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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>78411</law_id><section_number>15.2-2401</section_number><catch_line>Creation of service districts by court order in consolidated cities</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2025/" slug="2025" current="TRUE" last_updated="">2025</edition><referred_to_by><reference>15.2-3534</reference></referred_to_by><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="24">Service Districts; Taxes and Assessments for Local Improvements</unit><unit label="article" level="4" order_by="1" identifier="1">Service Districts</unit></structure><text>
						<section><p>In any <span class="dictionary">city</span> which results from the <span class="dictionary">consolidation</span> of two or more localities, service districts may, in addition to the method prescribed in &#xA7;&#xA0;<a class="law" title="Creation of service districts" href="/15.2-2400/">15.2-2400</a>, be created by <span class="dictionary">order</span> of the <span class="dictionary">circuit</span> <span class="dictionary">court</span> for the <span class="dictionary">city</span> upon the <span class="dictionary">petition</span> of fifty <span class="dictionary">voters</span> of the proposed district, which <span class="dictionary">order</span> shall prescribe the metes and bounds of the district.
		Upon the filing of a <span class="dictionary">petition</span> the <span class="dictionary">court</span> shall fix a date for a <span class="dictionary">hearing</span> on the question of the proposed service district, which <span class="dictionary">hearing</span> shall embrace a consideration of whether the property embraced within the proposed district will be benefited by the establishment thereof. Notice of such <span class="dictionary">hearing</span> shall be published three times in a newspaper of general circulation within the <span class="dictionary">city</span>, with the first notice appearing no more than 35 days before and the third notice appearing no less than seven days before the election. Any person interested may answer the <span class="dictionary">petition</span> and make defense thereto. If upon such <span class="dictionary">hearing</span> the <span class="dictionary">court</span> is of <span class="dictionary">opinion</span> that any property embraced within the limits of such proposed district will not be benefited by the establishment thereof, then such property shall not be embraced therein.
		Upon the <span class="dictionary">petition</span> of the <span class="dictionary">city</span> <span class="dictionary">council</span> and of not less than 50 <span class="dictionary">voters</span> of the territory proposed to be added, or if such territory contains less than 100 <span class="dictionary">voters</span>, of fifty percent of the <span class="dictionary">voters</span> of such territory, after notice and <span class="dictionary">hearing</span> as provided above, any service district may be extended and enlarged by <span class="dictionary">order</span> of the <span class="dictionary">circuit</span> <span class="dictionary">court</span> for the <span class="dictionary">city</span> which <span class="dictionary">order</span> shall prescribe the metes and bounds of the territory so added.</p></section></text><history>Code 1950, &#xA7; 15-8.2; 1962, c. 581, &#xA7; 15.1-18.2; 1985, c. 150; 1988, c. 402; 1990, c. 515; 1991, cc. 12, 29; 1992, cc. 232, 655; 1993, c. 744; 1994, c. 166; 1996, c. 430; 1997, c. 587; 2023, cc. 506, 507; 2024, cc. 225, 242.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
