West Virginia Code 8A-7-10 – Effect of enacted zoning ordinance
(a) After enactment of a zoning ordinance by a municipality or county, all subsequent land development shall be done in accordance with the provisions of the zoning ordinance.
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 8A-7-10
- Abandonment: means the relinquishment of property or a cessation of the use of the property by the owner or lessee without any intention of transferring rights to the property to another owner or resuming the nonconforming use of the property for a period of one year. See West Virginia Code 8A-1-2
- Contiguous: means lots, parcels, municipal boundaries or county boundaries that are next to, abutting and having a boundary, or portion thereof, that is coterminous. See West Virginia Code 8A-1-2
- Governing body: means the body that governs a municipality or county. See West Virginia Code 8A-1-2
- Historic district: means a geographically definable area, designated as historic on a national, state or local register, possessing a significant concentration, linkage or continuity of sites, buildings, structures or objects united historically or aesthetically by plan or physical development. See West Virginia Code 8A-1-2
- Historic landmark: means a site, building, structure or object designated as historic on a national, state or local register. See West Virginia Code 8A-1-2
- Historic site: means the location of a significant event, a prehistoric or historic occupation or activity, or a building or structure whether standing, ruined or vanished, where the location itself possesses historical, cultural or archaeological value regardless of the value of any existing structure and designated as historic on a national, state or local register. See West Virginia Code 8A-1-2
- Land development: means the development of one or more lots, tracts or parcels of land by any means and for any purpose, but does not include easements, rights-of-way or construction of private roads for extraction, harvesting or transporting of natural resources. See West Virginia Code 8A-1-2
- Plan: means a written description for the development of land. See West Virginia Code 8A-1-2
- Zoning: means the division of a municipality or county into districts or zones which specify permitted and conditional uses and development standards for real property within the districts or zones. See West Virginia Code 8A-1-2
(b) All zoning ordinances, and all amendments, supplements and changes thereto, legally adopted under any prior enabling acts, and all actions taken under the authority of any such ordinances, are hereby validated and continued in effect until amended or repealed by action of the governing body of the municipality or the county taken under authority of this article. These ordinances shall have the same effect as though previously adopted as a comprehensive plan of land use or parts thereof.
(c) Land, buildings or structures in use when a zoning ordinance is enacted may continue the same use and that use may not be prohibited by the zoning ordinance so long as the use of the land, buildings or structures is maintained, and no zoning ordinance may prohibit alterations or additions to or replacement of buildings or structures owned by any farm, industry or manufacturer, or the use of land presently owned by any farm, industry or manufacturer but not used for agricultural, industrial or manufacturing purposes, or the use or acquisition of additional land which may be required for the protection, continuing development or expansion of any agricultural, industrial or manufacturing operation of any present or future satellite agricultural, industrial or manufacturing use. A zoning ordinance may provide for the enlargement or extension of a nonconforming use, or the change from one nonconforming use to another.
(d) If a use of a property that does not conform to the zoning ordinance has ceased and the property has been vacant for one-year, abandonment will be presumed unless the owner of the property can show that the property has not been abandoned: Provided, That neither the absence of natural resources extraction or harvesting nor the absence of any particular agricultural, industrial or manufacturing process may be construed as abandonment of the use. If the property is shown to be abandoned, then any future use of the land, buildings or structures shall conform with the provisions of the zoning ordinance regulating the use where the land, buildings or structures are located, unless the property is a duly designated historic landmark, historic site or historic district.
(e) Nothing in this chapter authorizes an ordinance, rule or regulation preventing or limiting, outside of municipalities or urban areas, the complete use (i) of natural resources by the owner; or (ii) of a tract or contiguous tracts of land of any size for a farm or agricultural operation as defined in §19-19-2 by the owner. For purposes of this article, agritourism includes, but is not limited to, the definition set forth in §19-36-2.