NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1967 SESSION

CHAPTER 838

HOUSE BILL 798

AN ACT AMENDING THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF FAYETTEVILLE.

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

Section 1. Section 7(38) of the Charter of the City of Fayetteville is rewritten in its entirety to read as follows:

"(38).  Standing Water. Power to Abate Nuisance. When there is any lot, lots, or alleys owned by one or more persons, upon which water shall collect, either by falling upon the said lot, lots, or alleys or collected thereon by drainage or otherwise from adjacent lots, no adequate drainage from which is provided by natural means, the Board of Aldermen (City Council) of the city, on their own motion, or any of them, when in their opinion said conditions are or are liable to become a nuisance or menace to health, or upon being advised by the health officer of the city or county that the conditions so existing are or are liable to become, a nuisance or menace to health, said Board of Aldermen (City Council) is authorized to abate the nuisance, and to that end may proceed to abate it in the following manner."

Sec. 2. Section 7(39) of said Charter is rewritten in its entirety to read as follows:

"(39).  Same. Survey; Notice to Lot or Alley Owners. The city shall cause a survey to be made by a competent engineer to ascertain the means and methods and costs of providing an adequate drainage from such lot, lots or alleys and such engineer shall prepare plans and specifications to provide such drainage, with the estimated cost thereof. The city is authorized to pave said lot, lots or alleys in order to secure proper drainage of said lot, lots or alleys. In making such survey, the engineer shall include therein the area of adjoining and adjacent lots or alleys which will be drained by such systems of drainage. He shall also include in such survey the area of all adjoining and adjacent lots or alleys from which water flows and is gathered upon the lot, lots or alleys which are to be drained. The city shall thereupon cause notice to be served upon the owner of the lot, lots or alleys drained and the owners of such adjacent lots or alleys as shall be affected, as herein set forth, which notice shall state, in general and briefly the fact that a nuisance has been or is liable to be created and so declared; that it is the purpose of the city to abate the same by causing a system of drainage and paving to be put in, and the assessed cost against every such owner as hereinafter provided; that the report of the engineer is on file and subject to inspection, and that on a date to be named in the notice a hearing will be had before the board as to whether the plan shall be adopted and the assessment shall be made, at which hearing the persons affected may be present and present such objections as they may have to the adoption of the report of the engineer and the doing of the work."

Sec. 3. Section 7(41) of said Charter is rewritten in its entirety to read as follows:

"(41).  Assessment and Payment of Costs. The city shall bear one-third of the total costs involved in the paving and drainage of said lot, lots, or alleys. The remaining two-thirds of said total cost of paving and drainage shall be assessed against each and every owner of a lot, lots, or alleys affected by the plan or system, upon the following basis, that is to say, he or she shall pay such proportion of two-thirds of the total cost as the area of his lot, lots or alley may bear to the total area, as shown by the plans and engineer when adopted by the Board of Aldermen (City Council), which sum shall be due in such annual installments as the Board of Aldermen (City Council) may determine which shall not exceed five in number, and such installments shall bear interest."

Sec. 4. Section 7(42) of said Charter is rewritten in its entirety as follows:

"(42).  Area Declared 'Special Improvement District'. The area which shall be included within and drained and/or paved by the plans and specifications as herein provided for is hereby declared to be a 'special improvement district'."

Sec. 5. Article IV (Civil Service Commission), Section 165 of said Charter is amended by striking from the third sentence thereof the words "thirty-five" and substituting in lieu thereof the words and figures "thirty-nine (39)."

Sec. 6. All laws and clauses of laws in conflict with this Act are hereby repealed.

Sec. 7. 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 20th day of June, 1967.