Virginia Code 15.2-3227: Annexation proceedings final for 10 years.
Except by mutual agreement of the governing bodies affected, no city or town, having instituted proceedings to annex territory of a county, shall again seek to annex territory of such county within the 10 years next succeeding the effective date of annexation in any proceeding under this article or previous acts. In the event annexation is denied, such prohibition shall begin with the date of the final order of the court denying annexation or, in the case of an appeal to the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeals, with the date of the final order of the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeals. However, a city or town moving to dismiss the proceedings before a hearing on its merits may file a new petition five years after the filing of the petition in the prior suit. No county shall, except with the consent of its governing body, be made defendant in any annexation proceeding brought by any city within such 10-year period.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 15.2-3227
- Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
- 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
- Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
- 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
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- local government: shall be construed to mean a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
- 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
Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions, a city shall have the right to file and maintain an annexation proceeding against any county against which it has not filed such a proceeding during the preceding 13 years.
The provisions of this section shall not apply to any petition for annexation brought by a city or town, within such 10-year period, if the previous petition was dismissed due to a procedural defect, lack of jurisdiction, or any defense other than the merits of the case. The provisions of this section shall not apply to a city or town that institutes an annexation proceeding by filing notice with the Commission on Local Government but which subsequently fails to petition the court to grant such annexation. In that event, however, the city or town shall not again institute proceedings for annexation against the county for at least two years after the date the Commission renders its final report on the initial proceeding.
This section shall also apply to any city that was a town at the time of the filing of such petition.
Code 1950, § 15-152.25; 1952, c. 328; 1958, c. 378; 1962, c. 623, § 15.1-1055; 1979, c. 85; 1985, c. 478; 1997, c. 587; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 489.