Title: S.L. 1967-566
Category: Introduced Bill
Keywords: Bill ?

NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY
1967 SESSION

CHAPTER 566
HOUSE BILL 642

AN ACT RELATING TO THE TITLE TO THE LAND BUILT UP AND CONSTRUCTED IN THE COUNTY OF HYDE AS A RESULT OF CERTAIN EROSION CONTROL WORK IN THE SAID COUNTY.

WHEREAS, during the course of many years in the County of Hyde, North Carolina, much of the land abutting and fronting on the Pamlico Sound in said county formerly belonging to various property owners has been and is now being washed away by successive storms, tides and winds; and
WHEREAS, the said County of Hyde, with aid from the State of North Carolina, the United States Government and the Federal Agencies thereunder, and with its own funds, has or will make available from time to time funds with which to control the erosion caused by the said tides and winds, and other causes, and to that end the said county has entered into a contract or is planning to enter into such contract in the future to pump sand from the waters or from other sources within the nearby or immediate area, onto the sound side of the County of Hyde, or designated parts thereof, and as a result thereof, there has been, is now, or will be made and constructed new lands on the sound side of the Pamlico Sound located within the said county, which may or will change the ordinary and usual watermark of the waters of the Pamlico Sound, and when the project is terminated, 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 County of Hyde, 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 the sound 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.  That 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 property line of the land or lot owners bordering on said sound and the watermark of the Pamlico Sound after the work referred to in the preamble hereof is completed, shall be within the corporate limits of the County of Hyde and so much of said lands so filled in, restored and made which will lie "inland" 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 on the sound side 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 County of Hyde, provided, however, that no building or structure shall be built and erected on said made and built-up land lying on the sound side of the "building line" to be denned and set out in Section 2 of this Act, and provided further that all made and constructed land lying on the sound side 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 County of Hyde by ordinance shall determine; and provided further that if any such property as is hereby granted and conveyed to the County of Hyde 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 Pamlico Sound, bordering on said newly acquired and constructed land.
Sec. 2.  Within 30 days from the date of the completion of said work to be carried on by the said County of Hyde and referred to in the preamble hereof, the said County of Hyde 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 of the Pamlico Sound within the county limits, or parts thereof, that will be duly designated by the governing body of the said county, and after the "building line" shall have been surveyed and fixed and determined, the said authorities of the County of Hyde 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 Hyde 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 County of Hyde, or assert such claims by filing notice thereof with the governing body of the said county, 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 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.  This Act shall only apply to Hyde County.
Sec. 5.  All laws and clauses of laws in conflict with this Act are hereby repealed.
Sec. 6.  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 23rd day of May, 1967.