Virginia Code 15.2-3217: Court granting annexation to exist for 10 years.
The special court shall not be dissolved after rendering a decision granting any motion or petition for annexation, but shall remain in existence for a period of 10 years from the effective date of any annexation order entered, or from the date of any decision of the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeals affirming such an order. Vacancies occurring in the court during such 10-year period shall be filled as provided in § 15.2-3004.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 15.2-3217
- City: means an independent incorporated community which became a city as provided by law before noon on July 1, 1971, or which has within defined boundaries a population of 5,000 or more and which has become a city as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-208
- County: means any existing county or such unit hereafter created. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
- Governing body: means the board of supervisors of a county, council of a city, or council of a town, as the context may require. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
- Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
- Supreme Court: means the Supreme Court of Virginia. See Virginia Code 1-249
- Town: means any existing town or an incorporated community within one or more counties which became a town before noon, July one, nineteen hundred seventy-one, as provided by law or which has within defined boundaries a population of 1,000 or more and which has become a town as provided by law. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
The court may be reconvened at any time during the 10-year period on its own motion, or on motion of the governing body of the county, or of the city or town, or on petition of not less than 50 registered voters or property owners in the area annexed; however, if the area annexed contains fewer than 100 registered voters or property owners, a majority of such registered voters or property owners may petition for the reconvening of the court.
The court shall have power and it shall be its duty, at any time during such period, to enforce the performance of the terms and conditions under which annexation was granted, and to issue appropriate process to compel such performance. The court may, in its discretion, award attorney fees, and court and other reasonable costs to the party or parties on whose motion the court is reconvened.
Any such action of the court shall be subject to review by the Court of Appeals in the same manner as is provided with respect to the original decision of the court.
Code 1950, § 15-152.17; 1952, c. 328; 1962, c. 623, § 15.1-1047; 1979, c. 85; 1997, c. 587; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 489.