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2017 SESSION

17102708D
HOUSE BILL NO. 2192
Offered January 11, 2017
Prefiled January 11, 2017
A BILL to amend and reenact § 15.2-1646 of the Code of Virginia, relating to relocation of courthouse.
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Patron-- Landes
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Referred to Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns
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Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 15.2-1646 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 15.2-1646. Certification of result to board of supervisors; procuring land and buildings; relocation to contiguous land.

If it appears from the returns that a majority of the votes cast at the election specified in § 15.2-1644 are for the removal of the courthouse to one of the places specified in the petition or resolution, the results shall be certified to the board of supervisors of the county, with the amount authorized to be expended for land, if not donated, and for necessary buildings and improvements. If the vote is for removal, the board of supervisors shall at once proceed to acquire the necessary land at the new location, if the same has not been donated, and to erect the necessary buildings and improvements.

The relocation of a courthouse to land contiguous with its present location, including contiguous property directly across a public right-of-way, and within the same county is not such a removal as to require authorization by the electorate. In the case of a county courthouse located in a city, the relocation or expansion of the courthouse to any other location within such city is not such a removal as to require authorization by the electorate.

The provisions of these sections requiring authorization by the electorate shall not apply, in the case of a joint court system, between Albemarle County and the City of Charlottesville, James City County and the City of Williamsburg, York County and the City of Poquoson, and Greensville County and the City of Emporia, to the relocation of the courthouse to other land within the localities which it serves, from its present location, if the governing bodies find by concurrent resolutions that the existing courthouse is inadequate and that renovation or expansion of the existing courthouse is not feasible.