Star News - Proposed legislation in the state Senate would limit the time the government can prevent development on private land in the path of a planned road. Senate Bill 214 would require governments protecting properties from development to purchase them or begin condemnation proceedings within 18 months from the time a corridor protection map is filed. If the government that filed the map doesn't do so, the property owner would be free to develop the land, according to the bill. Under current law, no building permits or subdivision approvals may be issued inside a protected corridor for up to three years, or 36 months, from the date an application was submitted by a developer.
The statewide bill – sponsored by Sens. Thom Goolsby of New Hanover County, Bill Rabon of Brunswick
County and Clark Jenkins of Edgecombe County – ultimately could impact countless property owners in the paths of future roads across the state, including local highways such as the Cape Fear Skyway and the Hampstead Bypass. Under state law, local governments, the state Board of Transportation and the N.C. Turnpike Authority can adopt corridor protection maps to keep property owners from developing land in a planned road's footprint. The idea in part is to protect taxpayers by keeping down the value of properties that the N.C. Department of Transportation will have to purchase for new roads.
The Senate bill also would change the "trigger" starting the time period from the application submittal date to the filing date of the corridor map. Critics of the existing law say it infringes on personal property rights by preventing owners from doing anything with their land for three years. The Business Alliance for a Sound Economy, which deals with legislative affairs for the coastal North Carolina real estate and building industries, and the N.C. Home Builders Association are pushing the legislation. It would take effect Dec. 1 and apply only to corridor maps filed after that date. Donna Girardot, BASE chief executive officer, said under current law, to get the three-year clock started, a developer must spend the time and money to submit a development application, even though he knows it will be denied.
Girardot cited several Wilmington-area cases where property has been tied up for more than a decade while the DOT finalizes corridor protection maps and moves forward with land acquisition and construction. "In the meantime, these properties are encumbered, which complicates sales, building and potential development," she said. Greer Beaty, a DOT spokeswoman, said the department's legal staff hadn't yet reviewed the legislation, so she couldn't comment on it. But, she said, by protecting corridors, the DOT is able to keep the price of new roads down. And preventing development of new homes or businesses inside those corridors also reduces the number of people impacted by new road construction.
Mike Kozlosky, executive director of the Wilmington Metropolitan Planning Organization, which plans transportation projects, said at first glance, it appears the bill could significantly impact transportation planning and increase the costs of developing roads. It also could necessitate a change in the way the DOT funds road projects because right-of-way acquisition would have to be completed sooner, he said. Girardot said that the construction of new roads is vitally important to the economy of the Wilmington area but that private property owners' rights also must be considered as the state struggles to find enough money to pay for property acquisition in a timely manner. "Requiring them to file an expensive request for development, in order to have it denied and then waiting sometimes many years while continuing to pay property taxes on land that they cannot sell, develop or otherwise utilize due to state budget shortfalls is also not right," she said.
