Senate Bill No. 375
(By Senator Snyder)
____________
[Introduced March 19, 1997; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
____________
A BILL to amend and reenact section forty-eight, article twenty- four, chapter eight of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
allowing a popular vote on the issue of zoning ordinances
adopted by municipalities or counties up to six months after
the adoption of the zoning ordinance rather than the sixty-
day period now provided.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section forty-eight, article twenty-four, chapter eight
of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty- one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 24. PLANNING AND ZONING.
PART XII. SAME -- ELECTION ON ZONING ORDINANCE.
§8-24-48. Election on zoning ordinance; form of ballots or ballot labels; procedure.
If, within sixty days six months following adoption of the
zoning ordinance by the governing body of the municipality or by
the county court commission, a petition is filed with the
recorder or the clerk of the county court commission praying for
submission of such the zoning ordinance for approval or rejection
to the qualified voters residing in the area within the
jurisdiction of the municipal or county planning commission, such
the ordinance shall may not take effect until the same shall have
been it is approved by a majority of the legal votes cast thereon
at any regular primary or general election or special election
called for that purpose. The petition may be in any number of
counterparts but must be signed in their own handwriting by a
number of qualified voters residing in the area affected by the
proposed zoning equal, notwithstanding the provisions of
subdivision (10), subsection (b), section two, article one of
this chapter to the contrary, to not less than fifteen percent of
the total legal votes cast in the affected area for all
candidates for governor at the last preceding general election at
which a governor was elected. Only qualified voters residing in
the area affected by the proposed ordinance shall be are eligible
to vote. with respect thereto
Upon the ballots, or ballot labels where voting machines are used, there shall be written or printed the following:
/ / For Zoning
/ / Against Zoning
If a majority of the legal votes cast upon the question be
for zoning, the provisions of said the zoning ordinance shall,
upon the date the results of such an the election are declared,
be effective. If a majority of the legal votes cast upon the
question be against zoning, said the zoning ordinance shall may
not take effect, but the question may again be submitted to a
vote at any regular primary or general election in the manner
herein provided.
Subject to the provisions of the immediately preceding
sentence, voting upon the question of zoning may be conducted at
any regular primary or general election or special election, as
the governing body of the municipality or the county court
commission in its order submitting the same to a vote may
designate.
Notice of all elections at which the question of zoning is
to be voted upon shall be given by publication of the order
calling for a vote on such the question as a Class II-0 legal
advertisement in compliance with the provisions of article three,
chapter fifty-nine of this code, and the publication area for
such the publication shall be the area in which voting on the question of zoning is to be conducted.
Any election at which the question of zoning is voted upon
shall be held at the voting precincts established for holding
primary or general elections. All of the provisions of the
general election laws of this state concerning primary, general
or special elections, when not in conflict with the provisions of
this article, shall apply to voting and elections hereunder under
this section, insofar as practicable.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to authorize a popular
vote on all zoning ordinances beyond the sixty-day period now
allowed. This bill changes the sixty day period to six months.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.