12.5 Counties, Cities, and Towns

• Library: The Virginia Lawyer: A Deskbook for Practitioners (Virginia CLE) (2018 Ed.)

12.5 COUNTIES, CITIES, AND TOWNS

12.501 In General. Title 15.2 of the Virginia Code governs counties, cities, and towns and is strictly construed against the grant of power under the Dillon Rule, which provides that localities have only those powers that are expressly granted or are necessarily implied from expressly granted powers. ¹⁶³ Title 15.2 does not affect charters that the General Assembly has passed for a locality unless a provision in Title 15.2 has the language "notwithstanding any contrary provision of law, general or special," or similar language. ¹⁶⁴

Chapter 19 of Title 15.2 applies to a locality's use of the power of eminent domain to condemn land for public use. Most city charters have provisions for the city's power of eminent domain and the manner and means by which the city may exercise it. It is common for a locality to use the provisions of Title 25.1 instead of the provisions of the locality's charter. Nonetheless, a practitioner may confront a condemnation under a city charter that requires close examination of the charter to ensure the locality's compliance with its condemnation procedures under the rules of strict construction of

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eminent domain statutes as well as the strict construction of local government enabling statutes that the Dillon Rule requires.

12.502 Condemnation Resolutions. In addition to requiring localities to follow the procedures of Chapters 2 and 3 of Title 25.1, section 15.2-1902 limits the use of the quick-take provisions under Chapter 3 of Title 25.1 to condemnations for streets and roads, drainage facilities, water supply and sewage disposal systems, and water, sewer, and government-owned gas, electric, telephone, telegraph, and other utility lines and pipes, except to the extent otherwise prohibited by law, because those uses are inherently public uses when undertaken by a locality. A locality may also use the quick-take procedures to condemn oyster bottoms and grounds. ¹⁶⁵

A locality must also adopt a resolution or ordinance approving the proposed public use of the property to be acquired and directing the acquisition of the property for that public use by condemnation or other means. ¹⁶⁶ If a locality files a resolution or ordinance with the petition for condemnation, that act constitutes sufficient evidence of the public use and the necessity of the land for the public use. ¹⁶⁷

12.503 County's Use of Quick-Take Procedures. To use quick-take procedures, a county must use one of two procedures. ¹⁶⁸ The first procedure requires the county to notify the property owner of the county's intent to enter upon the property and take the property. ¹⁶⁹ The notice must be sent by the date specified in the resolution that the county must...