---
type: "Bill"
title: "Working waterfront development areas; establishment."
description: "Authorizes localities, by ordinance, to establish a working waterfront development area and grant certain incentives and regulatory flexibility to private entities for the development of working waterfronts in such area."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "SB 1203"
citation: "Virginia SB 1203 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Counties", "Cities and Towns"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Lynwood W. Lewis, Jr."]
version_count: 3
action_count: 16
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2017-01-10"
last_action: "2017-02-23"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/fbb14fb9-e1d4-4c94-b87c-148d0f518142"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+SB1203"
source_hash: "7a8415acbf8ec12f4c3f0b27e0a2af0e29c295d3c5b212fefdff11ca16cfecb0"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
---

# Virginia SB 1203 (2017) — Working waterfront development areas; establishment.

Authorizes localities, by ordinance, to establish a working waterfront development area and grant certain incentives and regulatory flexibility to private entities for the development of working waterfronts in such area.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0216)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0216)
2. **Senate: Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB1203ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1203ER)
3. **Senate: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17102755D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1203)

## Votes

- Passed House BLOCK VOTE — **98–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Local Government — **13–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Counties, Cities and Towns — **21–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **10–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Lynwood W. Lewis, Jr. — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-01-10** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17102755D `introduction`
- **2017-01-10** Referred to Committee on Local Government `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-27** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2017-02-02** Placed on Calendar
- **2017-02-02** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-02-02** Referred to Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-03** Assigned CC & T sub: Subcommittee #2 `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-13** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-14** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-14** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (98-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2017-02-16** Enrolled
- **2017-02-16** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-02-17** Signed by President
- **2017-02-17** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on 2/17/17
- **2017-02-17** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, February 24, 2017
- **2017-02-23** Approved by Governor-Chapter 216 (effective 7/1/17) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/fbb14fb9-e1d4-4c94-b87c-148d0f518142`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).