                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

VACATION OF INTERESTS GRANTED TO A LOCALITY AS A CONDITION OF SITE PLAN APPROVAL
(§ 15.2-2270)

Any interest in streets, alleys, easements for public rights of passage,
easements for drainage, and easements for a public utility granted to a locality
as a condition of the approval of a site plan may be vacated according to either
of the following methods:

1. By a duly executed and acknowledged written instrument of the owner of the
land which has been or is to be developed in accordance with the site plan,
declaring the interest or interests to be vacated, provided the designated agent
of the locality where the land lies consents to the vacation. The instrument
shall be recorded in the same clerk&#8217;s office wherein is recorded the
written instrument describing the interest in real property to be vacated. The
execution and recordation of the instrument shall operate to divest all public
rights in, and to reinvest the owner with the title to the interests which
formerly were held by the governing body; or

2. By ordinance of the governing body in the locality in which the property
which is the subject of an approved site plan lies, provided that no interest
shall be vacated in an area in which facilities, for which bonding is required
pursuant to &#xA7;&#xA7; 15.2-2241 through 15.2-2245, have been constructed.
			The ordinance shall not be adopted until after notice has been given as
required by &#xA7; 15.2-2204. Any person may appear at the meeting for the
purpose of objecting to the adoption of the ordinance. An appeal from the
adoption of the ordinance may be filed within thirty days of the adoption of the
ordinance with the circuit court having jurisdiction of the land over which the
governing body&#8217;s interest is located. Upon appeal, the court may nullify
the ordinance if it finds that the owner of the property, which has been
developed or is to be developed in accordance with the approved site plan, will
be irreparably damaged. If no appeal from the adoption of the ordinance is filed
within the time above provided or if the ordinance is upheld on appeal, a
certified copy of the ordinance of vacation may be recorded in the clerk&#8217;s
office of any court in which the instrument creating the governing body&#8217;s
interest is recorded.
			The execution and recordation of an ordinance of vacation shall operate to
destroy the effect of the instrument which created the governing body&#8217;s
interest so vacated and to divest all public rights in and to the property and
vest title in the streets, alleys, easements for public rights of passage,
easements for drainage, and easements for a public utility as may be described
in, and in accordance with, the ordinance of vacation.

HISTORY: 1990, c. 813, § 15.1-480.1; 1997, c.; 2024, cc. 225, 242; 2025, c.
594.