§ 153A-241. Closing public roads or easements. - North Carolina Statutes

§ 153A‑241.  Closing public roads or easements.

A county may permanently close any public road or any easement withinthe county and not within a city, except public roads or easements for publicroads under the control and supervision of the Department of Transportation.The board of commissioners shall first adopt a resolution declaring its intentto close the public road or easement and calling a public hearing on thequestion. The board shall cause a notice of the public hearing reasonablycalculated to give full and fair disclosure of the proposed closing to bepublished once a week for three successive weeks before the hearing, a copy ofthe resolution to be sent by registered or certified mail to each owner asshown on the county tax records of property adjoining the public road oreasement who did not join in the request to have the road or easement closed,and a notice of the closing and public hearing to be prominently posted in atleast two places along the road or easement. At the hearing the board shallhear all interested persons who appear with respect to whether the closingwould be detrimental to the public interest or to any individual propertyrights. If, after the hearing, the board of commissioners is satisfied thatclosing the public road or easement is not contrary to the public interest and(in the case of a road) that no individual owning property in the vicinity ofthe road or in the subdivision in which it is located would thereby be deprivedof reasonable means of ingress and egress to his property, the board may adoptan order closing the road or easement. A certified copy of the order (orjudgment of the court) shall be filed in the office of the register of deeds ofthe county.

Any person aggrieved by the closing of a public road or an easement mayappeal the board of commissioners' order to the appropriate division of theGeneral Court of Justice within 30 days after the day the order is adopted. Thecourt shall hear the matter de novo and has jurisdiction to try the issuesarising and to order the road or easement closed upon proper findings of factby the trier of fact.

No cause of action founded upon the invalidity of a proceeding taken inclosing a public road or an easement may be asserted except in an action orproceeding begun within 30 days after the day the order is adopted.

Upon the closing of a public road or an easement pursuant to thissection, all right, title, and interest in the right‑of‑way isvested in those persons owning lots or parcels of land adjacent to the road oreasement, and the title of each adjoining landowner, for the width of hisabutting land, extends to the center line of the public road or easement.However, the right, title or interest vested in an adjoining landowner by thisparagraph remains subject to any public utility use or facility located on,over, or under the road or easement immediately before its closing, until thelandowner or any successor thereto pays to the utility involved the reasonablecost of removing and relocating the facility. (1949, c. 1208, ss. 1‑3; 1957, c. 65, s. 11;1965, cc. 665, 801; 1971, c. 595; 1973, c. 507, s. 5; c. 822, s. 1; 1977, c.464, s. 34; 1995, c. 374, s. 1.)