§17-23-8. Authority of commissioner to remove or purchase certain yards; restrictions on relicensing at location where yard terminated.
Whenever a salvage yard is so situated that it or any part thereof is or shall be required to be effectively screened by fences as provided in section four of this article, and the said salvage yard or any part thereof cannot, in the opinion of the commissioner, be effectively screened by fences to comply with the provisions of this article, so that the owner or operator of the salvage yard cannot lawfully continue to operate and do business in compliance with the terms hereof, or if a salvage yard has been abandoned, then and only in such events, the commissioner, in addition to all other powers herein conferred, may (1) with the consent of said owner or operator pay the cost of removal of all salvage and equipment from such salvage yard to such other location as the said owner or operator may direct whereon a salvage yard business may be conducted in compliance with the provisions of this article, or (2) purchase at private sale or acquire by proceeding in eminent domain, in accordance with the provisions of chapter fifty-four of this code, all such property rights and interests, other than title to real property, as are necessary and required to effect a lawful termination of the salvage business conducted on any such salvage yard, or on any part thereof.

If any salvage yard at any location is terminated under the provisions of this section or by court order as provided in section nine of this article, the commissioner shall not thereafter license any salvage yard at any such location if such location or any part thereof is (1) within one thousand feet of the nearest edge of the right-of-way of any road within the state road system designated and classified or redesignated and reclassified as expressway, trunkline or feeder, or any road within the state road system designated and classified or redesignated and reclassified for purposes of allocation of federal highway funds as part of the federal-aid interstate or primary systems or (2) within five hundred feet of the nearest edge of the right-of-way of any state local service road unless and until the view of such salvage yard or any part thereof from such state local service road is screened by fences as provided in this article.

Note: WV Code updated with legislation passed through the 2012 1st Special Session