H. B. 4654
(By Delegates Overington and Doyle)
[Introduced February 18, 2008; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §8A-7-10 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to growth county development.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §8A-7-10 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 7. ZONING ORDINANCE.
§8A-7-10. Effect of enacted zoning ordinance.
(a) After enactment of a zoning ordinance by a municipality or
county, all subsequent land development must be done in accordance
with the provisions of the zoning ordinance.
(b) All zoning ordinances, and all amendments, supplements and
changes thereto, legally adopted under any prior enabling acts, and
all actions taken under the authority of any such ordinances, are
hereby validated and continued in effect until amended or repealed
by action of the governing body of the municipality or the county taken under authority of this article. These ordinances shall have
the same effect as though previously adopted as a comprehensive
plan of land use or parts thereof.
(c) Land, buildings or structures in use when a zoning
ordinance is enacted can continue the same use and such use cannot
be prohibited by the zoning ordinance so long as the use of the
land, buildings or structures is maintained, and no zoning
ordinance may prohibit alterations or additions to or replacement
of buildings or structures owned by any farm, industry or
manufacturer, or the use of land presently owned by any farm,
industry or manufacturer but not used for agricultural, industrial
or manufacturing purposes, or the use or acquisition of additional
land which may be required for the protection, continuing
development or expansion of any agricultural, industrial or
manufacturing operation of any present or future satellite
agricultural, industrial or manufacturing use. A zoning ordinance
may provide for the enlargement or extension of a nonconforming
use, or the change from one nonconforming use to another.
(d) If a use of a property that does not conform to the zoning
ordinance has ceased and the property has been vacant for one year,
abandonment will be presumed unless the owner of the property can
show that the property has not been abandoned:
Provided, That
neither the absence of natural resources extraction or harvesting
nor the absence of any particular agricultural, industrial or manufacturing process may be construed as abandonment of the use.
If the property is shown to be abandoned, then any future use of
the land, buildings or structures must conform with the provisions
of the zoning ordinance regulating the use where the land,
buildings or structures are located, unless the property is a duly
designated historic landmark, historic site or historic district.
(e) Nothing in this chapter authorizes an ordinance, rule or
regulation preventing, outside of urban areas, the complete use of
natural resources by the owner.
(f) Any county which has enacted county-wide zoning and which
has been designated as a "growth county" as defined in section
three, article twenty, chapter seven of this code may:
(1) Limit the use of land presently owned or subsequently
acquired by any farm, industry or manufacturer and not presently or
subsequently used for energy related industrial or manufacturing
purposes, to those uses permitted by the applicable zoning
ordinance, notwithstanding the provisions set forth in subsection
(c) of this section;
(2) Limit the use of abandoned property to the provisions of
the zoning ordinance where such property is not being used for
energy related natural resources extraction or harvesting or where
there is no particular agricultural, energy related industrial or
manufacturing process on the land, and where such property has been
(d) of this section; and
(3) Limit or prohibit the complete use of nonenergy related
natural resources by an owner of property, if such use of the
property does not conform to the provisions of the applicable
zoning ordinance.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to limit the use of some
lands for nonenergy related purposes in "growth counties."
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
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