GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1999

S	1 

SENATE BILL 1479

Short Title:  Deep River Heritage Corridor.	(Local)

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Sponsors: Senators Kinnaird; Cochrane, Dannelly, Garrou, Hagan, Horton, Lee, Martin of Guilford, Purcell, and Shaw of Guilford.

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Referred to:  Agriculture/Environment/Natural Resources.

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May 25, 2000

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO ESTABLISH THE DEEP RIVER HERITAGE CORRIDOR WITHIN CHATHAM, FORSYTH, GUILFORD, LEE, MONTGOMERY, MOORE, AND RANDOLPH COUNTIES, TO ESTABLISH THE DEEP RIVER HERITAGE CORRIDOR PLANNING COMMITTEE, AND TO PROVIDE FOR THE PREPARATION OF A RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR THE DEEP RIVER HERITAGE CORRIDOR.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1. Short title.  This act may be cited as the Deep River Heritage Corridor Act.
Section 2.  Legislative findings.  The General Assembly finds that:
(1)	The Deep River flows through the heart of North Carolina from its headwaters in Guilford and Forsyth Counties through Randolph, Chatham, and Lee Counties, to its confluence with the Haw River at Mermaid Point to create the Cape Fear River.  It comprises a thread of human history, commerce, industry, and community running through a fabric of natural, scenic, and recreational resources of major significance to the State, to the South as a region, and to the United States.
(2)	The public interest would be served by preserving, protecting, and enhancing these resources and by improving the planning and coordination between all levels of government within the region.
Section 3.  Purpose.  It is the purpose of this act to provide a management framework to assist units of local and regional government and citizens in developing and implementing integrated cultural, historical, and natural resource management programs that will preserve, enhance, and interpret for the educational and inspirational benefit of present and future generations the unique and significant contributions made to our common heritage by properties, structures, environmental resources, and waterways within and surrounding the Deep River watershed.
Section 4.  Deep River Heritage Corridor.  (a)	Creation. – The Deep River Heritage Corridor is created, hereinafter referred to as the Corridor.
Section 4.(b)	Boundaries. – The Corridor shall generally consist of that area known as the Deep River watershed and specifically depicted on the map entitled "The Deep River Heritage Corridor Area Master Plan,"which shall be on file and available for public inspection in the Office of the Secretary of Cultural Resources.
Section 4.(c)	Administration. – The Corridor shall be administered in accordance with this act.
Section 5.  Deep River Heritage Corridor Planning Committee.  (a)	Creation. – The Deep River Heritage Corridor Planning Committee is created.  The Committee shall exist until a successor entity charged with implementing the management plan under Section 6 of this act is created or designated.
Section 5.(b)	Purpose. – The Committee shall be a cooperative regional organization established to work with participating municipalities, businesses, organizations, and residents to assemble a management plan under Section 6 of this act for the Corridor, which plan shall be assembled from proposals submitted by each county subject to this act and each municipality within those counties.  
Section 5.(c)	Membership. – The Committee shall be composed of the following 19 members, or their designee: the chairperson of each county's tourism development agency or convention and visitor's bureau for each Chatham, Forsyth, Guilford, Lee, Montgomery, Moore, and Randolph Counties; the mayor of the following municipalities having Deep River or one of its tributaries within its corporate limits:  Greensboro, High Point, Jamestown, Archdale, Randleman, Asheboro, Franklinville, Ramseur, Robbins, Goldston, and Sanford; the President of the North Carolina Friends Historical Society.  The mayor, manager, or other executive officer of any county or municipality within the Corridor may participate in committee meetings as nonvoting members and shall receive notice of all committee meetings.
Section 5.(d)	Powers. – To carry out the foregoing purposes and responsibilities, the Committee has the corporate power to do all things necessary or convenient to carry out its purposes and exercise the duties under this act.
Section 6.  Corridor Resource Management Plan.  (a)	Preparation of Plan. – No later than October 1, 2001, the Deep River Heritage Corridor Committee shall complete a resource management plan.  The resource management plan shall present a unified plan for the preservation, improvement, and interpretation of the Corridor's cultural, natural, scenic, and recreational resources.  The local planning, cultural, and recreation activities of each governmental unit within the counties subject to this act shall coordinate the development of the management plan.   The management plan shall be based upon the participation of the governing body of each county subject to this act and must be approved by the governing body of each county subject to this act.    
Section 6.(b)	Implementation of Plan. – The Committee shall implement the approved resource management plan by taking appropriate steps throughout the Corridor, consistent with the goals of the resource management plan to preserve and interpret its historic resources, develop its recreational resources, and support public and private efforts in economic revitalization.
Section 7.  This act applies only to Chatham, Forsyth, Guilford, Lee, Montgomery, Moore, and Randolph Counties and to the municipalities located within those counties.
Section 8.  This act is effective when it becomes law.