                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

PURPOSES OF COMMISSION (§ 15.2-4207)

A. It is the purpose of the planning district commission to encourage and
facilitate local government cooperation and state-local cooperation in
addressing on a regional basis problems of greater than local significance. The
cooperation resulting from this chapter is intended to facilitate the
recognition and analysis of regional opportunities and take account of regional
influences in planning and implementing public policies and services. Functional
areas warranting regional cooperation may include, but shall not be limited to:
(i) economic and physical infrastructure development; (ii) solid waste, water
supply and other environmental management; (iii) transportation; (iv) criminal
justice; (v) emergency management; (vi) human services; and (vii) recreation.
			Types of regional cooperative arrangements that commissions may pursue
include but are not limited to (i) the facilitation of revenue sharing
agreements; (ii) joint service delivery approaches; (iii) joint government
purchasing of goods and services; (iv) regional data bases; and (v) regional
plans.

B. The planning district commission shall also promote the orderly and efficient
development of the physical, social and economic elements of the district by
planning, and encouraging and assisting localities to plan, for the future. If
requested by a member locality or group of member localities and to the extent
the commission may elect to act, the commission may assist the localities by
carrying out plans and programs for the improvement and utilization of their
physical, social and economic elements. The commission shall not, however, have
a legal obligation to perform the functions necessary to implement the plans and
policies established by it or to furnish governmental services to the district.
Additionally, Planning District Commissions 1, 2, and 13 shall be designated as
economic development organizations within the Commonwealth.

C. The authority of the commission includes the power, to the extent the
commission may from time to time determine, when requested to do so by a member
locality or group of member localities, (i) to participate in the creation or
organization of nonprofit corporations to perform functions or operate programs
in furtherance of the purposes of this chapter; (ii) to perform such functions
and to operate such programs itself; (iii) to contract with nonprofit entities,
including localities, performing such functions or operating such programs to
provide administrative, management, and staff support, accommodations in its
offices, and financial assistance; and (iv) to provide financial assistance,
including matching funds, to interdistrict entities which perform governmental
or quasi-governmental functions directly benefiting the commission&#8217;s
district and which are organized under authority of the Commonwealth or of the
federal government.

D. Nothing herein shall be construed to permit the commission to perform
functions, operate programs, or provide services within and for a locality if
the governing body of that jurisdiction opposes its doing so.

HISTORY: 1968, c. 224, § 15.1-1405; 1972, c. 814; 1975, c. 381; 1984, c. 739;
1986, c. 164; 1991, c. 208; 1995, cc. 732, 796; 1997, c. 587; 1998, cc. 668,
686; 2009, c. 863.