimproved property to 240 days. Patron - Quayle SB473 Planning and zoning. Allows localities to subject communications towers on state land and wetlands created in mitigation of state-funded highway projects to local zoning and comprehensive plan requirements. Patron - Quayle SB493 Removal of certain nonconforming structures. Allows the City of Petersburg (described by population) by ordinance to require the removal of certain nonconforming structures in historic districts after a seven-year period. Patron - Marsh SB525 Voluntary agreements. Provides that if localities make certain voluntary agreements, the Commission on Local Government shall report its factual and statistical findings but, unless requested to do so by one or more of the governing bodies, shall not make recommendations on the proposed agreement. Under current law, the Commission also makes recommendations. Patron - Wampler SB693 Impact fees for schools improvements. Grants Loudoun County the authority to impose impact fees on new residential development for school improvements attributable to such development. Patron - Mims < PREVIOUS | CONTENTS | NEXT >