To ensure that the planning process specified in § 33.2-1928 is effectively and efficiently utilized, the commission shall conform to the following procedures and may prescribe such additional procedures as it deems advisable:

1. Commission meetings shall be held at least monthly and more often in the discretion of the commission, as the proper performance of its duties requires.

2. At such meetings the commission shall receive and consider reports from:

a. Its members who are also members of an agency, as to the status and progress of the work of such agency, and if the commission deems that such reports are of concern to them, shall fully inform its component governments, committees, and the Commonwealth Transportation Board with respect thereto, as a means of developing the informed views requisite for sound policy-making; and

b. Its members, technical and other committees, members of the governing bodies of the component governments, and consultants, presenting and analyzing studies and data on matters affecting the making of policies and decisions on a transportation plan and the implementation thereof.

3. The objective of the procedures specified in this section is to develop agreement, based on the best available information, among the district commission, the governing bodies of the component governments, the Commonwealth Transportation Board, and an interstate agency with respect to the various factors that affect the making of policies and decisions relating to a transportation plan and the implementation thereof. If any material disagreements occur in the planning process with respect to objectives and goals, the evaluation of basic data, or the selection of criteria and standards to be applied in the planning process, the commission shall exert its best efforts to bring about agreement and understanding on such matters. The commission may hold hearings in an effort to resolve any such basic controversies.

4. Before a transportation plan is adopted, altered, revised, or amended by the commission or by an agency on which it is represented, the commission shall transmit such proposed plan, alteration, revision, or amendment to the governing bodies of the component governments, to the Commonwealth Transportation Board, and to its technical committees and shall release to the public information with respect thereto. A copy of the proposed transportation plan, amendment, or revision shall be kept at the commission office and shall be available for public inspection. Upon 30 days' notice, published once a week for two successive weeks in one or more newspapers of general circulation within the transportation district, a public hearing shall be held on the proposed plan, alteration, revision, or amendment. The 30 days' notice period shall begin to run on the first day the notice appears in any such newspaper. The commission shall consider the evidence submitted and statements and comments made at such hearings and, if objections in writing to the whole or any part of the plan are made by the governing body of any component government, or by the Commonwealth Transportation Board, or if the commission considers any written objection made by any other person, group, or organization to be sufficiently significant, the commission shall reconsider the plan, alteration, revision, or amendment. If, upon reconsideration, the commission agrees with the objection, then the commission shall make appropriate changes to the proposed plan, alteration, revision, or amendment and may adopt them without further hearing. If, upon reconsideration, the commission disagrees with the objection, the commission may adopt the plan, alteration, revision, or amendment. No facilities shall be located in and no service rendered, however, within any county or city that does not execute an appropriate agreement with the commission or with an interstate agency as provided in § 33.2-1922; but in such case, the commission shall determine whether the absence of such an agreement so materially and adversely affects the feasibility of the transportation plan as to require its modification or abandonment.

1964, c. 631, § 15.1-1366; 1997, c. 587, § 15.1-4528; 2014, c. 805; 2015, c. 256.