§ 2.4. Contractual powers; gifts; grants.

(a)

Acquisition of property generally; holding, selling, leasing, etc., city property. The city may purchase, gift, devise, condemn or otherwise, property, real and personal or any estate or interest therein, within or without the city or state and for any of the purposes of the city; and to hold, improve, sell, lease, mortgage, or pledge the same or any part thereof, including any property now owned by the city. In addition to its other powers under this Charter or general law, the council may issue purchase money obligations without a vote of the people, provided that such obligations are not general obligations of the City of Waynesboro, but shall be secured solely by the property purchased. Such obligations as may be from time to time issued for the purchase of property shall clearly show that such obligations are not general obligations of the city, but are secured only as herein provided, provided that nothing herein contained is contrary to or inconsistent with the Constitution of Virginia.

(b)

Debts and evidence of indebtedness. The city may contract debts, borrow money, and make and issue evidence of indebtedness.

(c)

Acquisition of property for encouraging commerce, etc.; sale, lease, etc., of city property for such purpose; donation of land for hospital purposes. The city may acquire, in any lawful manner, for the purpose of encouraging commerce, manufacturing, education, and the building of homes, lands within and without the city, not exceeding at any one time one thousand (1,000) acres in the aggregate, and from time to time to sell, dispose of, lease, or donate the same or any part thereof for commercial, industrial, educational, or residential uses and purposes, including any land now owned by the city, and including the power to donate any land now or hereafter owned by the city for hospital purposes.

(d)

Gifts. The city may accept or refuse gifts, donations, bequests, or grants of any kind from any source, absolutely or in trust, which are related to the powers, duties, and functions of the municipal corporation, or for educational, charitable, or other public purposes, and do all the things and acts necessary to carry out the purposes of such gifts, grants, bequests, and devises, with power to manage, maintain, operate, sell, lease, or otherwise handle or dispose of the same, in accordance with terms and conditions of such gifts, grants, bequests, and devises.

(e)

Acquisition of lands, quarries, water rights, machinery for production of materials for construction, etc., of streets, water works, public buildings, etc. The city may acquire by gift, purchase, exchange, or by the exercise of the power of eminent domain within the state, lands, and any interest or estate in lands, rock quarries, gravel pits, water and water rights and the necessary roadways thereto, either within or without the city, and acquire and install machinery and equipment and build the necessary roads or tramroads thereto, and operate the same for the purpose of producing materials required for the construction, repair, and maintenance of streets, highways, sidewalks, water works, reservoirs, sewer systems, electric lights, public buildings and any and all public purposes. The city may also acquire by gift, purchase, exchange, or by the exercise of the power of eminent domain within the state, lands and machinery and equipment, and build and operate a plant or plants for the preparation and mixing of materials for the construction of improved streets and other public improvements, and the maintenance and repair thereof, and to build and operate coal tipples and yards in connection therewith.

(f)

Acquisition and disposition of property adjoining or near parks, etc., or necessary to convenient use of streets, and of lots affected by opening or widening streets or change in creek channels.

(1)

The city may acquire by purchase, exchange, gift, devise, or condemnation, property adjoining its parks, or lots on which its monuments are located, or other property used for public purposes, or in the vicinity of such parks, plats, or property that is used and maintained in such a manner as to impair the beauty, usefulness, or efficiency of such parks, plats or public property. The city may likewise acquire property adjacent to any street, the topography of which, from its proximity thereto, impairs the convenient use of such street, or renders impracticable, without extraordinary expense, the improvement of the same, and the city may subsequently dispose of the property so acquired, making limitations as to the use thereof, which will protect the beauty, usefulness, efficiency, or convenience of such parks, plats, streets, and property.

(2)

And when the city proposes to open or widen a street, or change the channel of a creek, by taking any part of a block or square in such manner that the value of the property abutting the proposed street or creek would be injuriously affected, unless the property on such block or square is replatted and the property line or lines readjusted, then and in that event, the city, at the same time it acquires the land for said street or creek channel, may in its discretion, also acquire by purchase, gift, condemnation, or otherwise, all or any part of the property on such squares or block and may subsequently replat and dispose of the property so acquired in whole or in part, making such limitations as to the uses thereof as it may see fit.