GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 1999

HOUSE BILL 1617
RATIFIED BILL

AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE ADDITION OF LEA ISLAND STATE NATURAL AREA TO THE STATE PARKS SYSTEM, AS RECOMMENDED BY THE ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW COMMISSION; TO TRANSFER STATE PROPERTY IN BURKE COUNTY; AND TO REALLOCATE STATE LAND IN WAKE COUNTY TO THE DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL RESOURCES FOR THE NORTH CAROLINA MUSEUM OF ART.

Whereas, Section 5 of Article XIV of the North Carolina Constitution states that it shall be a proper function of the State of North Carolina to acquire and preserve park, recreational, and scenic areas and, in every other appropriate way, to preserve as a part of the common heritage of this State its open lands and places of beauty; and 
Whereas, the General Assembly enacted the State Parks Act in 1987, declaring that the State of North Carolina offers unique archaeological, geological, biological, scenic, and recreational resources, and that such resources are part of the heritage of the people of the State to be preserved and managed by those people for their use and for the use of their visitors and descendants; and
Whereas, Lea Island in Pender County is one of the few remaining undeveloped barrier islands on the North Carolina coast; contains examples of high quality coastal natural communities; provides excellent breeding and migration habitat tfor wildlife, including several rare species; and has been found to possess biological and scenic resources of statewide significance; and
Whereas, the North Carolina State Office of the National Audubon Society has expressed particular interest in the protection of Lea Island and is willing to partner with the State to provide long-term management for the site; Now, therefore,

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  The General Assembly authorizes the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to add Lea Island State Natural Area to the State Parks System as provided in G.S. 113-44.14(b).
Section 2.   The Department of Administration is directed to transfer or otherwise convey for no monetary consideration approximately 150 acres in Burke County to Western Piedmont Community College property for an agricultural campus. The property adjoins current County of Burke, Western Piedmont Community College, North Carolina School for the Deaf, and Broughton Hospital property.  Of that land, not to exceed 12 acres may be made available by Western Piedmont Community College to the County of Burke for the purpose of building the Burke County Agriculture Extension Complex. 
Section 3.  The State land located in Raleigh bounded by Blue Ridge Road on the west, Wade Avenue on the south, the Raleigh beltline on the east, and the Meredith Woods subdivision on the north is hereby reallocated to the Department of Cultural Resources for the North Carolina Museum of Art.
Section 4.  The following sections of prior session laws are repealed: Section 25.25 of Chapter 802 of the 1977 Session Laws; Section 46 of Chapter 1086 of the 1988 Session Laws; and Section 73 of Chapter 561 of the 1993 Session Laws.
Section 5.  This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 4th day of July, 2000.

	─────────────────── 
	Marc Basnight
	President Pro Tempore of the Senate

	─────────────────── 
	Joe HackneySpeaker Pro Tempore of the House of Representatives
	
                                         ─────────────────── 
James B. Hunt, Jr.
	Governor

Approved 	.m. this 	 day of 	, 2000