NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1963 SESSION

CHAPTER 511

HOUSE BILL 612

AN ACT RELATING TO THE TITLE TO THE LAND BUILT UP AND CONSTRUCTED IN THE TOWN OF CAROLINA BEACH IN THE COUNTY OF NEW HANOVER AS A RESULT OF CERTAIN EROSION CONTROL WORK IN SAID TOWN.

WHEREAS, during the course of many years in the Town of Carolina Beach, in the County of New Hanover, North Carolina, much of the land abutting and fronting on the Atlantic Ocean in said town formerly belonging to various property owners has been and is now being washed away by successive storms, tides and winds; and

WHEREAS, the said Town of Carolina Beach, with aid from the State of North Carolina, the United States Government, and with its own funds, has from time to time made available funds with which to control the erosion caused by said tides and winds and other causes, and to that end the said town has pumped sand from Myrtle Grove Sound and also pushed up sand and hauled sand, and as a result thereof there has been, is now, and will be made and constructed new land on the ocean front of said town which will change the ordinary and usual low water mark of the waters of the Atlantic Ocean along the front of said town, and when the work has been completed the question will arise as to whom title to the said new land shall belong; and

WHEREAS, it is the desire of the authorities of the Town of Carolina Beach, as well as the State of North Carolina, to fix and define the title to such new land and to fix and determine its use, and to further define the littoral rights of the property owners abutting on the ocean front which will be destroyed or taken by and through the making of such new made lands: Now, therefore,

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

Section 1. All land filled in, restored, and made, and to be filled in, restored, and made, as the result of the recitals in the preamble to this Act, which will exist between the present eastern property line of the lot owners at present bordering on said ocean and the low water mark of the Atlantic Ocean after the work referred to in the preamble hereof is completed, shall be within the corporate limits of the Town of Carolina Beach and so much of said lands so filled in, restored and made which will lie West of "the building line" to be defined and determined by Section 2 of this Act, is hereby granted and conveyed in fee simple to the land owner, to the extent that his land abuts thereon, and the balance of said land lying East of said "building line" to be fixed and determined by Section 2 of this Act is hereby granted and conveyed in fee simple to the Town of Carolina Beach, provided, however, that no building or structure shall be built and erected on said made and built-up land lying East of "the building line" to be defined and set out in Section 2 of this Act, and provided further that all made and constructed land lying East of "the building line" shall be at all times kept open for the purpose of street and highways for the use of the public and further for the development and uses as a public square or park, as the governing authorities of the Town of Carolina Beach by ordinance shall determine; and provided further that if any such property as is hereby granted and conveyed to the Town of Carolina Beach shall cease to be used for the purposes or in the manner prescribed in this Act, it shall revert and become the property of the State of North Carolina, and provided further that the owners of the property abutting on said newly made or constructed land, shall, in front of their said property possess and keep their rights, as if littoral owners, in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, bordering on said newly acquired and constructed land.

Sec. 2. Within thirty (30) days from the date of the completion of said work to be carried on by the Town of Carolina Beach and referred to in the preamble hereof, the said Town of Carolina Beach shall, at its own cost, survey or have surveyed by a competent engineer a line to be known as "the building line", and which shall constitute and define "the building line" referred to in Section 1 of this Act, and which shall run the full length of the beach within the town limits, and after "the building line" shall have been surveyed and fixed and determined, the said authorities of the Town of Carolina Beach shall immediately cause to be prepared a map showing, fixing, and determining "the building line", which map so prepared shall be immediately recorded in the office of the Register of Deeds of New Hanover County in a map book kept for said purposes, after the engineer has appended an oath to the effect that said line has been truly and properly surveyed and laid out and marked on said map, and the register of deeds shall properly index and cross-index said map, and when so recorded in said map book or entered or placed therein, in lieu of inserting a transcript thereof, and indexed, the said map shall be competent and prima facie evidence of the facts thereon, without other or further proof of the making of said map, and shall conclusively fix and determine "the building line" referred to in Section 1 of this Act.

Sec. 3. Any property owner or claimant of land who is in any manner affected by the provisions of this Act, and who does not bring suit against the Town of Carolina Beach, or assert such claims by filing notice thereof with the governing body of the town, either or both, as the case may be, or any claimant thereto under the provisions of this Act, or their successor or successors in title, within six (6) months after "the building line" is surveyed and established, and the map thereof recorded, as provided for herein, shall be conclusively presumed to have acquiesced in, and to have accepted the terms and conditions hereof, and to have abandoned any claim, right, title or interest in and to the territory immediately affected by and through or as a result of the doing of act or acts or thing or things herein mentioned, and shall be forever bound from maintaining any action for redress upon such claim.

Sec. 4. All laws and clauses of laws in conflict with this Act are hereby repealed.

Sec. 5. 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 May, 1963.