Chap. 179.—An ACT to annex additional territory to the city of Norfolk, at
provide for the government of said annexed territory.

Approved March 14, 1902.

1. Be it enacted*by the general assembly of Virginia, That the t
tory hereinafter described shall constitute a portion of the city of |
folk in addition to its present territory—to-wit: Beginning on the v
ern side of Armstead avenue, as laid down on the plats of “Park Pl
and “Williamston,” at the point at which the present castern boundary
line of the city of Norfolk intersects the southern line of the right of way
of the Norfolk and Western Railroad Company, and running eastwardly
along the southern line of said right of way of the Norfolk and Western
Railroad Company to the middle line of Church street; thence northwest-
wardly along the middle line of Church street to the point at which the
northern line of Twenty-ninth street, as laid down on the plat of “Villa
Heights,” if projected in a straight course into Church street, would
intersect said middle line of Church street; thence eastwardly along the
northern line of Twenty-ninth street and the northern line of Waverly
Way, on said “Villa Heights” plat, following the curve of said last named
line to the center of Tanner’s creek; thence around the course of Tan-
ner’s creek and a branch thereof, following the center line, to its inter-
section with the center line of Colley avenuc extended northward; thence
along the center of Colley avenue south to its intersection with the west-
ern boundary of Highland park, and along said western boundary of
Highland park to the Cooper road, and along the said Cooper road to the
eastern line of the right of way of the Norfolk and Western Railroad
Company’s branch road running from its main track northeastwardly
to the Lambert’s Point knitting mills; thence southwestwardly along
the eastern line of the right of way of said branch road to the present
city line, and thence eastwardly along the present city line to the point
of beginning.

2. The annexed territory shall be known as the Seventh or Park Place
ward, and shall be entitled to three representatives in the city councils.
to be elected by the voters of the ward. This ward and the remaining
wards of the city shall remain as at present bounded until a reapportion-
ment of the city of Norfolk shall be made by the legislature.

3. The councils of the city of Norfolk shall designate one or more vot-
ing precincts in the above ward, and the registration of the qualified
voters thereof shall take place at the same time and in like manner as at
present provided by law in said city.

4. The three councilmen hereinbefore provided for shall be as follows :
J. B. Blackburn, W. H. Minor, and George LL. C. Cochrane, for the term
commencing upon the passage of this act and expiring June thirtieth,
nineteen hundred and two, and their successors shall be elected bienniallv
at the times and in like manner as other councilmen of the city are
elected.

5. The city shall assess the same license taxes for doing business of al]
kinds within the newly-acquired territory as shall be assessed within the
present limits of the city, but, save such license taxes, the inhabitants of
the territory hereby annexed and the owners of Jand lying therein shall
not be liable on their real and personal property within the said ward for
the period of fifteen years from the day this act shall take effect for any
part of the present debt of the city of Norfolk, nor for the interest
thereon; nor shall any tax be levied therefor, nor shall they have to pay an
ad valorem tax to the city exceeding the rate of eighty cents on the one
hundred dollars of assessed valuation, unless, for the purpose of paying
interest on bonds which may be issued under section twelve of this act, an
increase over the said rate of taxation be ordered by a majority of the
votes cast on this question in any election of the said ward, and whether
or not such an increase shall be made shall be submitted to the vote of
the qualified electors of the said ward at any regular or special election by
the city councils upon the recommendation of the local board of improve-
ment of the said ward, notice thereof being published for at least thirty
days prior to such election in some newspaper published in the city of
Norfolk, or unless the city shall, upon the recommendation of the local
board of improvement of said ward, acquire property, real or personal,
for public free school purposes in said ward, or shall erect a public free
school building or buildings, or shall enlarge or repair existing public free
school buildings in said ward, in which event the cost thereof, unless the
school tax, as provided in section six of this act, shall be sufficient for
that purpose, shall be paid from the proceeds of the sale of bonds to be
issued by the city, in accordance with section twelve of this act, or unless
the city shall, either upon petition of a majority of the property owners
on any street in the newly-acquired territory, approved by the local board
of improvement, or upon the recommendation of the said local board of
improvement, after an election held as hereinabove provided, open, lay
off, grade, gutter, curb, or pave, sewer, drain, or otherwise improve such
streets, or make any other improvement of a permanent character, or
acquire any system of water pipes, water works, or other improvement of
a permanent character, or acquire any system of water pipes, water works,
or other improvements already made, or hereafter to be made, in which
case the cost thereof shall, if the work be done upon a petition of a ma-
jority of the property owners as aforesaid, approved by said local board
of improvement, be assessed against the owners of real property which is
benefited by such improvements, in the manner provided by law in said
city, any part of the cost of the same that the city may agree to pay to
be paid as hereinafter provided for by section twelve of this act; or if the
work be done, or system of water pipes, water works, or other improve-
ment be acquired upon the recommendation of the said local board of
improvement, after an election as aforesaid, the whole of the cost thereof
shall be paid by the city from the proceeds of the sale of bonds to be
issued in accordance with section twelve of this act. The city may, in its
discretion, upon a petition of a majority of the property owners on any
street in the newly-acquired territory, extend a water main and supply
water to the citizens along its line; and in such case, in addition to the
ad valorem tax for general or other purposes, payable to the city of Nor-
folk as aforesaid, such special water tax may be assessed upon the real and
personal property along the line of such strect, not exceeding in any year
fifteen cents on the one hundred dollars of assessed value, as the coun-
cils may, from year to year, determine, which said tax, if imposed, shall
be paid to the treasurer of the said city, to be accounted for by him as a
part of the sinking fund of the said city, and the same charges shall be
made upon those property owners who shall connect their property with
the said water main as shall be made upon other property owners in the
city of Norfolk, and the cost of laying such water main may be paid by
the city as may be ordered by the councils on the recommendation of the
local board of improvement of the said ward, in whole or in part, out of
the tax collected for general purposes from such ward, and any balance
not so paid shall be paid from the proceeds of bonds to be issued by the
city in accordance with section twelve of this act, or the whole of the
cost thereof may be paid from the proceeds of such bonds. Whenever any
- special election shall be ordered by the city councils under this section,
they shall communicate their order for the same to the judge of the cor-
poration court of the city of Norfolk, and thereupon it shall be the duty
of the said judge, at least twenty days before such election, to issue his
writ of election, directed to the sergeant of the city of Norfolk, desig-
nating therein the question to be voted upon, and the time and place of
holding the same. Upon receipt of said writ, said sergeant shall proceed
to cause public notice to be given of such election by posting a copy of
said writ at each voting place in the said ward at least ten days before
such election.

6. All taxes levied and collected upon persons and property within the
limits hereby added to the city of Norfolk, excepting water tax and license
taxes, shall be collected by the city collector, who shall, after deducting
his fees, pay the same into the treasury of the city, to be set apart as a
special fund for the improvement, protection, schools, police, and every
other expenditure of the said ward from which it is collected, to be ap-
propriated by the councils, on the recommendation of a local board of
improvement in the said ward, which shall be composed of nine residents
of said ward, to be elected by the legally qualified voters of said ward on
the fourth Thursday in May, nineteen hundred and two, to hold office for
the term of two years from and after the first day of July next succeed-
ing their election, and until their successors are elected and qualified,
and biennially thereafter, except that the first board, after the passage of
this act, shall be elected by the councils, upon the nomination of the
members thereof from said ward, as soon as convenient after the passage
of this act, to hold office until the first day of July, nineteen hundred and
two, or until their successors are elected and qualified; and all bills for
money spent within said ward shall be certified by the said local board of
improvement before being ordered to be paid by the councils. All works
of internal improvement within the newly-annexed territory shall be un-
der the supervision of the board of street, sewer, and drain commission-
ers, as provided by law within the present limits of the city. It shall not
be lawful for the councils during the before mentioned period of fifteen
years to expend more money in the ward hereby added to the city of Nor-
folk than shall be collected during the year, as hereinbefore provided,
from said ward, unless the same be an unexpended balance collected
during some previous year, except as provided by section five.

%. The water rents collected, as hercinbefore provided, shall be paid
into the treasury of the water department, and the licenses collected shall
be covered into the city treasury towards the payment of salaries of the
general officers of the city.

8. For the period of fifteen years from the date of this act the ordi-
nance, entitled “wooden houses,” chapter six, section twenty, page fifty-
seven, city ordinances of eighteen hundred and ninety-four, and sections
five, eleven, twenty-three, and twenty-five of the ordinances, entitled
“nuisances,” shall not be operative within the newly-acquired territory,
and the ordinance, entitled “paving,” page one hundred and thirty-one,
shall not be operative on any street within said territory already opened
and having houses erected along the line thereof unless so ordered by a
majority of the votes cast in any election in said ward; but any of the
said ordinances, or parts thereof, may be submitted to the votes of the
people at any regular election by the councils, upon the recommendation
of the local board of improvement, thirty days’ notice thereof being pub-
lished prior to such an election. On all streets in said territory in which
there is now or may hereafter be a system of sewerage, whether said sys-
tem be owned by the city or not, sections thirty-two, thirty-three, and
thirty-four of the city ordinances, entitled “sewerage,” city ordinances,
pages one hundred and twenty-nine and one hundred and thirty, or any
similar ordinance or ordinances that shall hereafter be adopted by the
councils, shall be operative.

9. It shall be lawful for the sheriff and other collectors of the county
of Norfolk to collect and make distress for any public dues or officers’
fees which shall remain unpaid by the inhabitants embraced within the
limits of this extension of the city of Norfolk at the time when this act
shall commence and be in force, and they shall be accountable for the
same in like manner as if this act had never been passed. The taxes for
the year nineteen hundred and one shall be considered due and payable to
Norfolk county.

10. The three councilmen above named from the annexed territory
shall be divided by the councils in joint session at their first meeting
after the passage of this act, and one of them shall be apportioned to
the select council, and the other two members shall be apportioned to the
common council.

11. The councils shall, at their first meeting after this act goes into
effect, elect one justice of the peace and two school trustees from said
ward, who shall serve for a term ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred
and two, or until their successors are duly elected and qualified; and the
councils shall thereafter elect one justice of the peace from said ward at
the same time and in the same manner as from other wards of the city.
Said justice shall be a resident of and have his office in said ward. Two
school trustees shall be elected by the duly qualified voters of said ward
at the election held on the fourth Thursday in May, nineteen hundred
and two, to hold office for two years from and after July first, nineteen
hundred and two, and until their successors are elected and qualified ;
and thereafter there shall be elected by the duly qualified voters of said
ward two school trustees at the times and for the terms now provided by
the charter of the city as to the wards thereof.

12. It shall not be lawful for the city of Norfolk to issue bonds predi-
cated upon or taking into account the assessed value of real and personal
property embraced within the newly-acquired territory until the expira-
tion of fifteen years from the passage of this act, unless the same shall be
issued by the city to pay for the purchase of property to be used for pub-
lic free school purposes in said ward, or for the erection, repair, or en-
larging of public free school buildings in said ward, in accordance with
section five of this act, or for any local improvements of a permanent
character made in accordance with section five, or for a fair proportion of
the cost of any public building which may be erected in the said city of
Norfolk, such proportion to be based upon the assessed value of the prop-
erty in the said ward as compared with the assessed value of the property
in the other wards of said city, in which case bonds shall be issued by the
councils of the city of Norfolk for the amounts necessary to pay for such
public free school property, or such erection, enlarging, or repairing of
public free school buildings in said ward, and other local improvements
as aforesaid: provided, the amount appropriated for such public free
school purposes shall not exceed the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars
in any one calendar year, beginning with the first day of January; and
the proceeds of said bonds shall be expended in the manner provided by
section six of this act for the expenditure of the taxes collected for general
purposes. An account of bonds issued under this section shall be kept by
the board of sinking fund commissioners of said city, and also by the city
treasurer. The amount necessary to pay the interest on such bonds, and
for such amount as the councils shall provide, from time to time, as a
sinking fund on said bonds, not exceeding one per centum thereof in any
one year, shall be annually reserved by the city treasurer out of the taxes
collected by the said city from the said ward to pay the interest on the
said bonds as it becomes due and payable, and for such sinking fund.

13. The qualified voters in the territory hereby annexed to the city
of Norfolk are hereby empowered to vote on the question whether the sale
of liquor within the limits of said territory shall be licensed in the same
manner as is provided for by chapter twenty-five of the Code of Vir-
ginia, edition of eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, and acts amendatory
thereof.

14. All money collected by the treasurer of the county of Norfolk
from said annexed territory for the year nineteen hundred and one for
public school purposes shall be applied to the public schools of said an-
nex district until the thirty-first day of July, nineteen hundred and two,
just as if this act had not been passed.

15. Nothing in this act contained shall be construed as affecting any
easements heretofore granted in streets in the said annexed territory, and
the city of Norfolk shall not acquire any water mains now laid in this
territory except in the manner prescribed by law for acquiring private
property for the use of the city. If in any case the city has not the right
to place its water, gas, sewer, or other pipes in any street in the annexed
territory without exercising the right of eminent domain, then the citv
may condemn the right to lay such pipes in said streets as may be desired
without condemning the fee in the streets, or any parts thereof.

16. The board of health of the city of Norfolk shall have the same
powers and duties in said annexed territory as it has in the four original
wards of the city.

1%. The board of police commissioners of the city of Norfolk shall
appoint so many policemen for said newly-annexed ward, and to serve
only therein, as shall be determined, from time to time, by the local
board of improvement of said ward, the policemen so appointed to be
recommended by said local board, and to be paid out of the funds of said
ward upon the recommendation of said local board of improvement. The
said local board of improvement shall also fix the rate of pay of said
policemen. After their appointment and qualification the said policemen
shall be under the control and management of said board of police com-
missioners, as provided by law in reference to the policemen of the four
original wards of the city.

18. Before this act shall take effect the question of annexation, upon
the terms hereinbefore provided, shall be submitted to the voters of the
territory proposed to be annexed at any election to be held on the tenth
day of April, nineteen hundred and two, and for the purpose of holding
such election said territory is declared to be an election precinct, and all
persons who are actual residents of said territory on the twenty-sixth day
of February, nineteen hundred and two, may register and vote at said
election. The judge of the circuit court of the county shall, in term
time or in vacation, immediately after the passage of this act, designate
the place for holding said election, and shall appoint, from the residents
of said territory, one registrar and three judges of election, who shall
register such voters and hold said election, and upon their failure to act,
the election shall be held as prescribed by the general election law of Vir-
ginia. The said judge of the circuit court shall in like manner, at the
same time, order a registration of the qualified voters therein to take
place at least ten days before said election, and shall designate in his said
order where said registration shall take place. The ballot to be used at
said election may be either printed or written, may be prepared by the
voter himself, who shall write or cause his name to be written on the back
thereof, and shall have written or printed on the face thereof “for an-
nexation” or “against annexation.” The then judges, who may conduct
said election, are hereby appointed commissioners of election, and it shall
be their duty to meet at the county courthouse the second day after said
election and canvass the returns of said votes in the manner prescribed
by law, and if it shall appear from said canvass of said returns that a
majority of the votes cast at said election were in favor of said annexa-
tion, then the territory mentioned, and the boundaries of which are
fully set out in section one of this act, shall at once become and be a part
of the city of Norfolk under the terms and provisions of this act. The
clerk of the circuit court of Norfolk county, who is appointed clerk to
said commissioners of election, or his deputy, shall certify a copy of said
canvass of said votes to the clerk of the corporation court of the city of
Norfolk and to the clerk of the county court of Norfolk county, and shall
file the original with the ballots in his office. The cost of said registra-
tion and election shall be borne by the city of Norfolk or the county of
Norfolk, whichever the said territory decides to be a part of, the expense
to be borne by the city of Norfolk herein to be paid out of ‘the funds of
the said Seventh or Park Place ward.

19. This act shall be in force from its passage.