TITLE 15.2. COUNTIES, CITIES AND TOWNS.

§ 15.2-106. See § 2.2-614.1; HB 1207.

§ 15.2-109 added.
Regulations on political campaign signs. Supersedes local ordinances and regulations that would prohibit the display of political campaign signs on private property with the permission of the owner of the property and in compliance with zoning and right-of-way restrictions applicable to temporary nonpolitical signs. SB 76; CH. 388.

§§ 15.2-710, 15.2-720.1, and 15.2-726 amended.
County manager plan of government; budget, constitutional officers and easements. Amends the county manager plan of government (currently applying only to Arlington County) to (i) clarify the county manager's budget reporting duties, (ii) extend certain housing benefits to employees of constitutional officers, and (iii) grant the county manager authority to acquire certain temporary construction easements on behalf of the board. HB 434; CH. 22/SB 461; CH.510.

§ 15.2-852 amended.
Urban county executive form of government; disclosures in land use proceedings. Amends provisions requiring certain disclosures in land use proceedings in any county with the urban county executive form of government (Fairfax County) by lowering the current $200 gift threshold to any gift or donation having a value of more than $100, singularly or in the aggregate during a 12-month period. The provisions do not take effect until January 1, 2005, and do not apply to applications for a special exception, variance, or zoning amendment filed prior to that date. HB 988; CH. 552 (effective 1/1/05)/SB 228; CH. 498 (effective 1/1/05).

§ 15.2-858 amended.
Urban county executive form of government; sanitary districts. Allows a county with the urban county executive form of government (Fairfax County) to create and amend sanitary districts by using a notice that uses a descriptive summary, rather than a full text notice, and to use a geographic description in place of the metes and bounds descriptions. Also, all proceedings held in the creation, amendment, or dissolution of any district created pursuant to former and existing general law are ratified, validated, and confirmed, and any and all such districts are declared to have been validly created, amended, or dissolved notwithstanding any defects or irregularities in the publication of any notice or the description of any boundaries. HB 1158; CH. 561.

§ 15.2-903 amended.
Automobile graveyards and junkyards. Adds York County to the current list of counties that may adopt an ordinance requiring the screening of automobile graveyards and junkyards. The bill also specifies the counties that were previously set forth by population bracket. SB 115; CH. 493.

§§ 15.2-904 and 15.2-905 amended.
Inoperable motor vehicles. Defines "shielded or screened from view" as not visible by someone standing at ground level from outside of the property on which the subject vehicle is located. The bill also provides that an owner may keep a vehicle he is actively restoring (if it is screened from view) and one additional vehicle being used for such restoration on the property. SB 204; CH. 934.

§ 15.2-904 amended.
Inoperable motor vehicles. Gives localities greater flexibility in defining "inoperable motor vehicles." SB 529; CH. 513.

§ 15.2-905 amended.
Inoperable motor vehicles. Amends existing provisions that apply to various localities as described by form of government or by population bracket, by specifying such localities by name and by adding the Cities of Hampton and Newport News. Otherwise, the substance of the section, which allows localities by ordinance to prohibit any person from keeping an inoperable vehicle on certain property, except within a fully enclosed building or structure or otherwise shielded or screened from view, is unchanged. SB 437; CH. 508.

§§ 15.2-906, 15.2-1115, 58.1-3965, and 58.1-3970.1 amended.
Nuisance abatement. Makes various changes to facilitate the ability of localities to abate nuisances and dispose of tax delinquent properties, including (i) expansion of instances in which an unpaid charge may constitute a lien on property, (ii) decreasing the time period that a locality shall wait prior to taking action to sell certain tax delinquent properties, (iii) expanding the ability of localities to declare a property as abandoned, and (iv) expanding the instances in which a locality may petition for the conveyance of a deed in lieu of a sale at public auction for certain parcels. HB 1456; CH. 968.

§§ 15.2-912.2, 15.2-912.3, 15.2-915.2, 15.2-915.3, 15.2-926, 15.2-926.2, 15.2-1209.1, and 15.2-1812.2. See § 18.2-46.1; HB 1060.

§§ 15.2-915 and 18.2-308.2:2 amended.
Control of firearms; applicability to authorities and local governmental agencies. Removes the grandfather clause that allows localities to enforce ordinances governing firearms that were passed before January 1, 1987, and affirmatively declares that any local ordinances adopted prior to January 1, 1987, are invalid. The bill also removes language relating to the purchase of handguns that would allow a more stringent local ordinance relating to purchase or transfer of firearms adopted prior to January 1, 1987, to supersede state law relating to purchase or transfer. This change is necessary because the bill would invalidate any such local ordinance. HB 530; CH. 837.

§ 15.2-915 amended.
Local government; control of firearms and ammunition. Prohibits a local government from adopting an ordinance governing the storage of firearms or ammunition. Currently, a local government is prohibited from adopting an ordinance governing the purchase, possession, transfer, ownership, carrying, or transporting of firearms or ammunition. HB 1150; CH. 923.

§§ 15.2-915.2 and 15.2-1209. See § 18.2-299; HB 1303.

§ 15.2-923 amended.
Local water-saving ordinances. Permits localities to restrict the nonessential use of ground water during declared water shortages or water emergencies. This authority currently applies only to the City of Virginia Beach (described by population.) SB 400; CH. 402.

§ 15.2-953 amended.
Donations by localities. Allows localities to make donations to any nonprofit organization providing recreational or daycare services to persons 65 years of age or older. HB 300; CH. 272.

§ 15.2-958.2 added.
Home-ownership assistance. Allows that a locality may by ordinance provide for the use of funds, other than state funds, for grants to assist employees of the locality to purchase residences in such locality. The residences shall be the primary residence of any employee receiving such grants or loans and individual grants shall not exceed $5,000 per employee. HB 827; CH. 541.

§ 15.2-965.1. See § 2.2-4310; HB 1145/ SB 598.

§ 15.2-975 added.
Cash proffers; issuance of bonds. Provides that localities that are authorized to accept voluntary cash proffers may also issue bonds under the provisions of the Public Finance Act to finance certain improvements to the extent that the costs of such improvements have been pledged by landowners as voluntary cash proffers. HB 1255; CH. 927.

§ 15.2-1115 amended.
Abatement of nuisances; liens. Provides that charges imposed by municipalities related to abatement of nuisances shall constitute a lien against the property ranking on a parity with liens for unpaid local taxes. A locality may waive such liens in order to facilitate the sale of the property under certain circumstances. HB 438; CH. 533.

§ 15.2-1213.1 added.
Referendum in Page County on election of the county chairman from the county at large. Provides that the circuit court of the County shall order a referendum on the question of whether there should be a chairman of the county board of supervisors elected at large. If a majority of the qualified voters voting in such referendum vote in favor of the election of a county chairman of the board of supervisors from the county at large, beginning at the next general election for the board of supervisors, the county chairman shall be elected for a term of four years. HB 141; CH. 18/SB 574; CH. 890.

§ 15.2-1414.5 amended.
City council salaries. Allows city council members to be paid in accordance with the payroll cycle of city employees. HB 1258; CH. 570 .

§ 15.2-1416 amended.
Meetings of governing bodies. Provides that any city or town that holds an organizational meeting in compliance with its charter or code shall be deemed to be in compliance with general law provisions. The provisions of this act shall apply to the actions of all city and town councils beginning July 1, 1997. HB 931; CH. 549.

§ 15.2-1503.1 amended.
Criminal background checks. Allows localities to decide whether the locality or the individual pays the cost of fingerprinting for criminal record checks. SB 90; CH. 160.

§ 15.2-1508.3 amended.
State and local health departments; reimbursement. Adds Chesterfield County to those localities that may supplement salaries and reimburse travel expenses of employees of state and local health departments. SB 45; CH. 157.

§ 15.2-1518 amended.
Liability insurance for localities. Adds operational medical directors, fire department operational medical directors, police department operational medical directors, operational medical directors, and certain physicians course directors to those persons that a locality may include in its liability insurance or self-insurance program. HB 1485; CH. 648.

§ 15.2-1604 amended.
Constitutional officers; employment. Allows a constitutional officer to hire an employee without readvertising if the initial advertisement ran within 120 days. The current time limit is 60 days. HB 934; CH. 453.

§§ 8.01-293 and 15.2-1609.3 amended.
Sheriffs' fees. Requires that only sheriffs or deputies serve show cause orders, and increases the fee (from 60 cents to $1) for taking a bond. SB 619; CH. 210.

§ 15.2-1706 amended.
Law-enforcement officer certification. Provides that the requirement for the successful completion of the law-enforcement certification examination may be waived by the Department of Criminal Justice Services based upon previous law-enforcement experience and training. HB 1299; CH. 477.

§ 15.2-1716 amended.
Reimbursement of certain traffic incident expenses. Raises from $100 to $250 the flat fee that localities may seek from a person convicted of violating certain traffic-related offenses in order to reimburse the locality for providing an appropriate emergency response to any accident or incident related to such violation. The bill provides that costs for firefighting, rescue and emergency medical services may be ordered as restitution. HB 303; CH. 273.

§ 15.2-1718 amended.
Missing child reports. Requires that local law-enforcement agencies enter descriptive information about a missing child into the Virginia Criminal Information Network and National Crime Information Center systems, forward the report to the Missing Children Information Clearinghouse maintained by the State Police, notify other local law-enforcement agencies, and initiate an investigation within two hours of receiving a report of a missing child. Currently, the law requires that this be done "immediately," but does not define what this means. The amendment clarifies that "immediately" means in no case more than two hours within receipt of the report. HB 717; CH. 443.

§§ 15.2-1718 and 52-32 amended.
State police. Increases from 18 to 21 years the age of a person for whom a missing child report is filed when that person's whereabouts is unknown and the person has been reported missing to a law-enforcement agency. The bill also requires the police or sheriff's office, upon receiving a missing child report, to enter the information into the Virginia Criminal Information Network, in addition to other data systems. SB 317; CH. 248.

§ 15.2-1727 amended.
Reciprocal agreements. Allows private institutions of higher learning to enter into certain reciprocal agreements to the same extent as state-supported institutions of higher learning. HB 1392; CH. 769.

§ 15.2-2108.11 amended.
Provision of cable television services by certain localities. Provides that the Auditor of Public Accounts, in connection with the audit of a locality's cable television services, shall not disclose the portions of a comprehensive business plan that reveal marketing strategies of a municipal cable television service. SB 280; CH. 586.

§ 15.2-2109.2 added.
Mutual aid agreements for power and natural gas. Provides that localities and investor-owned public utilities, electric cooperatives, and interstate natural gas companies may enter into mutual aid agreements in order to prepare for, prevent, and restore power and natural gas outages and failures. SB 369; CH. 693.

§§ 15.2-2110 and 15.2-2118 amended.
Water and sewage systems. Adds Franklin County to those counties with authority to require connection to their water and sewage systems by owners of property that may be served by such systems and to the list of localities that may by ordinance provide that taxes or charges imposed for water or sewers or use thereof within or outside the locality shall be a lien on the real estate served by such waterline or sewer. HB 737; CH. 24.

§ 15.2-2110 amended.
Water and sewage connections. Allows Wythe County, in assuming the obligations of a public service authority, to assume such obligations under the same terms and conditions as applicable to the public service authority. SB 190; CH. 816.

§§ 15.2-2110 and 15.2-2118 amended.
Local water and sewage systems. Adds Franklin County to existing provisions that allow certain counties to require connection to their water and sewage systems, or in the case of persons having an adequate domestic supply or source of potable water and a system for the disposal of sewage, allow the county to impose a nonuser fee. Also, Franklin County is granted authority to treat certain unpaid taxes or charges imposed for water or sewers as a lien on the real estate served by such waterline or sewer. The bill also replaces a population bracket with Amelia County. SB 600; CH. 712.

§ 15.2-2114 amended.
Regulation of stormwater; billing. Allows a locality to combine the billings for stormwater charges with billings for water or sewer charges, real property tax assessments, or other billings, and to establish by ordinance the order in which payments will be applied to the different charges. The bill also prohibits localities from combining its billings with other localities, political subdivisions, or waste and water authorities without the consent of that locality or political subdivision. SB 426; CH. 507.

§ 15.2-2144 amended.
Inspection of water supplies. Changes the requirement that localities test the public water supply for the presence of methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) by requiring the test to be done annually rather than quarterly. MTBE is a synthetic compound used as an oxygenate in reformulated gasoline to help reduce air pollution, and has been found to enter the water supply by leaking from faulty underground storage tanks. The State Board of Health may establish an alternate testing schedule for certain waterworks where annual testing is not otherwise required. HB 601; CH. 438.

§§ 15.2-2204, 15.2-2223, and 15.2-2283 amended.
Zoning adjacent to military bases, military installations, and military airports. Requires localities to give written notice to the commander of any military base, military installation, or military airport that is within 3,000 feet of a proposed comprehensive plan or zoning change. Also, such installations are added to the list of items that a locality may include in its comprehensive plan and protection against encroachment against such installations is added as a purpose of zoning ordinances. HB 714; CH. 799.

§ 15.2-2204 amended.
Notice of zoning amendment. Provides that when a proposed amendment of the zoning ordinance involves a change to the applicable zoning ordinance text regulations that decreases the allowed dwelling unit density of any parcel of land, written notice shall be given by the local planning commission, or its representative, at least five days before the hearing to the owner or owners, their agent or the occupant, of each parcel involved. HB 819; CH. 539.

§ 15.2-2223 amended.
Comprehensive plan. Requires that the plan include a transportation element that designates a system of transportation infrastructure needs and recommendations as appropriate, including, but not limited to, roadways, bicycle and pedestrian accommodations, railways, bridges, waterways, airports, ports, and public transportation facilities. The bill also requires the Virginia Department of Transportation to provide technical assistance upon request. SB 353; CH. 691.

§ 15.2-2241 amended.
Provisions of a subdivision ordinance. Clarifies provisions related to conveyance of easements to franchised cable television operators and public service corporations. HB 715; CH. 952 .

§ 15.2-2300 amended.
Ready access to proffer cash payments and expenditures reports. Requires the local Conditional Zoning Index to provide ready access to all proffered cash payments and expenditures disclosure reports prepared by the local governing body for the Commission on Local Government. The bill also requires the local zoning administrator to update the Conditional Zoning Index annually and no later than November 30 of each year. HB 417; CH. 531.

§ 15.2-2304 amended.
Affordable housing. Adds the City of Alexandria to the list of localities with authority to provide for an affordable housing dwelling unit program under § 15.2-2304. HB 874; CH. 543.

§ 15.2-2307 amended.
Removal of nonconforming abandoned signs. Provides that any locality may, by ordinance, require certain abandoned nonconforming signs to be removed by the owner of the property on which the signs are located, if notified by the locality to do so. If, following such two-year period, the locality has made a reasonable attempt to notify the property owner, the locality through its own agents or employees may enter the property upon which the sign is located and remove any such sign whenever the owner has refused to do so. The cost of such removal shall be chargeable to the owner of the property. HB 679; CH. 538.

§ 15.2-2403 amended.
Service districts; road construction. Adds "road construction" to the powers of service districts. The bill also requires the involvement of the local governing body in establishing certain transportation services to be operated or maintain by the Virginia Department of Transportation. HB 1373; CH. 810.

§ 15.2-2418. See § 36-155; SB 4.

§ 15.2-2903 amended.
Duties of the Commission on Local Government. Transfers responsibility for oversight of certain Commission actions to the Secretary of Commerce and Trade. HB 1190; CH. 234.

§ 15.2-3201 amended.
Moratorium on city annexation and county immunity notices and proceedings. Extends the moratorium on annexation proceedings. Under the current law, the moratorium ends following the end of any biennium in which actual appropriations to local governments for law-enforcement expenditures are less than the amount statutorily required. SB 206; CH. 879.

§ 15.2-4903 amended.
Bedford Joint Economic Development Authority. Allows the Bedford Joint Industrial Development Authority to be named the Bedford Joint Economic Development Authority, or such other name as the governing bodies of the City of Bedford and Bedford County shall choose. HB 52; CH. 782.

§ 15.2-4903 amended.
Industrial development authorities. Allows any locality to refer to its industrial development authority as an economic development authority. HB 683; CH. 292/SB 152; CH. 933.

§ 15.2-5114 amended.
Water and sewer authorities; conduits for fiber optic cable. Permits water and sewer authorities to install, own and lease pipe or conduit for the purpose of carrying fiber optic cable provided that certain conditions are met. HB 919; CH. 545.

§ 15.2-5158 amended.
Community development authorities. Provides that the revenue bonds issued by a development authority shall not be deemed to constitute a debt, liability, or obligation of any other political subdivision and shall not impact upon the debt capacity of any other political subdivision. HB 1211; CH. 637.

§ 15.2-5504 amended.
Tourism Development Authority. Authorizes the Tourism Development Authority to form corporations, limited partnerships or limited liability companies for the purposes of fostering or promoting tourism, job creation, economic development, or the sale of goods manufactured and produced in Virginia. The Authority was established in 1993 for the LENOWISCO and Cumberland Plateau Planning District Commissions to promote, expand and develop tourism industries in that coal-producing region. HB 911; CH. 806.

§§ 15.2-6006 and 15.2-6011 amended.
Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority. Expands the powers of the Authority to engage in economic development marketing and business attraction activities and to pay from the Authority's funds any and all expenses incurred in connection with such economic development marketing and business attraction activities. HB 744; CH. 36/ SB 480; CH. 177.

§§ 15.2-6400 and 15.2-6406 amended.
Regional Industrial Facility Authority. Grants localities in which a facility owned by an authority is located greater flexibility to direct that tax revenue collected with respect to the facility shall be remitted to the authority. Also, the scope of the act is expanded to include those areas within planning districts 1 and 2. The act currently applies to planning districts 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 19. HB 1393; CH. 640/SB 546; CH. 603.

§ 15.2-6406 amended.
Regional Industrial Facility Authority. Grants localities in which a facility owned by an authority is located greater flexibility to direct that tax revenue collected with respect to the facility shall be remitted to the authority. HB 240; CH. 42.

§§ 15.2-6701 and 15.2-6703 amended.
Buchanan County Tourist Train Development Authority. Increases the membership of the authority's board from eight to 22 members and permits the authority to borrow money and to accept contributions, grants, and other financial assistance from any private person, foundation or financial institution. HB 533; CH. 35/SB 69; CH. 158.