SEARCH SITE
VIRGINIA LAW PORTAL
- Code of Virginia
- Virginia Administrative Code
- Constitution of Virginia
- Charters
- Authorities
- Compacts
- Uncodified Acts
- RIS Users (account required)
SEARCHABLE DATABASES
- Bills & Resolutions
session legislation - Bill Summaries
session summaries - Reports to the General Assembly
House and Senate documents - Legislative Liaisons
State agency contacts
ACROSS SESSIONS
- Subject Index: Since 1995
- Bills & Resolutions: Since 1994
- Summaries: Since 1994
Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.
1994 SESSION
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 57-26 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 57-26. Restrictions as to location of cemeteries and as to quantity of land.
(1) A. Restrictions as to location. No cemetery shall be
hereafter established within a county or the corporate limits of any city or
town, unless authorized by appropriate ordinance subject to any zoning
ordinance duly adopted by the governing body of such county, city or town;
provided that authorization by county ordinance shall not be required for
interment of the dead in any churchyard or for interment of members of a
family on private property; nor shall any cemetery be established within 250
yards of any residence without the consent of the owner of the legal and
equitable title of the residence; provided that subject to the foregoing if
the location for the proposed cemetery is separated from any residence by a
state highway, it may be established upon such location without the consent
of the owner of such residence if it be not less than 250' from the residence
at its nearest point thereto; provided such prohibition and restriction shall
not apply where the tract of land intended for use as a cemetery is separated
from any residence by a state highway and now contains a public or private
burial ground and is not within the corporate limits of any city or town; and
no cemetery shall be hereafter established, and no burial made in any part of
any cemetery, other than a municipal or city cemetery, located within 300
yards of any property owned by any city, town or water company, upon which or
a portion of which are now located driven wells from which water is pumped or
drawn from the ground in connection with the public water supply.
(2) B. Quantity of land. Nothing contained in §§ 57-22 to
57-25 shall be so construed as to authorize a conveyance of more than 300
acres or the condemnation of more than 2 acres of land for the use of a
cemetery, except in counties having a population between 39,500 and
39,550, where no more than five acres of land for the use of a cemetery may
be condemned.
(3) C. Action for damages. When damage is done to adjacent
land by the establishment of such cemetery, whether established by purchase
or condemnation, the owners whose lands have been damaged shall have a right
to action for such damage against any person, firm, corporation, or
municipality, establishing the cemetery; provided such action be instituted
within one year from such establishment.
(4) D. Exceptions. The prohibitions and restrictions as to
the location or establishment of cemeteries shall not apply to the town of
Stuart, in Patrick County, to the town of Gretna, in Pittsylvania County, to
the town of Shenandoah in Page County, or to the Woodbine Cemetery in the
city of Harrisonburg, Rockingham County. And if the location for the
proposed cemetery be in Norfolk County it may be established on such location
if consent thereto be given by the owners of every residence within 250'
thereof at its nearest point to any such residence, or if the location for
the proposed cemetery is separated from any such residence by a state highway
it may be established upon such location without the consent of the owner of
such residence if it be not less than 150' from the residence at its nearest
point thereto.
2. That the provisions of this act shall expire on July 1, 1999.