GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2007

SESSION LAW 2007-254

SENATE BILL 227

AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE county of new hanover and the CITY OF WILMINGTON TO GIVE ANNUAL NOTICE TO CHRONIC VIOLATORS OF THE CITY'S PUBLIC NUISANCE ORDINANCE.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  Section 1 of S.L. 2005-44 reads as rewritten:

"SECTION 1.  A municipality may notify a chronic violator of the municipality's public nuisance ordinance that, if the violator's property is found to be in violation of the ordinance, the municipality shall, without further notice in the calendar year in which notice is given, take action to remedy the violation, and the expense of the action shall become a lien upon the property and shall be collected as unpaid taxes. The initial annual notice shall be served by registered or certified mail.  A chronic violator is a person who owns property whereupon, in the previous calendar year, the municipality gave notice of violation at least three times under any provision of the public nuisance ordinance. The term "municipality" means a city or a county."

SECTION 2.  Section 2 of S.L. 2005-44, as amended by Section 1 of S.L. 2007-3, reads as rewritten:

"SECTION 2.  This act applies to the County of New Hanover, the City of Wilmington, and the Towns of Cornelius, Davidson, and Matthews only."

SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 23^rd day of July, 2007.

                                                                    s/ Marc Basnight

                                                                         President Pro Tempore of the Senate

                                                                    s/ Joe Hackney

                                                                         Speaker of the House of Representatives