2005

Lamar Co., LLC v. Bd. of Zoning Appeals

Supreme Court of Virginia

270 Va. 540, 620 S.E.2d 753

Lamar wanted to remove two billboards and re-erect them ten yards away from the current location. City code said no billboard could be erected in a general commercial district unless it replaced a then existing billboard. The Zoning Administrator and the Board of Zoning Appeals both concluded the billboards could be erected only in the exact same location as the old ones, and the request was denied. On appeal to the circuit court, the denial was upheld as neither plainly wrong nor in violation of the purposes and intent of the zoning ordinance. Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the new test by the amended Va. Code was whether “the board of zoning appeals erred in its decision.” Here, the case turned on a question of law as to what “replaces” meant, and the trial court did not err in applying the presumption of correctness to the Board’s decision.

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