On November 9, 2009, Virginia Attorney General Bill Mims issued an official opinion stating that the State Board of Health’s adoption of emergency regulations would trigger preemption of local government regulations of alternative onsite sewage systems (AOSS) found in some local government ordinances. The official opinion of the Attorney General can be found here. The [...]

For many years, localities were without authority to adopt a TDR ordinance. The Attorney General made clear that while a TDR program might be constitutional, a statute would have to be adopted to authorize a locality to adopt a TDR ordinance. Opinion to the Honorable Robert T. Andrews, 1985-86 Va. A.G. op. 112. In 2006, [...]

One of Attorney General Bill Mims’ first official opinions stated that localities may not require the review and approval of “boundary survey plats and physical survey plats as a prerequisite for recordation.” http://www.oag.state.va.us/OPINIONS/2009opns/08-105-Bell.pdf I agree, to a point. The Attorney General has accurately summarized the statutes from the subdivision article of Chapter 22, Title 15.2. [...]