Orange County NC Website
8 <br /> § 153A-241: Closing public roads or easements. <br /> A county may permanently close any public road or any ease- <br /> ment within the county and not within a city, except public roads or <br /> easements for public roads under the control and supervision of the <br /> Department of Transportation. The board of commissioners shall <br /> first adopt a resolution declaring its intent to close the public road <br /> or easement and calling a public hearing on the question. The board <br /> shall cause the resolution to be published once a week for four <br /> successive-weeks before the hearing, a copy of the resolution to be <br /> sent by registered or certified mail to each owner as shown on the <br /> county tax records of property adjoining the public road or ease- <br /> ment who did not join in the request to have the road or easement <br /> closed, and a notice of the closing and public hearing to be promi- <br /> nently posted in at least two places along the road or easement. At <br /> the hearing the board shall hear all interested persons who appear <br /> with respect to whether the closing would be detrimental to the <br /> public interest or to any individual property rights. If, after the <br /> hearing, the board of commissioners is satisfied that closing the <br /> public road or easement is not contrary to the public interest and <br /> (in the.case of a road) that no individual owning property in the <br /> vicinity of the road or in the subdivision in which it is located would <br /> thereby be deprived of reasonable means of ingress and egress to <br /> his property, the board may adopt an order closing the road or <br /> easement. A certified copy of the order (or judgment of the court) <br /> shall be filed in the office of the register of deeds of the county. <br /> Any person aggrieved by the closing of a public road or an ease- <br /> ment may appeal the board of commissioners' order to the appropri- <br /> ate division of the-General Court of Justice within 30 days after the <br /> day the order is adopted. The court shall hear the matter de novo <br /> and has jurisdiction to try the issues arising and to order the road <br /> or easement closed upon proper findings of fact by the trier of fact. <br /> • No cause of action founded upon the invalidity of a proceeding <br /> taken in closing a public road or an easement may be asserted <br /> except in an action or proceeding begun within 30 days after the <br /> • • day the order is adopted. <br /> Upon the closing of a public road or an easement pursuant to this <br /> section, all right, title, and interest in the right-of-way is vested in <br /> those persons owning lots or parcels of land adjacent to the road or <br /> easement, and the title of each adjoining landowner, for the width <br /> of his abutting land, extends to the center line of the public road or <br /> easement. However, the right, title or interest vested in an adjoin- <br /> ing landowner by this paragraph remains subject to any public <br /> utility use or facility located on, over, or under the road or ease- <br /> ment immediately before its closing, until the landowner or any - <br /> successor thereto pays to the utility involved the reasonable cost of <br /> removing and relocating the facility. (1949, c. 1208, ss. 1-3; 1957, c. <br /> 65, s. 11; 1965, cc. 665, 801; 1971, c. 595; 1973, c. 507, s. 5; c. 822, s. <br /> 1; 1977, c. 464, s. 34.) <br /> Local Modification. — Guilford: within the boundaries of a dedicated <br /> 1979, c. 282; 1981, c. 59. street when use of the street is discon- <br /> Legal Periodicals. — For note dis- tinued, see 45 N.C.L. Rev. 564 (1967). <br /> cussing the disposition of property <br /> • <br />