GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1991

 

 

CHAPTER 907

SENATE BILL 1158

 

AN ACT TO PERMIT THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA TO GRANT A UTILITY EASEMENT TO CAROLINA POWER AND LIGHT COMPANY ACROSS UMSTEAD PARK AND TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION TO MAINTAIN PARKING LOTS IN THE STATE PARKS AND RECREATION AREAS.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

 

Section 1.  Article 25B of Chapter 143 of the General Statutes is amended by adding the following new section to read:

"§ 143-260.10E.  Utility easement at William B. Umstead State Park.

(a)       The State of North Carolina may grant a utility easement to Carolina Power and Light Company across a tract of land within William B. Umstead State Park.  The easement shall be 100 feet wide, extending 50 feet on each side of the following-described survey line:  Lying and being in Leesville township, Wake County, North Carolina; BEGINNING at point B2 as shown on the Drawing hereinafter referred to, the point B2 being located in a southern property line of Raleigh Durham Airport Authority (formerly Continental Mortgage Investors) and a northern property line of the State of North Carolina; the point B2 also being located North 87 degrees 01 minute 31 seconds West 834.04 feet from a concrete monument making a southeastern corner of Raleigh Durham Airport Authority (formerly Continental Mortgage Investors); and runs thence South 02 degrees 01 minute 53 seconds East 3508.00 feet to point A2 on the Drawing, the location of Point A2 having North Carolina Coordinates Y=773,193.769 and X=2,069,162.420, the Point A2 being located at the terminus of Carolina Power and Light Company's existing 100 foot wide right-of-way strip, as shown and described on Carolina Power and Light Company Drawing No. RW-A-5246, dated September 1977, which Drawing also shows the respective complementing sidelines going to make up the easement.

(b)       The State of North Carolina may only use the proceeds from the easement described in subsection (a) of this section to acquire property at any State park.

(c)       The grant of the easement within William B. Umstead State Park to Carolina Power and Light Company under this section constitutes authorization by the General Assembly that the described tract of land may be used for a utility easement, which is a purpose other than the public purposes as specified in Article XIV, Section 5, of the Constitution, Article 25B of Chapter 143 of the General Statutes, and Article 2C of Chapter 113 of the General Statutes."

Sec. 2.  G.S. 136-44.2 reads as rewritten:

"§ 136-44.2.  Budget and appropriations.

The Director of the Budget shall include in the 'Current Operations Appropriations Bill' an enumeration of the purposes or objects of the proposed expenditures for each of the construction and maintenance programs for that budget period for the State primary, secondary, urban, and State parks road systems.  The State primary system shall include all portions of the State highway system located outside municipal corporate limits which are designated by N.C., U.S. or Interstate numbers.  The State secondary system shall include all of the State highway system located outside municipal corporate limits that is not a part of the State primary system.  The State urban system shall include all portions of the State highway system located within municipal corporate limits.  The State parks system shall include all State parks roads and parking lots which are not also part of the State highway system.

All construction and maintenance programs for which appropriations are requested shall be enumerated separately in the budget.  Programs that are entirely State funded shall be listed separately from those programs involving the use of federal-aid funds.  Proposed appropriations of State matching funds for each of the federal-aid construction programs shall be enumerated separately as well as the federal-aid funds anticipated for each program in order that the total construction requirements for each program may be provided for in the budget.  Also, proposed State matching funds for the highway planning and research program shall be included separately along with the anticipated federal-aid funds for that purpose.

Other program categories for which appropriations are requested, such as, but not limited to, maintenance, channelization and traffic control, bridge maintenance, public service and access road construction, and ferry operations shall be enumerated in the budget.

The Department of Transportation shall have all powers necessary to comply fully with provisions of present and future federal-aid acts.  No federally eligible construction project may be funded entirely with State funds unless the Department of Transportation has first consulted with the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations.  For purposes of this section, 'federally eligible construction project' means any construction project except secondary road projects developed pursuant to G.S. 136-44.7 and 136-44.8 eligible for federal funds under any federal-aid act, whether or not federal funds are actually available.

The 'Current Operations Appropriations Bill' shall also contain the proposed appropriations of State funds for use in each county for maintenance and construction of secondary roads, to be allocated in accordance with G.S. 136-44.5 and 136-44.6.  State funds appropriated for secondary roads shall not be transferred nor used except for the construction and maintenance of secondary roads in the county for which they are allocated pursuant to G.S. 136-44.5 and 136-44.6.

In the event receipts and increments to the State Highway Fund shall be more than the appropriations made for the preceding fiscal year, such excesses shall be allocated by the Director of the Budget to the Department of Transportation for school and industrial access roads and unforeseen happenings or state of affairs requiring prompt action, with fifty percent (50%) of the balance to be allocated to the State secondary roads program on the basis of need as determined by the Department of Transportation and the remaining fifty percent (50%) to be allocated in accordance with G.S. 136-44.5.

The Department of Transportation may provide for costs incurred or accrued for traffic control measures to be taken by the Department at major events which involve a high degree of traffic concentration on State highways, and which cannot be funded from regular budgeted items.  This authorization applies only to events which are expected to generate 30,000 vehicles or more per day."

Sec. 3.  G.S. 136-44.12 reads as rewritten:

"§ 136-44.12.  Maintenance of roads and parking lots in areas administered by the Division of Parks and Recreation.

The Department of Transportation shall maintain all roads and parking lots which are not part of the State Highway System, leading into and located within the boundaries of all areas administered by the Division of Parks and Recreation of the Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources.

All such roads and parking lots shall be planned, designed, and engineered through joint action between the Department of Transportation and the Division of Parks and Recreation of the Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources.  This joint action shall encompass all accepted park planning and design principles.  Particular concern shall be given to traffic counts and vehicle weight, minimal cutting into or through any natural and scenic areas, width of shoulders, the cutting of natural growth along roadways, and the reduction of any potential use of roads or parking lots for any purpose other than by park users.  All State park roads and parking lots shall conform to the standards regarding width and other roadway specifications as agreed upon by the Division of Parks and Recreation of the Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources and the Department of Transportation.

The State park road systems may be closed to the public in accordance with approved park practices that control the use of State areas so as to protect these areas from overuse and abuse and provide for functional use of the park areas, or for any other purpose considered in the best interest of the public by the Division of Parks and Recreation of the Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources.

Nothing herein shall be construed to include the transfer to the Department of Transportation the powers now vested in the Division of Parks and Recreation of the Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources relating to the patrol and safeguarding of State parks or parkway park roads or State park parking lots."

Sec. 4.  This act is effective upon ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 9th day of July, 1992.

 

James C. Gardner

President of the Senate

 

Daniel Blue, Jr.

Speaker of the House of Representatives