Suffolk city attorneys outline 2025 General Assembly bills that will require code changes, new municipal policies

The City Attorney’s Office on Wednesday reviewed dozens of bills enacted by the 2025 Virginia General Assembly and flagged several that will require Suffolk City Council action or optional local ordinances.

The report, delivered by Assistant City Attorneys Rebecca Powers, Patrick Macaluso and Michael Patterson, drew council questions about tree-canopy fees, derelict-property procedures and tax-exemption changes.

The most immediately actionable items the city attorney identified are: shortening approval times for subdivision plats and site plans (House Bill 2660), changes to the city’s photo speed-monitoring ordinance to match state language for school crossing zones (House Bill 2718), and updates to zoning fine schedules and administrative review authority to align with state law for repeat or enhanced zoning violations (Senate Bills 9974, 1267 and 1422). City staff said an ordinance to update subdivision timing will be presented at an upcoming council meeting.

Rebecca Powers summarized one optional, locally adoptable measure: “This allows the city to pass an ordinance that establishes a tree canopy fund to collect, maintain and distribute fees collected from developers that cannot provide for full tree canopy requirements where the development project is situated.” Under the new state law, monies placed into a local tree canopy fund must be spent…