[Code 1985, § 1-1]
The ordinances embraced in this and the following chapters and
sections shall constitute and be designated "The Code of the Town
of Abingdon, Virginia" and may be so cited. Such ordinances may also
be cited as "Abingdon Town Code."
[Code 1985, § 1-2]
In the interpretation and construction of this Code and of all
ordinances of the Town, the following definitions and rules of construction
shall be observed, unless they are inconsistent with the manifest
intent of the Council or the context clearly requires otherwise.
Words purporting to give authority to three or more officers
or other persons shall be construed as giving such authority to a
majority of such officers or other persons, unless it is otherwise
expressly declared in the provision giving authority.
When a bond is required, an undertaking in writing shall
be sufficient.
The term "Code" or "this Code" shall mean and refer to the Code of the Town of Abington, Virginia, as designated in § 1-1 and as amended.
References to the Code of Virginia or to portions thereof,
unless otherwise indicated, shall be to the Code of Virginia, 1950,
as now or hereafter amended and currently in effect.
The time within which an act is to be done shall be computed
by excluding the first and including the last day; and if the last
day be Saturday, Sunday or a legal holiday, that day shall be excluded.
The words "Council," "the Council," "Town Council" or "the
Town Council" shall mean the Council of the Town of Abingdon, Virginia.
The words "county" or "the county" shall mean the County
of Washington in the State of Virginia.
The word "following," when used by way of reference to any
section, shall be construed to mean next following that in which such
reference is made.
Words importing the masculine gender shall include the feminine
and neuter.
The term "health department" means the Washington County
health department.
The words "health officer" shall mean the health officer
of the Washington County health department, or his duly authorized
agent.
The words "in the Town" shall mean any territory jurisdiction
of which for the exercise of its regulatory power has been conferred
on the Town by public or private law.
The word "may" is permissive.
The word "month" shall mean a calendar month.
A word importing the singular 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 only may extend and be applied to one
person or thing, as well as to several persons or things.
The word "oath" shall be construed to include an affirmation
in all cases in which by law an affirmation may be substituted for
an oath.
The word "occupant" applied to a building or land, shall
mean any person who holds a written or oral lease of or actually occupies
the whole or a part of such building or land, either alone or with
others.
Any reference to an officer, department, board or commission
shall be construed as if followed by the words "of the Town of Abingdon,
Virginia."
Whenever particular hours are specified in this Code relating
to the time within which any act shall or shall not be performed by
any person, the time applicable shall be official standard time or
daylight-saving time, whichever may be in current use in the Town.
The word "owner," applied to a building or land, shall include
any part owner, joint owner, tenant in common, joint tenant or tenant
by the entirety, of the whole or a part of such building or land.
The word "person" shall include any individual, corporation,
partnership, association, company, business, trust, joint venture
or other legal entity.
The word "preceding," when used with reference to any section,
shall be construed to mean next preceding that in which such reference
is made.
The word "property" shall mean real, personal or mixed property.
The words "public grounds" shall mean the parks and all public
lands owned or leased by the Town, and those parts of public places
which do not form travelled parts of streets as defined in this section.
The word "shall" is mandatory.
The word "sidewalk" shall mean any portion of a street between
the curbline, or the lateral lines of a roadway where there is no
curb, and the adjacent property line intended for the use of pedestrians.
The words "signature" and "subscription" shall include a
mark when the person cannot write, his name being written near it,
and being witnessed by a person who writes his own name as a witness.
The words "state," "the state," "commonwealth" and "the common-
wealth" shall mean the Commonwealth of Virginia.
The word "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 Town, including the streets and alleys,
and, for law-enforcement purposes, the entire width between the boundary
lines of all private roads or private streets which have been specifically
designated "highways" by an ordinance adopted by the Council.
The word "swear" or "sworn" shall be equivalent to the word
"affirm" or "affirmed" in all cases in which by law an affirmation
may be substituted for an oath.
Words used in the past or present tense include the future
as well as the past and present.
The words "Town" or "the Town" shall mean the Town of Abingdon,
in the County of Washington and State of Virginia.
The words "written" and "in writing" shall be construed to
include any representation of words, letters or figures, whether by
printing or otherwise.
Unless otherwise expressed, the word "year" shall be construed
to mean a calendar year; and the word "year" alone shall be equivalent
to the expression "year of our Lord."
[Code 1985, § 1-3]
The provisions appearing in this Code, so far as they are the
same as those of the prior Code entitled the Code of the Town of Abingdon,
Virginia, and all ordinances adopted subsequent thereto and included
herein shall be considered as continuations thereof and not as new
enactments.
[Code 1985, § 1-4]
If any part, section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase
of this Code, or its application to any persons or circumstances,
is declared to be unconstitutional or invalid for any reason, such
decision shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this Code
or its application.
[Code 1985, § 1-5]
(a)
The catchlines of the sections of this Code are intended as mere
catchwords to indicate the contents of the sections and shall not
be deemed or taken to be titles of such sections, nor as any part
of any section, nor, unless expressly so provided, shall they be so
deemed when any section, including its catchline, is amended or reenacted.
(b)
The history or source notes appearing in parentheses after sections
in this Code are not intended to have any legal effect but are merely
intended to indicate the source of matter contained in the section.
Cross references and state law references which appear after sections
or subsections of this Code or which otherwise appear in footnote
form are provided for the convenience of the user of this Code and
have no legal effect.
(c)
All references to chapters, articles or sections are to the chapters,
articles and sections of this Code unless otherwise specified.
[Code 1985, § 1-6; Ord. No. 89-12-3, 12-4-1989]
(a)
Whenever in this Code or any other ordinance of the Town or any rule
or regulation promulgated by any officer or agency of the Town, under
authority duly vested in such officer or agency, 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: By a fine of not more than $2,500, or by confinement
in jail for not more than 12 months, or by both such fine and confinement.
(2)
Class 2 misdemeanor: By a fine of not more than $1,000, or by confinement
in jail for not more than six months, or by both such fine and confinement.
(3)
Class 3 misdemeanor: By a fine of not more than $500.
(4)
Class 4 misdemeanor: By a fine of not more than $250.
(b)
Wherever in any provision of this Code or in any other ordinance
of the Town or any rule or regulation promulgated by an officer or
agency of the Town, under authority duly vested in such officer or
agency, any act is prohibited or is made or declared to be unlawful
or an offense or misdemeanor, or the doing of any act is required,
or the failure to do any act is declared to be unlawful or an offense
or a misdemeanor, where no specific penalty is provided for the violation
of such provision and such violation is not described as being of
a particular class of misdemeanor, such violation shall constitute
a Class 1 misdemeanor and be punished as prescribed in Subsection
(a)(1) of this section.
(c)
Notwithstanding any other provision of this section or any other
section of this Code, no penalty for a violation of this Code or other
ordinance, rule or regulation of the Town shall exceed that prescribed
by general law for a like offense.
(d)
Each day any violation of this Code or any other ordinance, rule
or regulation referred to in this section shall continue shall constitute
a separate offense, except where otherwise provided.
[Ord. of 1-7-1985]
(a)
Nothing in this Code or the ordinance adopting this Code shall affect:
(1)
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.
(2)
Any prosecution, suit or proceeding pending or any judgment rendered
prior to the effective date of this Code.
(3)
Any ordinance or resolution promising or guaranteeing the payment
of money for the Town or authorizing the issue of any bonds of the
Town or any evidence of the Town's indebtedness or any contract
or obligation assumed by the Town.
(4)
Any annual tax levy.
(5)
Any right or franchise conferred by ordinance or resolution of the
Town Council on any person or corporation.
(6)
Any ordinance adopted for purposes which have been consummated; nor
shall it affect any ordinance which is temporary, although general
in effect, or special, although permanent in effect.
(7)
Any ordinance relating to the salaries of the Town's officers
or employees.
(8)
Any ordinance annexing territory to the Town.
(9)
Any ordinance naming, renaming, opening, accepting or vacating streets
or alleys in the Town.
(10)
Any ordinance relating to zoning or subdivisions.
(11)
Any ordinance relating to personnel regulations.
(12)
Any ordinance relating to traffic or parking regulations at
specific locations.
(13)
Any ordinance relating to fees or charges.
(b)
All such ordinances are hereby recognized as continuing in full force
and effect to the same extent as if set out at length in this Code.
(a)
By contract or by Town personnel, supplements to this Code shall
be prepared and printed whenever authorized or directed by the 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 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 into 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 ordinance" or words of the same meaning to
"this chapter," "this article," "this division," etc., as the case
may be, or to "sections _____ to _____" (inserting section numbers
to indicate the sections of the Code which embody substantive sections
of the ordinance incorporated into the Code); and
(5)
Make other nonsubstantive changes necessary to preserve the original
meaning of ordinance sections inserted into 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 1985, § 1-6]
(a)
The seal, of which an impression appears below on this page, is hereby
adopted as the seal of the Town. No other seal shall be used for the
Town, and no paper issued by municipal authority which requires the
seal of the Town shall be valid unless the seal herein prescribed
be duly affixed thereto.
(b)
No person may make, sell, distribute or in any manner use a reproduction
of the Town seal unless and until such person has obtained from the
office of the Town Clerk a permit setting forth the manner in which
a reproduction of the Town seal may be produced and/or used.
(c)
No permit shall be issued by the Town Clerk until the Town Council
has, by appropriate resolution following consideration of the circumstances
of any proposed production and/or use of a reproduction of the Town
seal, approved the proposed production or use and directed the Town
Clerk to issue a permit authorizing the approved production and/or
use.
(a)
All ordinances passed subsequent to this Code, which amend, repeal
or in any way affect any section or Subsection of this Code, shall
be numbered consecutively but shall refer specifically to the section
or subsection affected and printed for inclusion therein.
(b)
Amendments to any of the provisions of this Code may be made by amending
such provisions by specific reference to the section number of this
Code in the following language: "That section _____ of the Code of
the Town of Abingdon, Virginia, is hereby amended to read as follows:...."
The new provisions shall then be set out in full.
(c)
If a new section not heretofore existing in the Code is to be added,
the following language shall be used: "That the Code of the Town of
Abingdon, Virginia, is hereby amended by adding a section to be numbered
_____, which section shall read as follows:....." The new section
shall then be set out in full.
(d)
All sections, articles, chapters or provisions desired to be repealed
shall be specifically repealed by section, article or chapter number
in the following language: "That section, chapter or article _____
of the Code of the Town of Abingdon, Virginia, is hereby repealed."
