33.1-72.1 - Taking certain streets into secondary system.
§ 33.1-72.1. Taking certain streets into secondary system.
A. "Street," as used in this section, means a street or highway shown on aplat which was recorded or otherwise opened to public use prior to July 1,1992, at which time it was open to and used by motor vehicles, and which, forany reason, has not been taken into the secondary system of state highwaysand serves at least three families per mile.
B. "County," as used in this section, means a county in which the secondarysystem of the state highways is constructed and maintained by the Departmentof Transportation and which has adopted a local ordinance for control of thedevelopment of subdivision streets to the necessary standards for acceptanceinto the secondary system.
C. "Speculative interest," as used in this section, means that the originaldeveloper or a successor developer retains ownership in any lot abutting suchstreet for development or speculative purposes. In instances where it isdetermined that speculative interest is retained by the original developer,developers, or successor developers and the governing body of the countydeems that extenuating circumstances exist, the governing body of the countyshall require a pro rata participation by such original developer,developers, or successor developers as prescribed in subsection G of thissection as a condition of the county's recommendation pursuant to thissection.
D. "Qualifying rural addition cost," as used in this section, means thatportion of the estimated engineering and construction cost to improve thestreet to the minimum standards for acceptance remaining after reducing thetotal estimated cost by any prorated amount deemed the responsibility ofothers based on speculative interests as defined in subsection C.
E. Whenever the governing body of a county recommends in writing to theDepartment of Transportation that any street in the county be taken into andbecome a part of the secondary system of the state highways in such county,the Department of Transportation thereupon, within the limit of availablefunds and the mileage available in such county for the inclusion of roads andstreets in the secondary system, shall take such street into the secondarysystem of state highways for maintenance, improvement, construction andreconstruction if such street, at the time of such recommendation, either:(i) has a minimum dedicated width of 40 feet or (ii) in the event ofextenuating circumstances as determined by the Commonwealth TransportationCommissioner, such street has a minimum dedicated width of 30 feet at thetime of such recommendation. In either case such streets must have easementsappurtenant thereto which conform to the policy of the CommonwealthTransportation Board with respect to drainage. After the streets are takeninto the secondary system of state highways, the Department shall maintainthe same in the manner provided by law. However, no such street shall betaken into and become a part of the secondary system of state highways unlessand until any and all required permits have been obtained and any outstandingfees, charges, or other financial obligations of whatsoever nature have beensatisfied or provision has been made, whether by the posting of a bond orotherwise, for their satisfaction.
F. Such street shall only be taken into the secondary system of statehighways if the governing body of the county has identified and madeavailable the funds required to improve the street to the required minimumstandards. The county may consider the following options to fund the requiredimprovements for streets accepted under this section:
1. The local governing body of the county may use a portion of the county'sannual secondary highway system construction allocation designated as "ruraladdition funds" to fund the qualifying rural addition costs for qualifyingstreets if the county agrees to contribute from county revenue or the specialassessment of the landowners on the street in question one-half of thequalifying rural addition cost to bring the streets up to the necessaryminimum standards for acceptance. No such special assessment of landowners onsuch streets shall be made unless the governing body of the county receiveswritten declarations from the owners of 75 percent or more of the plattedparcels of land abutting upon such street stating their acquiescence in suchassessments. The basis for such special assessments, at the option of thelocal governing body, shall be either (i) the proportion the value of eachabutting parcel bears to total value of all abutting parcels on such streetas determined by the current evaluation of the property for real estate taxpurposes, or (ii) the proportion the abutting road front footage of eachparcel abutting the street bears to the total abutting road front footage ofall parcels abutting on the street, or (iii) an equal amount for each parcelabutting on such street. No such special assessment on any parcel shallexceed one-third of the current evaluation of such property for real estatetax purposes. Special assessments under this section shall be conducted inthe manner provided in Article 2 (§ 15.2-2404 et seq.) of Chapter 24 of Title15.2, mutatis mutandis, for assessments for local improvements.
2. The local governing body of any county may use a portion of its annualsecondary highway system construction allocation designated as "ruraladdition funds" to fund the qualifying rural addition cost for qualifyingstreets within the limitation of funds and the mileage limitation of theCommonwealth Transportation Board's policy on rural additions.
3. The local governing body of any county may use revenues derived from thesale of bonds to finance the construction of rural additions to the secondarysystem of such county. In addition, from the funds allocated by theCommonwealth for the construction of secondary road improvements, suchgoverning body may use funds allocated within the Commonwealth TransportationBoard policy for the construction of rural additions to pay principal andinterest on bonds associated with rural additions in such county, providedthe revenue derived from the sale of such bonds is not used as the countymatching contribution under § 33.1-23.05. The provisions of this sectionshall not constitute a debt or obligation of the Commonwealth TransportationBoard or the Commonwealth of Virginia.
4. The local governing body of the county may expend general county revenuefor the purposes of this section.
5. The local governing body of the county may permit one or more of thelandowners on the street in question to pay to the county a sum equal toone-half of the qualifying rural addition cost to bring the street up to thenecessary minimum standards for acceptance into the secondary system of statehighways, which funds the county shall then utilize for such purpose.Thereafter, upon collection of the special assessment of landowners on suchstreet, the county shall use such special assessment funds to reimburse,without interest, the one or more landowners for those funds which theypreviously advanced to the count to bring the street up to the necessaryminimum standards for acceptance.
6. The local governing body of the county may utilize the allocations made tothe county in accordance with § 33.1-23.05.
G. In instances where it is determined that speculative interest, as definedin subsection C, exists the basis for the pro rata percentage required ofsuch developer, developers, or successor developers shall be the proportionthat the value of the abutting parcels owned or partly owned by thedeveloper, developers, or successor developers bears to the total value ofall abutting property as determined by the current evaluation of the propertyfor real estate purposes. The pro rata percentage shall be applied to theDepartment of Transportation's total estimated cost to construct such streetto the necessary minimum standards for acceptance to determine the amount ofcosts to be borne by the developer, developers, or successor developers.Property so evaluated shall not be assessed in the special assessment for thedetermination of the individual pro rata share attributable to otherproperties. Further, when such pro rata participation is accepted by thegoverning body of the county from such original developer, developers, orsuccessor developers, such amount shall be deducted from the Department ofTransportation's total estimated cost and the remainder of such estimatedcost, the qualifying rural addition cost, shall then be the basis ofdetermining the assessment under the special assessment provision ordetermining the amount to be provided by the county when funded from generalcounty revenue under subsection C of this section or determining the amountto be funded as a rural addition under subsection D of this section.
H. Acceptance of any street into the secondary system of state highways formaintenance, improvement, construction, and reconstruction shall not imposeany obligation on the Board to acquire any additional right-of-way oreasements should they be necessary by virtue of faulty construction or design.
I. "Rural addition funds" means those funds reserved from the county'sannual allocation of secondary system highway construction funds, as definedin § 33.1-67, for the purpose of this section. If such funds are not used bysuch county for such purpose during the fiscal year they are so allocated,the funds may be held for such purpose for the four succeeding fiscal years.A maximum of five percent of the annual secondary system highway constructionallocation may be reserved by the governing body for rural additions.
(Code 1950, § 33.1-72; 1968, c. 601; 1970, c. 322; 1972, c. 393; 1976, c.391; 1977, cc. 214, 578; 1978, c. 487; 1979, c. 321; 1980, c. 96; 1981, c.232; 1982, c. 167; 1983, cc. 171, 455; 1984, c. 146; 1987, cc. 156, 207;1989, c. 274; 1991, c. 250; 1993, c. 71; 1995, c. 416; 1997, c. 740; 1998,cc. 330, 338, 340; 2001, c. 95; 2004, c. 677; 2006, c. 827; 2009, c. 635.)