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Honorable Patrick A. Hope
December 5, 2025
Page 5
Moreover, because the "task in statutory interpretation is 'to give reasonable effect to every word'
in a statute[,]"24 a court may not '"de let[ e] language from a statute' in the guise of interpreting that statute."25
Here, the 2024 Amendment "stay[s] the locality from issuing any permit to ... demolish the historic ...
structure."26 The 2024 Amendment also references filed "building permit[s] or demolition application[s]";
it does not mention designation processes. Accordingly, per its plain language, the 2024 Amendment applies
only to those structures already designated by the locality as historic. 27
In sum, I conclude that the 2024 Amendment only prohibits a locality from issuing a demolition
permit until 30 days after the governing body's final decision to approve the application to demolish a
historic structure that is subject to the approval requirement in Subdivision 2, not until 30 days after a
structure is "set[] forth" as historic pursuant to an adopted ordinance. 28
Conclusion
Accordingly, it is my opinion that the 2024 Amendment does not prohibit a locality from issuing a
pe1mit to demolish a structure that is under consideration for designation as a historic structure, but rather
only prohibits a locality from issuing a demolition permit until 30 days after the decision of the governing
body to approve an application to demolish a historic structure whose demolition is subject to approval
under the locality's ordinance.
With kindest regards,
--....truly yours,
onS.Miya~
Attorney General
24
Berry, 302 Va. at 145 (quoting Jones v. Conwell, 227 Va. 176, 181 (1984)).
25
Id. at 133 (alteration in original) (quoting Appalachian Power Co. v. State Corp. Comm'n, 284 Va. 695, 706
(2012)).
26
2024 Va. Acts ch. 752 (emphasis added).
27
See id. (further amending 搂 15.2-2306 to define, for purposes of tax incentives for conservation of historic
structures within historic districts, "historic structure" as "a structure designated as having an important historic,
architectural, archaeological, or cultural interest or designated as a contributing structure by an ordinance passed
pursuant to subsection (A)." 2024 Va. Acts ch. 533 (codified at VA. CODE ANN. 搂 15.2-2306(E) (Supp. 2025))
(emphasis added). Moreover, as introduced, the 2024 Amendment employed the phrase "proposed historic landmark,
building, or structure," HB 1395 (2024) (emphasis added), but the modifier "proposed" was stricken in committee.
The General Assembly knows how to express is intent, and it chooses with care the words that it uses, see Alger v.
Commonwealth, 267 Va. 255,261 (2004). Clearly, had the General Assembly wanted to provide that the stay provision
of the 2024 Amendment would apply to structures under consideration for designation as historic, it could have done
so. See Doulgerakis v. Commonwealth, 61 Va. App. 417, 421 (2013) (examining legislative history to determine
whether "secured" meant "locked" for purposes of Code 搂 l 8.2-308(B)(l 0) and determining that "[i]n accepting the
Governor's proposed change [i.e., replacing the bill's use of "locked" with "secured"], the legislature made it clear
that in this amendment, "secured" does not mean "locked." Had the legislature intended for "secured" and "locked"
to be synonymous, they would have disregarded the Governor's recommendation and adopted the amendment as
originally written.").
28
For the foregoing reasons, I reject an alternative interpretation that reads the phrase "final decision of the
governing body" as referring to a final decision as to whether to designate a structure as historic.Jump to an indexed page (5 of 5)