Chap. 1.—An ACT to provide for a municipal terminal or terminals for the
city of Norfolk. [S B 21]

Approved January 28, 1922.

Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, as follows :

Section 1. In addition to all other powers now vested in it, the city
of Norfolk shall have power—

(1) To develop its port facilities by acquiring (by purchase,
construction or otherwise), improving, maintaining and operating a
municipal terminal or terminals for said city, upon the water front in
or near said city, including all necessary wharves, piers, bulkheads,
slips, docks, sheds, warehouses, elevators, tracks, and railroad and
steamship facilities, and all necessary lands, rights in lands and water
rights, to be used and operated for the following purposes, namely:
For the landing, loading and unloading of vessels, for the loading and
unloading of railroad cars or other carriers, for the interchange
or transfer of goods, merchandise or other property between vessels,
railroad cars or other carriers, and for the temporary shelter or storage
of goods, merchandise or other property carried or about to be carried
by such vessels, railroad cars or other carriers;

(2) To charge and collect reasonable wharfage fees and other
fees, tolls or dues for the use of such municipal terminal or terminals
or for the services rendered in the operation thereof ;

(3) To contract debts and issue bonds, notes or ‘other obligations
upon the credit of said city for the purpose of acquiring (by purchase,
construction, or otherwise) or improving such municipal terminal or
terminals.

Section 2. The powers conferred by this act to acquire, improve,
maintain and operate a municipal terminal or terminals shall be ex-
ercised by the same officers who are authorized by the Norfolk charter
of nineteen hundred and eighteen, to exercise the powers to establish,
construct, maintain and operate public landings, public wharves and
docks, and shall be exercised in the manner provided: by said charter
for the exercise of the latter powers. The powers conferred by this act
to charge and collect wharfage fees and other fees, tolls or dues for the
use of such municipal terminal or terminals shall be exercised by the
same officers who are authorized by the Norfolk charter of nineteen
hundred and eighteen, to lay and collect duties or wharfage fees on
vessels coming to or using public landings, wharves or docks, and shall
be exercised in the manner provided by said charter for the exercise
of the latter powers.
Section 3. Except as herein otherwise provided, all bonds issued
for a municipal terminal or terminals under the authority of this act
shall be issued pursuant to an ordinance of the council of the city of
Norfolk, and in the manner prescribed by the Norfolk charter of nine-
teen hundred and eighteen for the issuance of bonds; and all of the
provisions of said charter relating to the payment of bonds issued
upon the credit of said city shall apply to the payment of the bonds
hereby authorized. Such bonds may be issued under and in compliance
with the provisions of, or may be made of the class described in,
clause (b) of section one hundred and twenty-seven of the Constitution
of Virginia, and if so issued or made, they shall not, except as other-
wise provided in said clause (b), be included in determining the
limitation prescribed by said section of the power to incur indebtedness
or be subject to any limitation prescribed by statute upon the amount
of indebtedness which said city may incur. In the event that it shall be
proposed to issue such bonds under or pursuant to said clause (b), or
to make them of the class described in said clause (b), an ordinance
providing for their issuance shall be adopted as provided in chapter
one hundred and twenty-two of the Code of Virginia, and the ques-
tion whether said bonds shall be issued pursuant to said ordinance
shall be submitted to the qualified voters of the city of Norfolk as
provided in said chapter one hundred and twenty-two, and all of the
provisions of said chapter one hundred and twenty-two shall be com-
plied with; provided, however, that the ordinance adopted by the
council of the city of Norfolk on November twenty-second, nineteen
hundred and twenty-one, entitled an ordinance to amend and re-ordain
an ordinance entitled an ordinance providing for the construction of a
municipal terminal, providing for the issuance of five million dollars
of bonds of the city of Norfolk, providing for the submission to the
qualified voters of the city of Norfolk of the question of the issuance
of such bonds, adopted November first, nineteen hundred and twenty-
one, and the order made by the corporation court of the city of Norfolk
on December twenty-third, nineteen hundred and twenty-one, provid-
ing for the holding of an election in said city on February seventh,
nineteen hundred and twenty-two, on the question of issuing bonds for
a municipal terminal as provided in said ordinance, and all other acts
and proceedings heretofore done or taken relating to the calling or
holding of said election are hereby ratified and validated, and said
ordinance, acts and proceedings shall have the same force and effect
as if they had been adopted, made, done and taken after the time this
act takes effect, and in strict compliance with the provisions hereof ;
and provided, further, that it shall be lawful for the council of the city
of Norfolk, at any time prior to the date fixed for said election as
aforesaid, to amend or re-enact said ordinance adopted November
twenty-second, nineteen hundred and twenty-one, and if said ordinance
shall be amended or re-enacted, no further order of the corporation
court and no further notice of said election shall be necessary, except
such notice as the council of the city of Norfolk may deem advisable,
and the said election to be held on February seventh, nineteen hundred
and twenty-two, shall be an election on the question of issuing bonds
as provided in said ordinance as so amended or re-enacted. The said
ordinance adopted November twenty-second, nineteen hundred and
twenty-one, shall not be construed as authorizing the issuance of bonds
for any purpose not mentioned in this act.

Section 4. All wharfage fees and other fees, tolls, dues or revenues
derived by the city of Norfolk from the operation of any such
municipal terminal or terminals shall be placed by the city treasurer
in a separate fund and applied to the payment of the cost of operation
and administration of such municipal terminal or terminals (including
interest on bonds issued therefor and the cost of insurance against
loss by injury to persons or property), and to the payment of an
annual amount to the board of sinking fund commissioners of the
city of Norfolk to be covered into a sinking fund sufficient to pay at or
before maturity all bonds issued on account of such municipal terminal
or terminals. Within five years after the date of any election pursuant
to which the city of Norfolk shall issue bonds for a municipal terminal
or terminals, the wharfage fees and other fees, tolls or dues to be
charged and collected by the city of Norfolk for the use of such
municipal terminal or terminals or for the services rendered in the
operation thereof, shall be fixed by the council of said city at such
rates as will produce sufficient revenue to meet said cost of operation
and administration and said annual amount to be covered into a
sinking fund for the payment of said bonds.

Section 5. An election having been called to be held on February
seventh, nineteen hundred and twenty-two on the question of issuing
bonds for purposes set forth in this act, an emergency is hereby
declared to exist, and this act shall be in force and effect from and
after its passage.