§ 33.1-147. Appeal to circuit court
Any one or more of the petitioners, or the board of supervisors, or other governing body of any county or town council of the town in which the section of road or the crossing is wholly or partly located, or the Commissioner may within thirty days from the entry of the order by the Commonwealth Transportation Board, but not afterwards, appeal from the order to the circuit court of the county in which the section of road or the crossing, or the major portion thereof, sought to be abandoned, under § 33.1-145, is located. Where the Commonwealth Transportation Board fails to enter an order pursuant to § 33.1-145, such person or persons named in this section shall within thirty days from such nonentry, but not afterwards, have a right of appeal to the appropriate circuit court. Such appeals shall be by petition filed in the clerk's office of such court, setting out the order appealed from or the cause appealed from where no order was entered and the grounds of such appeal. Upon the filing of such petition, the clerk of the circuit court shall docket the appeal, giving it a preferred status, and if the appeal be by any of the landowners who filed a petition with the Commonwealth Transportation Board for a public hearing shall have notice of such appeal served upon the attorney for the Commonwealth and the Commissioner, and if the appeal be by the board of supervisors or other governing body or Commissioner, notice thereof shall be served upon the landowners who filed petition with the Commonwealth Transportation Board for a public hearing. No such appeal shall be tried by the court within ten days after notice is given, as hereinabove provided, unless such notice be waived. The circuit court shall hear the matter de novo with further right of appeal as provided by the general law. Upon the hearing of the appeal, the court shall ascertain and by its order determine whether public necessity exists for the continuance of the section of road or the crossing as a public road or crossing, or whether the welfare of the public will be served best by abandoning the section of the road or the said crossing as a public road or crossing and shall enter its order accordingly. The clerk of the court shall certify a copy of the order of the court to the Commonwealth Transportation Board.
Upon any such appeal, if it shall appear to the court that by the abandonment of such section of road or such crossing as a public road or crossing any party to such appeal would be deprived of access to a public road, the court may cause the railway company and the board of supervisors or other governing body, or either, to be made parties to the proceedings, if not already parties, and may enter such orders as seem to it just and proper for keeping open such section of road or such crossing for the benefit of such party or parties as would by such abandonment be deprived of access to a public road. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any discontinuance of a portion of the State Highway System under § 33.1-144.
(Code 1950, § 33-76.4; 1950, p. 729; 1970, c. 322; 1978, c. 187.)
Sections: Previous 33.1-141 33.1-142 33.1-143 33.1-144 33.1-145 33.1-145.1 33.1-146 33.1-147 33.1-148 33.1-149 33.1-150 33.1-151 33.1-152 33.1-152.1 33.1-153 NextLast modified: April 16, 2009