33.1-183.1 - Authority to lease or convey airspace; terms of lease or conveyance; advertisement and bids; disposition of compensation for lease or conveyance.
§ 33.1-183.1. Authority to lease or convey airspace; terms of lease orconveyance; advertisement and bids; disposition of compensation for lease orconveyance.
The Board may lease or sell and convey the airspace superjacent or subjacentto any highway in this Commonwealth which is within its jurisdiction and inwhich the Commonwealth owns fee simple title after satisfying itself that useof the airspace will not impair the full use and safety of the highway orotherwise interfere with the free flow of traffic thereon and it cannot bereasonably foreseen as needed in the future for highway and other transituses and purposes. It may provide in such leases and conveyances of airspacefor columns of support, in fee or otherwise, ingress, egress and utilities.
No lease or conveyance shall be entered into by the Board until after thetime the county, city or town, by action of its governing body by majorityrecorded vote, approves the projected use and has zoned the airspace inquestion or has otherwise taken such steps as it deems proper to regulate thetype and use of the improvements to be erected in such airspace.
All leases and conveyances shall contain those terms deemed necessary by theBoard to protect the interests of the Commonwealth and the public and shallnot be entered into until after public advertising for bids for suchairspace. The Board shall advertise for bids at least fourteen days prior tothe execution of a lease or a conveyance. The advertisement shall state theplace where bidders may examine a map of the airspace, the general terms ofthe lease or conveyance and the time and place when bids will be opened bythe Board. The highest bid from a responsible bidder, in the sole discretionof the Board, shall be accepted; however the Board may reject all bids andadvertise the property again.
Compensation paid for such leases and conveyances shall be credited to thefund for highway maintenance and construction.
(1979, c. 431.)