15.2-4207 - Purposes of commission.
§ 15.2-4207. Purposes of commission.
A. It is the purpose of the planning district commission to encourage andfacilitate local government cooperation and state-local cooperation inaddressing on a regional basis problems of greater than local significance.The cooperation resulting from this chapter is intended to facilitate therecognition and analysis of regional opportunities and take account ofregional influences in planning and implementing public policies andservices. Functional areas warranting regional cooperation may include, butshall not be limited to: (i) economic and physical infrastructuredevelopment; (ii) solid waste, water supply and other environmentalmanagement; (iii) transportation; (iv) criminal justice; (v) emergencymanagement; (vi) human services; and (vii) recreation.
Types of regional cooperative arrangements that commissions may pursueinclude but are not limited to (i) the facilitation of revenue sharingagreements; (ii) joint service delivery approaches; (iii) joint governmentpurchasing of goods and services; (iv) regional data bases; and (v) regionalplans.
B. The planning district commission shall also promote the orderly andefficient development of the physical, social and economic elements of thedistrict by planning, and encouraging and assisting localities to plan, forthe future. If requested by a member locality or group of member localitiesand to the extent the commission may elect to act, the commission may assistthe localities by carrying out plans and programs for the improvement andutilization of their physical, social and economic elements. The commissionshall not, however, have a legal obligation to perform the functionsnecessary to implement the plans and policies established by it or to furnishgovernmental services to the district. Additionally, Planning DistrictCommissions 1, 2, and 13 shall be designated as economic developmentorganizations within the Commonwealth.
C. The authority of the commission includes the power, to the extent thecommission may from time to time determine, when requested to do so by amember locality or group of member localities, (i) to participate in thecreation or organization of nonprofit corporations to perform functions oroperate programs in furtherance of the purposes of this chapter; (ii) toperform such functions and to operate such programs itself; (iii) to contractwith nonprofit entities, including localities, performing such functions oroperating such programs to provide administrative, management, and staffsupport, accommodations in its offices, and financial assistance; and (iv) toprovide financial assistance, including matching funds, to interdistrictentities which perform governmental or quasi-governmental functions directlybenefiting the commission's district and which are organized under authorityof the Commonwealth or of the federal government.
D. Nothing herein shall be construed to permit the commission to performfunctions, operate programs, or provide services within and for a locality ifthe governing body of that jurisdiction opposes its doing so.
(1968, c. 224, § 15.1-1405; 1972, c. 814; 1975, c. 381; 1984, c. 739; 1986,c. 164; 1991, c. 208; 1995, cc. 732, 796; 1997, c. 587; 1998, cc. 668, 686;2009, c. 863.)