Virginia Law

In localities where no official map exists, or where an existing official map is incomplete, the local planning commission may make, or cause to be made, a map showing the location of any:

1. Legally established public street, alley, walkway, waterway, and public area of the locality; and

2. Future or proposed public street, alley, walkway, waterway and public area.

No future or proposed street or street line, waterway, nor public area, shall be shown on an official map unless and until the centerline of the street, the course of the waterway, or the metes and bounds of the public area, have been fixed or determined in relation to known, fixed and permanent monuments by a physical survey or aerial photographic survey thereof. In addition to the centerline of each street, the map shall indicate the width of the right-of-way thereof. Local planning commissions are hereby empowered to make or cause to be made the surveys required herein.

After adoption by the governing body of an official map, the local governing body may acquire in any way permitted by law property which is or may be needed for the construction of any street, alley, walkway, waterway or public area shown on the map. When an application for a building permit is made to a locality for an area shown on the official map as a future or proposed right-of-way, the locality shall have sixty days to either grant or deny the building permit. If the permit is denied for the sole purpose of acquiring the property, the locality has 120 days from the date of denial to acquire the property, either through negotiation or by filing condemnation proceedings. If the locality has not acted within the 120 day period, the building permit shall be issued to the applicant provided all other requirements of law have been met.

Code 1950, § 15-965; 1962, c. 407, § 15.1-458; 1976, c. 619; 1988, c. 436; 1995, c. 264; 1997, c. 587.