GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1991

H	2 

HOUSE BILL 1009
Committee Substitute Favorable 6/20/91

Short Title:  Amortization Moratorium/Up Sign Fee.	(Public)
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Sponsors:
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Referred to:  
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April 19, 1991

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO SET A MORATORIUM ON THE ELIMINATION OF NON-CONFORMING USES OF PROPERTY BY THE METHOD OF AMORTIZATION, TO AUTHORIZE THE LEGISLATIVE RESEARCH COMMISSION TO STUDY AMORTIZATION, AND TO INCREASE THE OUTDOOR ADVERTISING PERMIT FEES.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  Effective July 1, 1991, a city, county, or other political subdivision of the State may not adopt an ordinance that makes a previously conforming use of property non-conforming and phases out the non-conforming use of the property through the method referred to as amortization, by which non-conforming uses are required to be terminated over a specified period of time.
Sec. 2.  Effective July 1, 1991, any amortization period affecting a non-conforming use of property under an ordinance adopted before that date is tolled and shall remain at the level reached as of July 1, 1991, until July 1, 1993.
Sec. 3.  Sections 1 and 2 of this act do not affect a non-conforming use that is subject to an amortization provision that has expired as of July 1, 1991.  Sections 1 and 2 of this act do not apply to an ordinance that eliminates non-conforming signs located on the premises of the business or activity advertised by the sign.
Sec. 4.  The Legislative Research Commission may study the method of amortization as a means of eliminating uses of property that have been declared by an ordinance adopted by a unit of local government to be non-conforming uses of the property.  In conducting this study, the Commission may consider how amortization of non-conforming uses can be constitutionally applied and the extent to which State law should regulate use of the method.  The Commission may make an interim or a final report to the 1992 Regular Session of the 1991 General Assembly and may make a final report to the 1993 General Assembly.
Sec. 5.  G.S. 136-133 reads as rewritten:
"§ 136-133. Permits required.
No person shall erect or maintain any outdoor advertising within 660 feet of the nearest edge of the right-of-way of the interstate or primary highway system, except those allowed under G.S. 	136-129(2) or (3), or beyond 660 feet of the nearest edge of the right-of-way of the interstate or primary highway system, except those allowed under G.S. 136-129.1(2) or (3), without first obtaining a permit from the Department of Transportation or its agents pursuant to the procedures set out by rules and regulations promulgated by the Department of Transportation. The permit shall be valid until revoked for nonconformance with this Article or rules and regulations promulgated by the Department of Transportation thereunder. Any person aggrieved by the decision of the Department of Transportation or its agents in refusing to grant or in revoking a permit may appeal the decision in accordance with the rules and regulations enacted by the Department of Transportation pursuant to this Article to the Secretary of Transportation who shall make the final decision on the agency appeal. 
The Department of Transportation may charge permit fees to defray the costs of administering the permit procedures under this Article. The fees for directional signs as set forth in G.S. 136-129(1)	and G.S. 136-129.1(1) shall not exceed a twenty dollar ($20.00) initial fee and a fifteen dollar ($15.00) annual renewal fee. The fees for outdoor advertising structures, as set forth in G.S. 136-129(4) and (5), shall not exceed an initial fee of two hundred dollars ($200.00) and an annual renewal fee of thirty dollars ($30.00)."
Sec. 6.  This act becomes effective July 1, 1991.  Section 1 of this act expires July 1, 1993.