West Virginia Statutes

§ 8-2-1 — Requirements for incorporation; size and character of territory; population

West Virginia § 8-2-1
JurisdictionWest Virginia
Ch. 8MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS
Art. 2CREATION OF MUNICIPALITIES

This text of West Virginia § 8-2-1 (Requirements for incorporation; size and character of territory; population) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
W. Va. Code § 8-2-1 (2026).

Text

(a)Any part of a county or counties may be incorporated as a city, depending upon the population, either as a Class I, Class II or Class III city, or as a Class IV town or village, as classified in section three, article one of this chapter if the area proposed for incorporation meets the following conditions:
(1)The area is not currently within any municipality urban in character;
(2)For areas that are more than one square mile there must be an average of not less than five hundred inhabitants or freeholders per square mile;
(3)For areas less than one square mile there must be at least one hundred inhabitants or freeholders;
(4)The total area to be incorporated must not include an amount of territory disproportionate to its number of inhabitants; and
(5)The proponents of incorp

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Legislative History

2001 Reg. Sess., SB200; 1969 Reg. Sess., SB2; 1951 Reg. Sess., SB67; 1949 Reg. Sess., HB278

Nearby Sections

15
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Bluebook (online)
West Virginia § 8-2-1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/statute/wv/8-2-1.