If it appears from the returns that a majority of the votes cast at the election specified in § 15.2-1644 are for the removal of the courthouse to one of the places specified in the petition or resolution, the results shall be certified to the board of supervisors of the county, with the amount authorized to be expended for land, if not donated, and for necessary buildings and improvements. If the vote is for removal, the board of supervisors shall at once proceed to acquire the necessary land at the new location, if the same has not been donated, and to erect the necessary buildings and improvements.

The relocation or expansion of a courthouse to land contiguous with its present location, including contiguous property directly across a public right-of-way, and within the same county or city is not such a removal as to require authorization by the electorate.

The provisions of these sections requiring authorization by the electorate shall not apply, in the case of a joint court system, between Albemarle County and the City of Charlottesville, James City County and the City of Williamsburg, York County and the City of Poquoson, and Greensville County and the City of Emporia, to the relocation of the courthouse to other land within the localities which it serves, from its present location, if the governing bodies find by concurrent resolutions that the existing courthouse is inadequate and that renovation or expansion of the existing courthouse is not feasible.

Code 1950, § 15-45; 1956, c. 95; 1962, c. 623, § 15.1-561; 1971, Ex. Sess., cc. 42, 245; 1975, c. 59; 1976, c. 497; 1994, c. 504; 1997, cc. 587, 598; 2005, c. 36; 2018, c. 582.