Virginia Code 57-20: Quantity of land benevolent and other associations may hold.
Except as otherwise provided in this section, the trustee for the use of any benevolent or other association referred to in § 57-19 shall not hereafter take or hold, at one time, any land exceeding five acres; and the trustees of two or more bodies or societies may hold jointly, land not exceeding five acres; provided that the local governing body of any county or city may by ordinance authorize such trustee or trustees to take and hold in such county or city not exceeding 10 acres of land at any one time. However, a school league may, in addition to the five acres held by such trustees, hold not exceeding 10 acres as a home for the principal of the school for which the league is named. All such holdings heretofore acquired are validated; except holdings that are in litigation prior to or on July 1, 1964.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 57-20
- 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
- farm: means any person that obtains at least 51 percent of its annual gross income from agricultural operations and produces the agricultural waste used as feedstock for the waste-to-energy technology, (ii) "agricultural waste" means biomass waste materials capable of decomposition that are produced from the raising of plants and animals during agricultural operations, including animal manures, bedding, plant stalks, hulls, and vegetable matter, and (iii) "waste-to-energy technology" means any technology, including but not limited to a methane digester, that converts agricultural waste into gas, steam, or heat that is used to generate electricity on-site. See Virginia Code 1-222.1
- Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
- Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
- United States: includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-255
Any lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks or other groups organized for rural community civic purposes or improvement of farm life or operations of like purposes and not for profit may hold not exceeding 35 acres of land. All such holdings heretofore acquired are validated; except holdings that are in litigation on or before July 1, 2002.
Any association or post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion, Spanish War Veterans, Disabled American Veterans, or any similar association of veterans of the Armed Forces of the United States chartered by an act of Congress may hold not exceeding 200 acres of land. Notwithstanding any other provision of law conveyances of land made prior to June 29, 1948, to any such post or association of veterans is validated provided the same is not in excess of 75 acres. Notwithstanding the provisions of § 58.1-3607, for real property owned by an association or post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion, Spanish War Veterans, Disabled American Veterans, or any similar association of veterans of the Armed Forces of the United States chartered by an act of Congress, that portion of real property owned by such association or post in excess of 75 acres shall be subject to the provisions of § 58.1-3651 and shall not be exempt from taxation unless an ordinance to that effect is adopted by the local governing body.
Code 1919, § 48; 1948, p. 634; 1956, c. 454; 1964, c. 553; 1986, c. 63; 2002, c. 638; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 234.