Chap. 230.—An ACT to repeal an act of the general assembly of Virginia ap-
proved March 24, 1922, creating the Hampton Roads port commission, and
to abolish the said commission; to create a State port authority of Vir-
ginia as an agency of the State, provide for the appointment of its members
and for their compensation, and to define its powers and duties; to define
the area of the port of Hampton Roads; to permit the council or other
governing body of certain cities and towns within the State to appoint boards
of municipal dock commissioners; to define and limit their powers; to
regulate the construction, alteration, etc., of wharves, piers, etcetera, within
the port area; to regulate dredging within the port area; to exempt the
property and income of the port authority from taxation; to revoke all laws
in conflict with this act; and to provide funds for carrying into effect the
provisions of the act. [S B 171]

Approved March 23, 1926.

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

Section 1. That the Hampton Roads port commission, authorized
and created by an act of the general assembly of Virginia, approved
March twenty-fourth, nineteen hundred and twenty-two, be and the
same is hereby, abolished; that the said act be repealed; and that the
terms of office of all members of the said commission shall expire on
the date on which this act shall become effective.

Section 2. That there be, and there is hereby, created, as an
agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the State port authority of
Virginia, hereinafter, at times, called the “‘port authority,’’ which shall
consist of five members, who shall be known as port commissioners,
who shall be appointed by the governor, and whose appointment shall
be confirmed by the senate. One of said commissioners shall be ap-
pointed from the west side of the port area hereinafter described; one
from the east side of said port area, and three from the remaining
sections of the State. The commissioners so appointed and their
successors in office shall constitute a body corporate under the style
of “the State port authority of Virginia,” and, in such corporate
capacity, is hereby vested with authority to carry out the provisions
of this act. One of the port commissioners shall be appointed for the
term of one year, one for the term of two years, one for the term of
three years, one for the term of four years, and one for the term of five
years, and subsequent appointments shall be for the term of four
years, except that where appointments are made to fill vacancies,
such appointments shall be made for the unexpired term. The gov-
ernor shall have the right to remove any one or more of the port
commissioners, and to appoint a successor or successors, and the right
to fill vacancies, however the same may occur. Appointments made
by the governor in pursuance of this act shall be effective until fifteen
days after the convening of the next session of the general assembly.

Section 3. The port commissioners, upon their organization, shall
elect one of their number chairman, and one a vice-chairman. The
port authority is authorized to engage the services of an executive
director, who shall be known as the director of the port, and who shall,
under the direction of the port authority, be charged with the execu-
tion of its purposes and the furtherance of its policies, in the perform-
ance of such duties as may be imposed by it. The salary of the
director of the port shall be fixed by the port authority. The port
authority may engage such professional services as may be needed
in the exercise of the rights and duties herein conferred or imposed,
and may employ, or it may authorize the director of the port to em-
ploy, subject to its ratification, such officers, agents, clerks, and other
employees, as may be needed to effect a proper organization and to
carry on its business. The duties, salaries, wages and the terms of
office of such officers, agents, clerks and other employees, shall be
fixed by the port authority, and proper bonds shall be required of all
officers or employees, who shall handle any of the funds which may
come into the custody of the port authority. - The port commissioners
shall receive no salary, but shall be paid their necessary traveling and
other expenses incurred in the attendance upon meetings or while
otherwise engaged in the discharge of their duties, and the sum of ten
dollars ($10.00) a day for each day, or portion thereof, in which they
are engaged in the performance of their duties.

4. The port authority shall have and maintain an office, either
within the city of Norfolk, or within the city of Newport News, at
which all of its records shall be kept, and from which its business shall
be transacted. It may, if necessary, establish a branch office in either
one of the cities named above, in which the principal office is not
located. The Hampton Roads port commission shall deliver to the
port authority all property of every kind belonging to it or in its
possession, and the title to such property shall be vested in the port
authority. ~All the unexpended funds under the control of the Hamp-
ton Roads port commission shall be paid by it to the State port auth-
ority of Virginia.

Section 5. The port of Hampton Roads shall, for the purposes
of this act, be defined as follows: the area of land and water within
the following metes and bounds:

Beginning at a point marked (A) at longitude seventy-six degrees
thirty-five minutes west, and latitude thirty-seven degrees five minutes
north, thence east on latitude thirty-seven degrees five minutes to a
point marked (B) on longitude seventy-six degrees fifteen minutes
west:

Thence, due south, on longitude seventy-six degrees fifteen minutes
to point (C) on latitude thirty-seven degrees north;

Thence, due east, on latitude thirty-seven degrees north to point
marked (D), on longitude seventy-five degrees fifty-five minutes west;

Thence, due south, on longitude seventy-five degrees fifty-five
minutes west to point marked (E), on latitude thirty-six degrees forty
minutes north:

Thence due west, on latitude thirty-six degrees forty minutes
north, to point (F) on longitude Bavenity six degrees thirty minutes
west:

Thence, due north, on longitude seventy-six degrees thirty minutes
west, to point (G) on latitude thirty-six degrees, fifty minutes north:

Thence, due west, on latitude thirty-six degrees fifty minutes
north, to point (H) on longitude seventy-six degrees thirty-five
minutes west: _

Thence, due north, on longitude seventy-six degrees thirty-five
minutes west, to point (A) to point of beginning;
and the water and the adjacent shore within such boundaries shall be
known as ‘‘the port of Hampton Roads.”

Section 6. In order to promote the development and the physical
and administrative co-ordination and unification of the port facilities
within the cities and towns of this State, located upon any of the
navigable tidal waters therein, and the proper co-operation between
such cities and towns with respect to such facilities located within the
State, the council, or other governing body, of any of the said cities
or towns shall have the power to appoint boards of municipal dock
commissioners for such cities and towns, respectively, to which boards,
when so appointed may be delegated any or all of the authority of
such cities and towns, respectively, with regard to the ownership,
operation, management or control of the port terminal facilities within
such cities or towns. But such authority shall be exercised in sub-
ordination to the authority conferred upon the State port authority
of Virginia by this act, and any conflict between the authority granted
to the several port cities and towns of this State and the authority
granted to the State port authority of Virginia, under this act, shall
be resolved in favor of the grant of such authority to the State port
authority of Virginia.

Section 7. The State port authority of Virginia, in addition to
the powers and duties heretofore conferred upon or vested in the
Hampton Roads port commission under the act referred to above,
shall, subject to the lawful regulation and, or control of the United
States government over the navigable waters of this State, have and
exercise the following rights and discharge the following duties:

(1) It shall use its efforts to effect a port co-ordination of the
water terminals of the several cities within the port and their admin-
istration, and to promote a spirit of co-operation among these cities
in the interest of the port as a whole.
(2) It shall initiate and further plans for the development of the
port and keep itself informed as to the present and future requirements
and needs of the port.

(3) It shall encourage and facilitate the creation of boards of
municipal dock commissioners within the port and within the other
port cities and towns of the State, and co-operate and advise with
such cities and towns and aid in the development of the several ports
within the State, along progressive and constructive lines.

(4) It shall lend its aid in efforts to secure the improvement of
navigable tidal waters within the State, where, in its opinion, such
improvements are economically justifiable.

(5) It shall have the right, which shall be exercised with due
regard to the rights of the United States government in its control of
navigable waters, to define, fix, and locate, and, where necessary, to
re-locate, the lines within which riparian owners within the port, as
defined above, may erect, in, on or above such waters, wharves, docks,
bulkheads and other structures and fixtures, for transportation,
commercial or industrial purposes, but no location or relocation of
such lines shall be made so as to curtail any right previously granted
said owners by the United States government.

(6) It shall have the right to adopt and promulgate proper rules
and regulations with respect to the construction, extension, and alter-
ation of terminal facilities within the port. And no construction,
alteration, extension, improvement or removal of any wharves, piers,
bulkheads or piling shall be made within the port area before obtaining
the consent of the port authority. All plans and specifications for the
erection of any structures in or upon or over the navigable waters of
the port shall be submitted to the port authority and approved by it
before such work shall be begun. Applications for permits for such
work shall be filed with the port authority, and such permits shall be
issued or refused, as the circumstances and conditions justify. The
director of the port, when the port authority is not in session, may be
authorized to issue or to refuse permits for minor constructions, altera-
tions and extensions, which do not involve further encroachment upon
the navigable waters. Should the director of the port refuse to issue
such permit, application therefor may be filed with the port authority,
which may issue or refuse the same. Reasonable fees, to be fixed by
the port authority, may be charged for the issuance of all permits for
work of the character mentioned in this sub-section. Any rules and
regulations adopted with reference to any matter referred to in this
sub-section, and the exercise of the rights herein granted, shall con-
form to all lawful regulations of the United States government.

(7) The port authority shall have the right to make and to enforce
proper rules and regulations, requiring the owners of water terminal
properties within the port to keep the same in proper condition of
repair and to maintain them with special reference to the reduction
of fire hazards, and it shall have the right to inspect, through the port
commissioners or through its lawfully constituted officers or agents,
such terminal properties, at reasonable times.

Section 714. From any order, rule or regulation, or decree of the
‘“‘port authority” in the exercise of the powers granted by or under
sub-sections five, six and seven, of section seven, of this act, there shall
be an appeal of right to the circuit court of the county or circuit or
corporation court of the city wherein the property or right affected
by such order, rule, regulations, or decree, may be situated or may
exist, and in such appeal the whole matter shall be heard de novo, and
from the judgment or decree of such court there shall be an appeal to
the supreme court of appeals of Virginia in the manner imposed by
law as to the general appellate jurisdiction of said court.

(1) The port authority shall have the right to remove, or cause
to be removed any obstructions to navigation within the port. Where
the person, firm, or corporation, responsible for such obstruction, is
known, notice shall be given, requiring the immediate removal of such
obstruction. If such obstruction is not removed after such notice is
given, it may be removed by the port authority, which shall thereupon
have the right to collect from the party responsible for such obstruc-
tion the costs of the removal thereof, upon proof of liability therefor.

(2) Reasonable rules and regulations, designed to prevent any
unnecessary pollution of the waters within the port by the dumping of
refuse therein or by any other means, may be made, and the port
authority shall have the right to enforce the same by the imposition
of proper penalties therefor.

(3) All dredging within the port, except such as is done by or
under contract with the United States government, shall be done under
the supervision of the port authority. Applications for permits for
such work, in such form as may be required by the port authority,
shall be filed with the port authority, and such permits may be issued
or refused, as the circumstances and conditions justify. Reasonable
fees, to be fixed by the port authority, may be charged for the issuance
of all permits for work of this character.

(4) The port authority shall have the right to regulate, by proper
rules, the anchorage, berthing, and moorage of vessels within the port,
and the right to enforce such rules and regulations. The right granted
in this sub-section shall be exercised in conformity to the lawful exer-
cise of the power of the United States government with reapect to
navigation.

(5) The port authority shall have the right in its own name to
institute and prosecute, or to defend, any suits, actions or other pro-
ceedings before any court, commission or other body, for the protec-
tion of the port against unjust discriminations, in favor of any other
port or ports in the kind or character of service or in rates, or for the
promotion of the interest of the port, and it may petition, interplead
or intervene in any proceeding involving the interest or rights of the
port or of the port authority.

(6) The port authority shall have the right to promote the mari-
time and commercial interest of the port by the proper advertisement
of its advantages and by the solicitation of business, through agencies
established within or without the port, within the United States or in
foreign countries, and it shall endeavor to bring to the attention of the
people of Virginia, and of other States, which may be properly served
by the port, the economic advantage to be derived from the use of the
port and its facilities.

(7) The port authority shall make proper statements of receipts
and disbursements of all funds and proper reports shall be made by the
director of the port to the port authority, and by the port authority to
the governor, and all necessary accounts shall be kept, and minutes of
all proceedings of the port authority made and properly kept.

(8) The port authority shall have the right to adopt such rules
and regulations as may be necessary for the proper administration of
its duties.

(9) Both the property and income of the port authority shall be
exempted from taxation, State and local. The title to all property, of
whatever nature, belonging to it, shall be held in the name of the State
port authority of Virginia. All contracts made by it shall be made in
its corporate name, and, if in writing, shall be executed in its corporate
name, and duly and properly signed by the chairman or the vice-
chairman.

Section 8. All laws, or parts of law, in conflict with this act, are
hereby repealed.

Section 9. If any section or provision of this act shall be held to
be unconstitutional, the other sections or provisions of this act shall
not be affected thereby.

Section 10. The sum of ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00) annually
or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated for the
purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of this act.

Section 11. Nothing contained in this act shall be construed as
affecting the powers and duties now conferred by law upon the State
corporation commission.