GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2001

SESSION LAW 2001-145
SENATE BILL 380

AN ACT relating to the naming of roads and the assignment of street numbers by counties.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 153A-239.1(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	A county may by ordinance name or rename any road within the county and not within a city, and may pursuant to a procedure established by ordinance assign or reassign street numbers for use on such a road. In naming or renaming a road, a county may not:
(1)	Change the name, if any, given to the road by the Board of Transportation, unless the Board of Transportation agrees;
(2)	Change the number assigned to the road by the Board of Transportation, but may give the road a name in addition to its number; or
(3)	Give the road a name that is deceptively similar to the name of any other public road in the vicinity.
A county shall not name or rename a road or adopt an ordinance to establish a procedure to assign or reassign street numbers on a road until it has held a public hearing on the matter. At least 10 days before the day of the  hearing to name or rename a road, the board of commissioners shall cause notice of the time, place and subject matter of the hearing to be prominently posted at the county courthouse, in at least two public places in the township or townships where the road is located, and shall publish a notice of such hearing in a newspaper of general circulation published in the county. At least 10 days before the day of the hearing to adopt an ordinance to establish a procedure to assign or reassign street numbers on a road, the board of commissioners shall publish a notice of such hearing in a newspaper of general circulation in the county. After naming or renaming a road, or assigning or reassigning street numbers on a road, a county shall cause notice of its action to be given to the local postmaster with jurisdiction over the road, to the Board of Transportation, and to any city within five miles of the road. Names may be initially assigned to new roads by recordation of an approved subdivision plat without following the procedure established by this section."
SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 23rd day of May, 2001.

	s/	 Beverly E. Perdue
	 President of the Senate

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

	s/	 Michael F. Easley
	 Governor

Approved 11:25 a.m. this 31st day of May, 2001