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Subcommittee approves clarification on condemning-authority title reports after Virginia Beach testimony
Summary
House Bill 1690 narrows the documents a condemning authority must provide to property owners when acquiring land: testimony and city counsel said current expansive reading of a 60-year requirement causes delays and excessive work; the substitute was adopted and the bill reported 7–1.
Delegate Converse Fowler presented House Bill 1690 to the Veil Law Subcommittee. The bill clarifies the meaning of the phrase "all documents" in the 60-year title history used by condemning authorities under Virginia Code § 25.1-204(Part D), so that the condemning authority need provide the pertinent documents that identify current owners and present interests rather than every historical document in the 60-year record.
Elizabeth Chupiak, associate city attorney for the City of Virginia Beach, testified in favor of the bill and described a local project on Elbow Road where an expansive reading of the statute required redoing work and delayed an infrastructure project. "It's confusing to the land owners. It's really onerous for their counsel, quite frankly, as well. It's timely, time consuming, very expensive," she said. Chupiak said the current expansive interpretation can produce a jurisdictional defect that throws out a condemnation proceeding.
Delegate Fowler said his substitute defines the title report for the statute as showing current owners, current creditors and present interests, not every historical refinance or recorded instrument that has long been released. The committee adopted the substitute and then voted the bill to report; the clerk closed the roll and reported the bill recommended to be reported by a vote of 7 to 1.
