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Code of Virginia
Title 15.2. Counties, Cities and Towns
Chapter 36. Incorporation of Towns by Judicial Proceeding
11/5/2024

§ 15.2-3602. Proof required and order for incorporation.

A. The special court shall order that the proposed town be incorporated upon proof that:

1. It will be in the interest of the inhabitants within the proposed town;

2. The prayer of the petition is reasonable;

3. The general good of the community will be promoted;

4. The number of inhabitants of the proposed town exceeds 1,000;

5. The area of land designated to be embraced within the town is not excessive;

6. The population density of the county in which such community is located does not exceed 200 persons per square mile according to the last preceding United States census, or other census directed by the court; and

7. The services required by the community cannot be provided by the establishment of a sanitary district, or under other arrangements provided by law, or through extension of existing services provided by the county in which the community is located.

B. The order shall recite the substance of the petition and the due publication thereof, and that the requirements of subsection A have been met. The order shall (i) be entered upon the court's common-law order book, (ii) decree that the community is incorporated as a town by the name of "The Town of ____________________ (naming it)," and (iii) designate the metes and bounds of the town or incorporate by reference the recorded plat. Thereafter the inhabitants within such bounds shall be a body politic and corporate, with all the powers, privileges and duties conferred upon and appertaining to towns under the general law. However, such town shall perform no municipal services or contract any debt until its governing body is elected, qualifies and takes office. A copy of the order shall be certified by the court to the Secretary of the Commonwealth, who shall certify it to all proper officers of the Commonwealth. No town created under this section subsequent to January 1, 1972, and no city formed from such town shall consolidate with any county or portion thereof under the provisions of Article 2 (§ 15.2-3520 et seq.) of Chapter 35 of this title.

Code 1950, § 15-67; 1950, p. 443; 1956, c. 217; 1962, c. 623, § 15.1-967; 1964, c. 467; 1972, c. 863; 1979, c. 85; 1980, c. 45; 1997, c. 587.

The chapters of the acts of assembly referenced in the historical citation at the end of this section may not constitute a comprehensive list of such chapters and may exclude chapters whose provisions have expired.