NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1971 SESSION

CHAPTER 227

HOUSE BILL 462

AN ACT TO AMEND THE CHARTER OF THE TOWN OF CHAPEL HILL (CHAPTER 87, SESSION LAWS OF 1961), AS AMENDED, SO AS TO AUTHORIZE THE IMPROVEMENT OF STREETS AND THE ASSESSMENT OF THE COSTS THEREOF WITHOUT PETITION.

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

Section 1.  The Charter of the Town of Chapel Hill, Orange County, North Carolina, as the same appears in Chapter 87, Session Laws 1961, as amended, is hereby amended by adding a new section following Section 6.02 to read as follows:

"Section 6.03. Street Improvements When Petition Unnecessary, Assessment of Costs. – Notwithstanding other provisions of this Charter or of any other laws, whenever there is an unimproved portion of a continuous street between improved portions thereof, or from an improved portion of said street to an improved street, or where there is an unimproved street between improved parallel streets, and a majority of the owners owning a majority of the lineal footage of property abutting the street or unimproved portion thereof, are unwilling or fail to petition for its improvement, and the Board of Aldermen shall find by a personal inspection by each member of the Board that the public interest requires that the paving and improvement of said street is necessary by reason of heavy traffic, safety, or is necessary in the public interest, the Board of Aldermen may, without petition, order the making of such improvement and the assessment of the cost thereof against abutting property in the same manner as such assessment would be made upon petition. Before any order is made requiring such street improvement under the provisions of this section, the Board of Aldermen of the Town of Chapel Hill shall give at least ten (10) days written notice of such proposed action to each owner of property to be assessed of a public hearing to be held by the Board of Aldermen for the purpose of considering such order at which all persons to be affected by said order shall be given the opportunity to be heard.

In ordering improvements without a petition and in assessing the costs thereof under authority of this section, the Board of Aldermen shall comply with the procedure provided by Article 9, Chapter 160 of the General Statutes or any statute amending or replacing it, except those provisions relating to the petition of property owners and the sufficiency thereof. The effect of the acts of levying and confirming assessments under authority of this section shall for all purposes be the same as if the assessments were levied and confirmed under authority of and pursuant to Article 9, Chapter 160 of the General Statutes or any statute amending or replacing it."

Sec. 2.  All laws and clauses of laws in conflict with this act are hereby repealed.

Sec. 3.  This act shall be in full force and effect from and after its ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 22nd day of April, 1971.