                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

HEARING; CREATION OF DISTRICT; CONDITIONS; NOTICE (§ 15.2-4309)

A. The local governing body, after receiving the report of the local planning
commission and the advisory committee, shall hold a public hearing as provided
by law, and after such public hearing, may by ordinance create the district or
add land to an existing district as applied for, or with any modifications it
deems appropriate.

B. The governing body may require, as a condition to creation of the district,
that any parcel in the district shall not, without the prior approval of the
governing body, be developed to any more intensive use or to certain more
intensive uses, other than uses resulting in more intensive agricultural or
forestal production, during the period which the parcel remains within the
district. Local governing bodies shall not prohibit as a more intensive use,
construction and placement of dwellings for persons who earn a substantial part
of their livelihood from a farm or forestry operation on the same property, or
for members of the immediate family of the owner, or divisions of parcels for
such family members, unless the governing body finds that such use in the
particular case would be incompatible with farming or forestry in the district.
To further the purposes of this chapter and to promote agriculture and forestry
and the creation of districts, the local governing body may adopt programs
offering incentives to landowners to impose land use and conservation
restrictions on their land within the district. Programs offering such
incentives shall not be permitted unless authorized by law. Any conditions to
creation of the district and the period before the review of the district shall
be described, either in the application or in a notice sent by first-class mail
to all landowners in the district and published in a newspaper having a general
circulation within the district at least seven days prior to adoption of the
ordinance creating the district. The ordinance shall state any conditions to
creation of the district and shall prescribe the period before the first review
of the district, which shall be no less than four years but not more than ten
years from the date of its creation. In prescribing the period before the first
review, the local governing body shall consider the period proposed in the
application. The ordinance shall remain in effect at least until such time as
the district is to be reviewed. In the event of annexation by a city or town of
any land within a district, the district shall continue until the time
prescribed for review.

C. The local governing body shall act to adopt or reject the application, or any
modification of it, no later than 180 days from (i) November 1 or (ii) the other
date selected by the locality as provided in &#xA7; 15.2-4305. Upon the adoption
of an ordinance creating a district or adding land to an existing district, the
local governing body shall submit a copy of the ordinance with maps to the local
commissioner of the revenue, and the State Forester, and the Commissioner of
Agriculture and Consumer Services for information purposes. The commissioner of
the revenue shall identify the parcels of land in the district in the land book
and on the tax map, and the local governing body shall identify such parcels on
the zoning map, where applicable and shall designate the districts on the
official comprehensive plan map each time the comprehensive plan map is updated.

HISTORY: 1977, c. 681, § 15.1-1511; 1979, c. 377; 1981, c. 546; 1984, c. 20;
1985, c. 13; 1987, c. 552; 1993, cc. 745, 761; 1997, c. 587; 1998, c. 833; 2011,
cc. 344, 355; 2023, cc. 506, 507.