MAP IV
Areas Annexed by the City of Alexandria in 1915 and 1929
Drafted by W. B. Allison and B. Sims
There were no further legislative changes in the boundaries of the City of Alexandria after 1871. In 1915, however, the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia, reversed a decision of the Circuit Court of Alexandria County given on January 13, 1913. The City Council of Alexandria had sought to annex adjoining territory from both Fairfax and Alexandria counties and had been opposed by the authorities of those counties who had been upheld by the Circuit Court. The Order of the Supreme Court of Appeals[50] ] transferred 866 acres from Arlington and 450 acres from Fairfax to Alexandria.
This annexation took effect on April 1, 1915. Once more thereafter Arlington County—as it became known after 1920[51]—was to lose territory to the City of Alexandria. This was in 1929 when a decision of the Supreme Court of Appeals[52] ] rendered May 4, 1929, found in favor of the City of Alexandria which had begun annexation proceedings in December 1927.
The Court held that "it is necessary and expedient that the corporate limits of the City of Alexandria should be extended" and that "the territory to be annexed from Arlington County is a reasonably compact body of land and contains no land which is not adapted to city improvement, and the Court being also of the opinion that no land is included which the City will not need in the reasonably near future for development …"
The Court ordered the annexation[53] ] to take effect on December 31, 1929. The line thus established remained in effect until January 1, 1966.
This was the last annexation of territory from Arlington County. A special provision of the Act[54] ] establishing the County Manager plan of government, adopted by Arlington in 1930, effective January 1, 1932, prevents the annexation of any part of the County (but permits annexation of the entire County after referendum). In 1938, as a further precaution, the legislative delegation representing Arlington County succeeded in having the General Assembly enact a law[55] ] which prohibits the annexation of territory from any county which would result in reducing the area of that county to less than 60 square miles of highland. Since Arlington has less than 26 square miles, this Act effectively checks any further such encroachments upon its territory.
Development on both sides of the 1929 boundary line, construction of streets and notably of the Henry G. Shirley Memorial Highway—and especially changes in the channel of Four Mile Run—eventually brought dissatisfaction with that line. In 1962, the Arlington and Alexandria legislative delegations secured enactment by the General Assembly of an Act[56] ] permitting an adjustment in the boundary to be concluded by mutual agreement between the governing bodies of the County and the City, the agreement to be recorded in the Clerk's Office of both jurisdictions.
Negotiations began after the area affected had been surveyed and the private property which might be the subject of exchange had been appraised. Impetus was given by the need of Arlington for land in connection with enlargement of the County sewage treatment facilities; this land, although on the North side of Four Mile Run fell in Alexandria. Finally, the Arlington County Board gave approval in principle to a draft proposal on April 10, 1965,[57] ] and on April 13, 1965, the Alexandria City Council followed suit. A public hearing was held on May 5, 1965, but final action was deferred pending refinement of the proposal. In December 1965, the final agreement was recorded[58] ] and the transfer of certain publicly owned property approved by the Circuit Court. The net gain to Arlington's area was 167 acres.
This procedure for rectifying boundaries between a County and a City is highly unusual in the Virginia experience.