GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 1999

SESSION LAW 1999-388
SENATE BILL 772

AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE CREATION OF MUNICIPAL SERVICE DISTRICTS IN CERTAIN CITIES FOR URBAN AREA REVITALIZATION PROJECTS.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  G.S. 160A-536 reads as rewritten:
"§ 160A-536.  Purposes for which districts may be established.
(a)	Purposes. –  The city council of any city 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, or functions in addition to or to a greater extent than those financed, provided or maintained for the entire city:
(1)	Beach erosion control and flood and hurricane protection works.
(1a)	(For applicability see note) Any service, facility, or function which the municipality may by law provide in the city, and including but not limited to placement of utility wiring underground, placement of period street lighting, placement of specially designed street signs and street furniture, landscaping, specialized street and sidewalk paving, and other appropriate improvements to the rights-of-way that generally preserve the character of an historic district; provided that this subdivision only applies to a service district which, at the time of its creation, had the same boundaries as an historic district created under Part 3A of Article 19 of this Chapter.
(2)	Downtown revitalization projects.
(2a)	Urban area revitalization projects. 
(3)	Drainage projects.
(3a)	Sewage collection and disposal systems of all types, including septic tank systems or other on-site collection or disposal facilities or systems.
(4)	Off-street parking facilities.
(5)	Watershed improvement projects, including but not limited to  watershed improvement projects as defined in General Statutes Chapter 139; drainage projects, including but not limited to the drainage projects provided for by General Statutes Chapter 156; and water resources development projects, including but not limited to the federal water resources development projects provided for by General Statutes Chapter 143, Article 21.
(b)	Downtown Revitalization Defined. –  As used in this section "downtown revitalization projects" include by way of illustration but not limitation improvements to water mains, sanitary sewer mains, storm sewer mains, electric power distribution lines, gas mains, street lighting, streets and sidewalks, including rights-of-way and easements therefor, the construction of pedestrian malls, bicycle paths, overhead pedestrian walkways, sidewalk canopies, and parking facilities both on-street and off-street, and other improvements intended to relieve traffic congestion in the central city, improve pedestrian and vehicular access thereto, reduce the incidence of crime therein, and generally to further the public health, safety, welfare, and convenience by promoting the economic health of the central city or downtown area. In addition, a downtown revitalization project may, in order to revitalize a downtown area and further the public health, safety, welfare, and convenience, include the provision of city services or functions in addition to or to a greater extent than those provided or maintained for the entire city. A downtown revitalization project may also include promotion and developmental activities (such as sponsoring festivals and markets in the downtown area, promoting business investment in the downtown area, helping to coordinate public and private actions in the downtown area, and developing and issuing publications on the downtown area) designed to improve the economic well-being of the downtown area and further the public health, safety, welfare, and convenience. Exercise of the authority granted by this Article to undertake downtown revitalization projects financed by a municipal service district shall not prejudice the city's authority to undertake urban renewal projects in the same area.
(c)	Urban Area Revitalization Defined. – As used in this section, the term 'urban area revitalization projects' includes the provision within an urban area of any service or facility that may be provided in a downtown area as a downtown revitalization project under subdivision (a)(2) and subsection (b) of this section.  As used in this section, the term 'urban area' means an area that (i) is located within a city whose population exceeds 150,000 according to the most recent annual population statistics certified by the State Planning Officer and (ii) meets one or more of the following conditions:
(1)	It is the central business district of the city.
(2)	It consists primarily of existing or redeveloping concentrations of industrial, retail, wholesale, office, or significant employment-generating uses, or any combination of these uses.
(3)	It is located in or along a major transportation corridor and does not include any residential parcels that are not, at their closest point, within 150 feet of the major transportation corridor right-of-way or any nonresidentially zoned parcels that are not, at their closest point, within 1,500 feet of the major transportation corridor right-of-way.
(4)	It has as its center and focus a major concentration of public or institutional uses, such as airports, seaports, colleges or universities, hospitals and health care facilities, or governmental facilities.
(d)	Contracts. – A city may provide services, facilities, functions, or promotional and developmental activities in a service district with its own forces, through a contract with another governmental agency, through a contract with a private agency, or by any combination thereof. Any contracts entered into pursuant to this paragraph shall specify the purposes for which city moneys are to be used and shall require an appropriate accounting for those moneys at the end of each fiscal year or other appropriate period."
Section 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 15th day of July, 1999.

s/	Dennis A. Wicker
President of the Senate

s/	James B. Black
Speaker of the House of Representatives

s/	James B. Hunt, Jr.
Governor

Approved 10:11 p.m. this 4th day of August, 1999