Art. 10. - Street improvements.

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

Section 1. That the Board of Aldermen of the Town of Sanford shall have and is hereby given, and granted full power and authority to adopt by ordinance such system of creating and laying out, altering or changing districts or sections in the Town of Sanford, North Carolina, for improvement by use of crushed rock, stone, sand, oil, asphalt, bitulithic, or other materials, or other process for the purpose so treated, to assess, and provide for equalizing the assessment of all cost and charges of such improvement upon real estate in abutting property in said Town as may be just and proper; and in order to more fully carry out the provisions of this act for street improvement, said board of aldermen shall have full power and authority to pass ordinances assessing the entire cost of such improvement in said town; and it shall be incumbent upon the owners of real estate abutting on each side of the street or sidewalk, or part thereof so improved or repaired, to pay the amount so assessed for such improvement, and such cost, charges or assessment shall be a lien on all abutting property from the commencement of the work as provided for in this act: Provided, however, that the cost of such street improvement at intersections shall be paid by the municipality, the total costs of such improvements to be financed by borrowing money as hereinafter provided.

Sec. 2. That in order to equalize the assessments on real estate for the purposes described herein, the board of aldermen shall before the commencement of such street work or improvement, estimate the total cost of such improvement to be made in any district created or laid out for such purpose, and shall then prorate the cost thereof on the real estate abutting thereon in proportion to the frontage on the street, or portion of street so improved, and charge to and assess upon the real estate on each side of the street upon which work is to be done, its pro rata share of the entire cost of all such improvements made under the provisions of this act.

Sec. 3. That such assessments of estimated cost charged or assessed against abutting property, shall constitute a lien upon such abutting property from and after the date of the filing of a statement thereof by the street committee of the board of aldermen of said town in the office of the town clerk, payable and to be collected as hereinafter provided, and subject to such increase or reduction as may be necessary to make a just and equitable distribution of the actual cost of such improvement when ascertained as herein provided.

Sec. 4. That immediately upon the completion of the work in any district created, or section laid out, for street improvement by said board of aldermen, as herein provided, the town engineer, or other person or committee of the board of aldermen in charge of such work, shall make a report in writing to said board of aldermen showing the total actual cost of such improvement throughout the entire length of said district, or section, created or laid out, with the number and description of the lots abutting on said streets or portion thereof, so improved, together with the number of feet frontage of each of said lots and the owners thereof, and said board of aldermen shall ascertain, determine, and declare the actual cost of such improvements in such district or section, and in order to equalize the assessments on real estate for the purpose of paying therefor, shall take the total cost of such improvement throughout the entire district or section, and shall then pro rate the cost thereof and assess the same against the real estate abutting on the street therein, in proportion to the frontage on the street, or portion thereof, so improved, and charge to and assess against the real estate and each lot upon each side of the street upon which work is done, its pro rata share of the cost of such improvement: Provided, however, that the total cost of such street improvement in such district or section, as determined and declared by said board of aldermen, shall be final and conclusive, subject only to impeachment for fraud or collusion, with the right of appeal as herein provided. And the charge of assessment made against the abutting property under the estimated cost of such street improvement work as herein provided, shall be corrected by the addition of the difference between it and the actual cost thereof, or the deduction of such difference, accordingly as the estimated cost thereof may be less or greater than such ascertained actual cost, and as thus corrected shall constitute a lien upon abutting property as herein provided: Provided, however, that in case any street or part of a street laid out as a district for improvement is of such unequal width as to render the plan of equalization of assessments as set out in this act unjust to any abutting property, then and in that case the said board of aldermen are authorized to divide such district into subdivisions and to apply the rule of equalization of assessments prescribed herein to such subdivisions, instead of the entire district or section created or laid out. And said board of aldermen may make as many subdivisions of said districts or sections as may be necessary to effect a just distribution of the cost of improvements to be made in the district or section.

Sec. 5. That the board of aldermen shall cause a written notice to be served on all owners of abutting property affected by improvements as provided for by this act, at least ten days before the final assessments provided for in this act are made, which notice shall command to property owners to appear before the board of aldermen at a time and place stated therein and show cause, if any, why such assessment should not be made, which notice may be served by any policeman or constable of the Town of Sanford, or other proper officer, and proved by the return of such officer thereon endorsed. In the event the owner or owners of any such lot or lots herein referred to, be an infant, idiot, lunatic, or incompetent, then his general guardian, if he has such, shall act for him; if he has none, it shall be the duty of the Clerk of the Superior Court of Lee County, North Carolina, to appoint a guardian ad litem to act for him. Any person who shall feel aggrieved by the findings or assessments of said board of aldermen with reference to such improvements shall have the right within ten days after the findings and assessments by said board of aldermen have been filed with the clerk of the Town of Sanford, and not thereafter, to file with said clerk his objections to such findings, and appeal from the decision of said board to the next term of the Superior Court for Lee County, North Carolina, by serving a notice in writing upon the mayor and town clerk of said town of his intention to do so, specifying in said notice the grounds of his objection to said findings, and by filing within the time above prescribed for taking appeals, a written undertaking in the sum of at least one hundred dollars ($100.00), with sufficient surety to be justified and approved by said clerk, to the effect that said appellant will pay to said town all such costs and damages as it may sustain by reason of said appeal. In such cases of appeal from the board of aldermen, the ordinance laying out or creating the improvement district or section, the action of the board with reference to the special benefits, minutes of the proceedings of said board, the objections of the property owner with reference thereto, and all other documents with reference to the same, and material to the controversy, shall constitute the case on appeal, and be certified by the Town Clerk of Sanford to the Clerk of the Superior Court of Lee County, and docketed as other civil causes for trial, and shall be tried at the next ensuing term of said Court, with leave of either party to file such pleadings as he or it may be advised. If said issues or any of them, be found in favor of the Town of Sanford, to any amount, then judgment shall be rendered for and in favor of said Town for such amount, and the amount so found together with the costs of such appeal, to be assessed and taxed as costs in other civil actions, shall be and continue a lien against the property upon which the original assessment was placed, from the date of said original assessment, and shall be paid as herein provided, and by law provided, for the collection of judgments.

Sec. 6. That as soon as the amount addressed against such abutting property is determined in the estimated costs of such improvements in any district or section created or laid out as herein provided by said board of aldermen, the said board may cause a notice to be published once a week for two weeks in some newspaper published in the Town of Sanford, substantially in the form following:

STREET IMPROVEMENT NOTICE

Notice is hereby given that a street improvement district has been created as follows: (describe limits of district), for the purpose of (describe work contemplated), and that the improvement to be chargeable and assessed against abutting real estate has been estimated as to each parcel of said real estate, and a statement of the same is on file at the office of the Town Clerk.

Sec. 7. That the assessments made and determined by the board of aldermen under the provisions of this act, against real estate for the purpose of paying the cost of such improvements, shall be due and payable in semi-annual or annual installments, to be fixed and determined by said board of aldermen over a period not to exceed five years; each installment bearing interest at a rate not exceeding six per cent from the date of final findings by said board of aldermen as herein provided, and the total assessment so made shall be and remain a lien upon said lot or parcel of land, notwithstanding any sale thereof for the purpose of enforcing the collection of any installment, until paid in full.

Sec. 8. That the cost of making improvements at the street intersections within said Town of Sanford shall be paid by the municipality.

Sec. 9. That the Board of Aldermen shall have full power and authority to determine the width of any improvement in the exercise of its discretion, the nature and kind of surfacing materials, whether oil, asphalt, bitulithic, or other materials, to be used in said street improvements and the kind of gravel or crushed stone (if any).

Sec. 10. That for the purpose of defraying the cost of the improvement herein provided, the Town of Sanford is hereby authorized and empowered to borrow money from time to time, in such amount as is required to pay costs of any improvement made hereunder, and to issue notes as evidence of such indebtedness, such notes to mature in serial amounts not to exceed the period over which such assessments against abutting property for said improvements run; such indebtedness shall be liquidated by the collection of assessments made against property, as herein provided, and the portion of such assessments chargeable to the municipality hereunder to be paid from the General Funds of the Town of Sanford; and the Board of Aldermen of the Town of Sanford is hereby empowered to levy tax sufficient for the purpose of paying the principal and interest of such indebtedness against all taxable property and polls within the corporate limits of the Town of Sanford.

Sec. 11. That the powers herein enumerated, as affecting financing, shall not be deemed to be in lieu of any powers given under the Municipal Finance Act, but shall be in addition thereto, and said Board of Aldermen may finance the improvements herein provided either under the terms of this act or under the terms of the Municipal Finance Act, or both concurrently.

Sec. 12. That all laws and clauses of laws in conflict with any of the provisions of this act, except as provided in section eleven hereof, are hereby repealed.

Sec. 13. This act shall be in force from and after its ratification.

Ratified this the 8th day of April, A.D. 1931.

(Private Laws of 1931, chapter 133)