[Code 1991, § 1-1; amended 9-8-2020 by Ord. No. 20-17]
The ordinances embraced in this and the following chapters,
sections and appendixes shall constitute and be designated the "Code
of Ordinances, City of Fredericksburg, Virginia," and may be so cited.
Such ordinances may also be cited as the "Fredericksburg City Code."
[Code 1991, § 1-5]
In the interpretation and construction of this Code and of all
ordinances of the City, the following definitions shall be observed,
unless they are inconsistent with the manifest intent of the City
Council, or the context clearly requires otherwise:
Charter. The term "Charter" means the Fredericksburg
Charter of 1990, as amended from time to time.
City. The term "City" means the City of Fredericksburg
in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Code of Virginia. The term "Code of Virginia"
means the Code of Virginia of 1950, as amended from time to time.
Council, City Council. The terms "Council"
and "City Council" mean the City Council of the City of Fredericksburg,
Virginia.
Delegation of authority. Whenever a provision
or section appears requiring the City Manager, the head of a department
of the City or any City officer to do some act, it is to be construed
to authorize such person to designate, delegate and authorize subordinates
to perform the required act unless the terms of the provision or section
designate otherwise. The City Manager or any specific officer or department
head of the City grants such authority by the power vested in him
in this Code, and such references also refer to the designee of the
City Manager, officer or department head.
Gender. A word importing the masculine gender
only may also extend and be applied to females and to all other "persons"
as defined in this section.
Month. The term "month" means a calendar month.
Name of officers, departments or commissions. Except as otherwise referred to, such reference shall be construed
as if followed by the words "of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia."
Number. A word importing the singular number
only may extend and be applied to several persons or things, as well
as to one person or thing; and a word importing the plural number
only may extend and be applied to one person or thing, as well as
to several persons or things.
Oath. The term "oath" includes an affirmation
in all cases in which by law an affirmation may be substituted for
an oath.
Owner. The term "owner," applied to a building
or land, includes any part owner, joint owner, tenant in common, tenant
in partnership, joint tenant or tenant by the entirety of the whole
or of a part of such building or land.
Person. The term "person" includes any individual,
corporation, partnership, association, company, business, trust, joint
venture or other legal entity.
Personal property. The term "personal property"
includes every species of property except real property, as described
in this Code.
Property. The term "property" includes real
and personal property.
Real property. The term "real property" includes
lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights and appurtenances
thereto and interest therein, other than a chattel interest.
Roadway. The term "roadway" means that portion
of a highway improved, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular travel,
exclusive of the shoulder. A highway may include two or more roadways
if divided by a physical barrier or barriers or unpaved area.
Seal. In cases in which the seal of any court
or public office shall be required to be affixed to any paper issuing
from such court or office, the term "seal" includes an impression
of such official seal made upon the paper alone, as well as an impression
made by means of a wafer, or of wax affixed thereto. In any case in
which the seal of any natural person shall be required to be affixed
to a paper, it shall be sufficient for such person to affix to such
paper a scroll by way of seal.
Shall, may. The term "shall" is mandatory;
the term "may" is permissive.
Sidewalk. The term "sidewalk" means any portion
of a street between the curblines, or the lateral lines of a roadway
where there is no curb, and the adjacent property line, intended for
the use of pedestrians.
Signature, subscription. The terms "signature"
and "subscription" include a mark when a person cannot write.
State, commonwealth. The terms "state" and
"commonwealth" mean the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Street. The term "street" means the entire
width between the boundary lines of every way or place open to the
use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel in the City, including
the streets and alleys, and, for law enforcement purposes, the entire
width between the boundary lines of all private roads or private streets
in the City which have been specifically designated "highways" by
an ordinance adopted by the City Council.
Swear, sworn. The terms "swear" and "sworn"
are equivalent to the term "affirm" or "affirmed" in all cases in
which by law an affirmation may be substituted for an oath.
Week. The term "week" means seven days.
Written, in writing.The terms "written," "writing,"
"writings," and "in writing" include any representation of words,
letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether printed or inscribed
on a tangible medium or stored in an electronic or other medium and
retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature
authorized by Code of Virginia, § 59.1-479 et seq., is or
is not affixed.
Year. The term "year" means a calendar year,
and the term "year" alone is equivalent to the expression "year of
our Lord."
In the interpretation and construction of this Code and of all
ordinances of the City, the following rules of construction shall
be observed, unless they are inconsistent with the manifest intent
of the City Council or the context clearly requires otherwise:
Computation of time. When a notice is required
to be given, or any other act to be done, a certain time before any
proceeding, there must be that time, exclusive of the day for such
proceeding, but the day on which such notice is given, or such act
is done, may be counted as part of the time; but when a notice is
required to be given or any other act to be done within a certain
time after any event or proceeding, that time shall be allowed in
addition to the day on which the event or proceeding occurred.
Nontechnical and technical words. Words and
phrases shall be construed according to the common and approved usage
of the language, but technical words and phrases and such others as
may have acquired a peculiar and appropriate meaning in law shall
be construed and understood according to such meaning.
Sundays and holidays. When any meeting or proceeding
is directed by an ordinance to be held or to take place on a particular
day of a month, if that day happens to be Sunday or any legal holiday
within the meaning of Code of Virginia, § 2.2-3300, the
meeting or proceeding shall be held or take place on the next day
which is neither Sunday nor a legal holiday. When an ordinance authorizes
or directs any proceeding to be adjourned from day to day, an adjournment
to the next day which is neither Sunday nor such legal holiday shall
be legal.
[Code 1991, § 1-4]
The catchlines of the several sections of this Code printed
in boldface type are intended as mere catchwords to indicate the contents
of the section and shall not be deemed or taken to be the titles of
such sections, or any part of the sections, nor shall they be so deemed
when any of such sections, including the catchlines, are amended or
reenacted, unless expressly so provided.
The history notes appearing after sections in the Code are not
intended to have any legal effect but are merely intended to indicate
the source of matter contained in the section.
All references to chapters or sections are to the chapters and
sections of this Code unless otherwise specified.
The references and editor's notes appearing throughout the Code
are not intended to have any legal effect, but are merely intended
to assist the user of the Code.
[Code 1991, § 1-2]
The provisions appearing in this Code, so far as they are the
same as those of the Code of the City of Fredericksburg, 1991, and
of ordinances existing at the time of adoption of this Code shall
be considered as a continuation thereof and not new enactments.
[Code 1991, § 1-15]
When an ordinance which may have repealed another shall itself
be repealed, the previous ordinance shall not be revived.
[Code 1991, § 1-16]
No new ordinance shall be construed to repeal a former ordinance
as to any offense committed against the former ordinance, or as to
any act done, any penalty, forfeiture or punishment incurred, or any
right accrued or claim arising under the former ordinance. The new
ordinance shall not in any way whatever affect any such offense or
act so committed or done, or any penalty, forfeiture or punishment
so incurred, or any right accrued or claim arising before the new
ordinance takes effect, save only that the proceedings thereafter
had shall conform, so far as practicable, to the ordinances in force
at the time of such proceedings.
[Code 1991, § 1-13]
A.
Nothing in this Code or the ordinance adopting this Code shall repeal
the following, when not inconsistent with this Code:
(1)
Any ordinance or resolution promising or guaranteeing the payment
of money for the City or authorizing the issue of any bonds of the
City or any evidence of the City's indebtedness or any contract or
obligation assumed by the City.
(2)
Any annual tax levy or budget or appropriation ordinance.
(3)
Any right or franchise conferred by ordinance or resolution of the
City on any person or corporation.
(4)
Any ordinance adopted for purposes which have been consummated.
(5)
Any ordinance which is temporary, although general in effect, or
special, although permanent in effect.
(6)
Any ordinance relating to the salaries of the City officers or employees.
(7)
Any ordinance annexing territory to the City.
(8)
Any ordinance naming, renaming, opening, accepting or vacating streets
or alleys in the City.
(9)
Any ordinance rezoning property or relating to the official Zoning
Map.
(10)
The schedule of license fees.
(11)
Any prosecution, suit or proceeding pending or any judgment rendered
prior to the effective date of this Code.
(12)
Any offense or act committed or done or any penalty or forfeiture
incurred or any contract or right established or accruing before the
effective date of this Code.
B.
All of such provisions shall remain in full force and effect as if
set out fully in this Code.
[Code 1991, § 1-14]
A.
By contract or by the City Attorney, supplements to this Code shall
be prepared and printed whenever authorized or directed by the City
Council. A supplement to the Code shall include all substantive, permanent
and general parts of ordinances adopted during the period covered
by the supplement and all changes made thereby in the Code. The pages
of a supplement shall be so numbered that they will fit properly into
the Code and will, where necessary, replace pages which have become
obsolete or partially obsolete, and the new pages shall be so prepared
that, when they have been inserted, the Code will be current through
the date of the adoption of the latest ordinance included in the supplement.
B.
In the preparation of a supplement to this Code, all portions of
the Code which have been replaced shall be excluded from the Code
by the omission thereof from reprinted pages.
C.
When preparing a supplement to this Code, the codifier, meaning the
person authorized to prepare the supplement, may make formal, nonsubstantive
changes in ordinances and parts of ordinances included in the supplement,
insofar as it is necessary to do so to embody them in a unified code.
For example, the codifier may:
(1)
Organize the ordinance material into appropriate subdivisions.
(2)
Provide appropriate catchlines, headings and titles for sections
and other subdivisions of the Code printed in the supplement, and
make changes in such catchlines, headings and titles.
(3)
Assign appropriate numbers to sections and other subdivisions to
be inserted in the Code and, where necessary to accommodate new material,
change existing section or other subdivision numbers.
(4)
Change the words "this chapter" or words of the same meaning to "this
chapter," "this article," "this division," etc., as the case may be,
or to "sections _____ through _____," inserting section numbers to
indicate the sections of the Code which embody the substantive sections
of the ordinance incorporated in the Code.
(5)
Make other nonsubstantive changes necessary to preserve the original
meaning of ordinance sections inserted in the Code, but in no case
shall the codifier make any change in the meaning or effect of ordinance
material included in the supplement or already embodied in the Code.
[Code 1991, § 1-3]
It is hereby declared to be the intention of the City Council
that the sections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses and phrases of this
Code and their application are severable, and if any phrase, clause,
sentence, paragraph, or section of this Code or the application thereof
to any person or circumstance shall be declared unconstitutional or
otherwise invalid by the valid judgment or decree of a court of competent
jurisdiction, such unconstitutionality or other invalidity shall not
affect any of the remaining phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs,
sections or applications of this Code.
[Code 1991, § 1-6]
A.
Wherever in this Code, or in any ordinance or resolution of the City,
or rule or regulation or order promulgated by any officer or agency
of the City under authority duly vested in him or it, any act is prohibited
or is declared to be unlawful or a misdemeanor, or the doing of any
act is required, or the failure to do any act is declared to be unlawful
or a misdemeanor, and no specific penalty is provided for the violation
thereof, the violation of any such provision of this Code or any such
ordinance, resolution, rule, regulation or order shall be punished
as a Class 1 misdemeanor by a fine not exceeding $2,500, or by imprisonment
in jail for a period of not exceeding 12 months, either or both. Each
day that a violation of this Code or any such ordinance, resolution,
rule, regulation or order shall continue shall constitute, except
where otherwise provided, a separate offense.
B.
Whenever in this Code or in any ordinance or resolution of the City,
or in any rule or regulation or order promulgated by any officer or
agency of the City under authority duly vested in him or it, it is
provided that a violation of any provision thereof shall constitute
a Class 1, 2, 3 or 4 misdemeanor, such violation shall be punished
as follows:
(1)
Class 1 misdemeanor. A Class 1 misdemeanor shall be punished by a
fine of not more than $2,500, or by confinement in jail for not more
than 12 months, either or both.
(2)
Class 2 misdemeanor. A Class 2 misdemeanor shall be punished by a
fine of not more than $1,000, or by confinement in jail for not more
than six months, either or both.
(3)
Class 3 misdemeanor. A Class 3 misdemeanor shall be punished by a
fine of not more than $500.
(4)
Class 4 misdemeanor. A Class 4 misdemeanor shall be punished by a
fine of not more than $250.
C.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this Code or any other ordinance,
resolution, rule, or regulation to the contrary, no penalty, whether
by fine or imprisonment, imposed for the violation of any provision
of this Code or other ordinance, resolution, rule, or regulation shall
be in excess of the penalty established by state law for a similar
offense.
