(a) Authority. Council, pursuant to the authority granted it by the Charter and the West Virginia Code, reserves the right to permanently close, abandon and discontinue, for public use, any street, alley, lane, road or other public right of way presently owned by the City or dedicated to the City.
(b) Procedure.
(1) Any person seeking to permanently close, abandon and discontinue a public street, alley, lane, road or other public right of way, shall file:
A. An ordinance and petition, the form of which shall be prescribed by the City Administrator, to Council in the Office of the City Planning Commission;
B. The ordinance and petition shall be accompanied by an accurately scaled map of such right of way;
C. A list of all owners of property immediately adjacent and extending one hundred feet from such right of way;
D. A filing fee of twenty-five dollars ($25.00).
(2) Upon receipt of the application, the City Planning Commission shall deliver one copy of the ordinance to the City Clerk’s office for the assignment of a number. Thereafter, the ordinance shall be introduced at the next Council meeting and it shall be referred to the City Planning Commission for a public hearing.
(3) Prior to holding a public hearing, the City Planning Commission shall notify all persons on the list supplied by the petitioner of the place, time and date of hearing. This notice shall be given in writing to all persons on the list not less than fifteen days prior to the public hearing. After considering the evidence presented at the public hearing as well as any other documented evidence which may come before the Planning Commission the Planning Commission shall report its recommendations to Council at the next Council meeting.
(4) Upon receipt of the Planning Commission’s recommendations, Council shall refer the ordinance to Council’s Committee on Planning for its consideration. After consideration of the ordinance, Council’s Committee on Planning shall report back to Council with its recommendation for passage or rejection of the ordinance. In any event, Council shall refer the ordinance to Council’s Committee on Finance, and such Committee shall report its recommendations to Council. Council shall then vote on passage or rejection of the ordinance. Council’s final action shall be a simple majority vote of the members present at a regular or special meeting at which a quorum is present.
(c) Contents of Petition to Vacate. A petition requesting the City to permanently close, abandon and discontinue a public street, alley, lane, road or other public right of way, shall include explicit reasons and the necessity for the public abandonment together with the petitioner’s need for the property for purposes of construction, improvement or other reasons which could not be accomplished otherwise.
(d) Contents of Ordinance. An ordinance passed by Council to permanently close, abandon and discontinue a public street, alley, lane, road or other public right of way, shall include an accurate description of the public street, alley, lane, road or other public right of way which is permanently closed, abandoned and discontinued.