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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>81736</law_id><section_number>15.2-1646</section_number><catch_line>Certification of result to board of supervisors; procuring land and buildings; relocation to contiguous or nearby land</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2025/" slug="2025" current="TRUE" last_updated="">2025</edition><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="1" identifier="15.2">Counties, Cities and Towns</unit><unit label="subtitle" level="2" order_by="1" identifier="II">Powers of Local Government</unit><unit label="chapter" level="3" order_by="1" identifier="16">Local Constitutional Officers, Courthouses and Supplies</unit><unit label="article" level="4" order_by="1" identifier="8">Courthouses</unit></structure><text>
						<section><p>If it appears from the returns that a majority of the votes cast at the election specified in &#xA7;&#xA0;<a class="law" title="Petition for removal of county courthouse; writ of election" href="/15.2-1644/">15.2-1644</a> are for the removal of the courthouse to one of the places specified in the <span class="dictionary">petition</span> or resolution, the results shall be certified to the <span class="dictionary">board of supervisors</span> of the <span class="dictionary">county</span>, with the amount authorized to be expended for land, if not donated, and for necessary buildings and improvements. If the vote is for removal, the <span class="dictionary">board of supervisors</span> shall at once proceed to acquire the necessary land at the new location, if the same has not been donated, and to erect the necessary buildings and improvements.
		The relocation or expansion of a courthouse to (i) land contiguous with its present location, including contiguous property directly across a public right-of-way, or (ii) any property within 1,000 feet of the parcel upon which the courthouse is located, and within the same <span class="dictionary">county</span>, <span class="dictionary">city</span>, or <span class="dictionary">town</span> is not such a removal as to require authorization by the electorate.
		The provisions of these sections requiring authorization by the electorate shall not apply, in the case of a joint <span class="dictionary">court</span> system, between Albemarle <span class="dictionary">County</span> and the <span class="dictionary">City</span> of Charlottesville, James <span class="dictionary">City</span> <span class="dictionary">County</span> and the <span class="dictionary">City</span> of Williamsburg, York <span class="dictionary">County</span> and the <span class="dictionary">City</span> of Poquoson, and Greensville <span class="dictionary">County</span> and the <span class="dictionary">City</span> of Emporia, to the relocation of the courthouse to other land within the localities which it serves, from its present location, if the governing bodies find by concurrent resolutions that the existing courthouse is inadequate and that renovation or expansion of the existing courthouse is not feasible.</p></section></text><history>Code 1950, &#xA7; 15-45; 1956, c. 95; 1962, c. 623, &#xA7; 15.1-561; 1971, Ex. Sess., cc. 42, 245; 1975, c. 59; 1976, c. 497; 1994, c. 504; 1997, cc. 587, 598; 2005, c. 36; 2018, c. 582; 2020, c. 139.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
