§ 153A-301.  Purposes for which districts may be established.

(a) The board of commissioners of any county may define any number of service districts in order to finance, provide, or maintain for the districts one or more of the following services, facilities and functions in addition to or to a greater extent than those financed, provided or maintained for the entire county:

(1) Beach erosion control and flood and hurricane protection works.

(2) Fire protection.

(3) Recreation.

(4) Sewage collection and disposal systems of all types, including septic tank systems or other on-site collection or disposal facilities or systems.

(5) Solid waste collection and disposal systems.

(6) Water supply and distribution systems.

(7) Ambulance and rescue.

(8) Watershed improvement projects, including but not limited to watershed improvement projects as defined in Chapter 139 of the General Statutes; drainage projects, including but not limited to the drainage projects provided for by Chapter 156 of the General Statutes; and water resources development projects, including but not limited to the federal water resources development projects provided for by Article 21 of Chapter 143 of the General Statutes.

(9) Cemeteries.

(10) Law enforcement if all of the following apply:

a. The population of the county is (i) over 900,000 according to the most recent federal decennial census, and (ii) less than ten percent (10%) of the population of the county is in an unincorporated area according to the most recent federal decennial census.

b. The county has an interlocal agreement or agreements with a municipality or municipalities for the provision of law enforcement services in the unincorporated area of the county.

c. Repealed by Session Laws 2008-134, s. 76(c), effective July 28, 2008.

(11) Services permitted under Article 24 of this Chapter if the district is subject to G.S. 153A-472.1.

(b) The General Assembly finds that coastal-area counties have a special problem with lack of maintenance of platted rights-of-way, resulting in ungraded sand travelways deviating from the original rights-of-way and encroaching on private property, and such cartways exhibit poor drainage and are blocked by junk automobiles.

(c) To address the problem described in subsection (b), the board of commissioners of any coastal-area county as defined by G.S. 113A-103(2) may define any number of service districts in order to finance, provide, or maintain for the districts one or more of the following services, facilities and functions in addition to or to a greater extent than those financed, provided or maintained for the entire county:

(1) Removal of junk automobiles; and

(2) Street maintenance.

(d) The board of commissioners of a county that contains a protected mountain ridge, as defined by G.S. 113A-206(6), may define any number of service districts, composed of subdivision lots within one or more contiguous subdivisions that are served by common public roads, to finance for the district the maintenance of such public roads that are either located in the district or provide access to some or all lots in the district from a State road, where some portion of those roads is not subject to compliance with the minimum standards of the Board of Transportation set forth in G.S. 136-102.6. The service district or districts created shall include only subdivision lots within the subdivision, and one or more additional contiguous subdivisions, where the property owners' association, whose purpose is to represent these subdivision lots, agrees to be included in the service district. For subdivision lots in an additional contiguous subdivision or for other adjacent or contiguous property to be annexed according to G.S. 153A-303, the property owners' association representing the subdivision or property to be annexed must approve the annexation. For the purposes of this subsection: (i) "subdivision lots" are defined as either separate tracts appearing of record upon a recorded plat, or other lots, building sites, or divisions of land for sale or building development for residential purposes; and (ii) "public roads" are defined as roads that are in actual open use as public vehicular areas, or dedicated or offered for dedication to the public use as a road, highway, street, or avenue, by a deed, grant, map, or plat, and that have been constructed and are in use by the public, but that are not currently being maintained by any public authority.

(e) The board of commissioners of a county that adjoins or contains a lake, river, or tributary of a river or lake that has an identified noxious aquatic weed problem may define any number of noxious aquatic weed control service districts composed of property that is contiguous to the water or that provides direct access to the water through a shared, certified access site to the water. As used in this subsection, the term "noxious aquatic weed" is any plant organism identified by the Secretary of Environmental Quality under G.S. 113A-222 or regulated as a plant pest by the Commissioner of Agriculture under Article 36 of Chapter 106 of the General Statutes. (1973, c. 489, s. 1; c. 822, s. 2; c. 1375; 1979, c. 595, s. 1; c. 619, s. 6; 1983 (Reg. Sess., 1984), c. 1078, s. 1; 1989, c. 620; 1993, c. 378, s. 1; 1995, c. 354, s. 1; c. 434, s. 1; 1997-456, s. 24; 2005-433, s. 10(b); 2005-440, s. 1; 2008-134, s. 76(c); 2011-100, s. 1; 2015-241, s. 14.30(v).)