NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1963 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 927

SENATE BILL 605

 

 

AN ACT ENABLING THE CITY OF GOLDSBORO AND THE COUNTY OF WAYNE TO JOINTLY ESTABLISH AN AIRPORT AND PROVIDING FOR THE MAINTENANCE OF A JOINT AIRPORT BY SAID CITY AND COUNTY.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

 

Section 1. Airport or landing field, for the purposes of this and the Sections following, is defined as any plot of land or water formally set aside, and designated as a place where aircraft may land or take off.

Sec. 2. The governing bodies of the City of Goldsboro, and of the County of Wayne are hereby authorized to jointly acquire, establish, construct, own, control, lease, equip, improve, maintain, operate, and regulate airports or landing fields for the use of airplanes and other aircraft within the limits of said County, and may use for such purpose or purposes any properties suitable therefor that are now or may at any time hereafter be jointly owned or controlled by said City and County.

Sec. 3. Any lands acquired, owned, controlled, or occupied by said City and County for the purposes enumerated in Section 2 hereof shall and are hereby declared to be acquired, owned, controlled and occupied for public purpose, and said City and County shall have the right to acquire property for such purpose or purposes under the power of eminent domain as and for a public purpose.

Sec. 4. Private property needed by the said City and County for an airport or landing field may be acquired by gift or devise or shall be acquired by purchase if said City and County are able to agree with the owners on the terms thereof, and otherwise by condemnation, in the manner provided by law under which the said City and County are authorized to acquire real property for public purposes, other than street purposes, or if there be no such law, in the manner provided for and subject to the provisions of the condemnation law. The purchase price, or award, for property acquired for an airport or landing field may be paid for by appropriation of monies available therefor, or by the application of any funds derived by said City or by said County from the sale of any lands now or heretofore or hereafter owned for airport or landing field purposes or other purposes, or wholly or partly from the proceeds of the sale of bonds of said City or of said County as the governing bodies of such City and County shall determine.

Sec. 5. The power to acquire lands by condemnation herein granted to the said City and County for the purpose of such airport or landing field shall embrace the power to acquire by condemnation any dwelling, yard, orchard, garden, kitchen, burial ground, graveyard or cemetery located or situate upon the lands found necessary to be acquired for such purpose; and in the event there are graves located upon such lands which may be necessary to be acquired by condemnation, it shall be lawful for said City and County, after thirty days' notice to the surviving husband or wife, or next of kin of the deceased buried therein, or the person in control of such graves, if any are known, and if not known, then after publishing a notice once a week for four (4) weeks in a newspaper published in Wayne County, to open any such graves, and to take therefrom any dead body, or part thereof buried therein, and anything interred therewith, and to remove and reinter the same in some other cemetery or suitable place in the same county to be selected by the next of kin, or the welfare officer of the County or by the Clerk of the Superior Court of said County in the order named. Due care shall be taken to do said work in a proper and decent manner, and, if necessary, to furnish suitable coffins or boxes for reinterring said remains. Due care shall also be taken to remove all tombstones and other markers from said graves, and to protect and replace all such tombstones or other markers so as to leave the new grave in as good condition as the former one. All of said work shall be done under the supervision and direction of the welfare officer of the County, if one, or his representatives, but if there is no welfare officer, then under the supervision and direction of the Clerk of the Superior Court of said County, or his representatives. All the expense connected with said work, including the actual expense of one of "next of kin" in attending to same, if one does attend, shall be borne by the said City and County doing or causing same to be done.

Sec. 6. The governing bodies of said City and County and each of them are hereby authorized to appropriate and use from the net proceeds derived by the said City or County from the operation of any public utility, or from funds derived from any source other than ad valorem taxes, sums sufficient to carry out the provisions of this Act as to the establishment and maintenance of any airport in such proportion and upon such equal basis as may be determined upon by a joint board to be appointed by the governing bodies of the said City and County; provided nothing herein shall be construed to permit the governing bodies of said City or County to issue bonds under the provisions of this Act without a vote of the people.

Sec. 7. The joint board to be appointed by the governing bodies of the said City and County shall be appointed as follows:

Said City shall be entitled to have three (3) representatives on said board and the representatives shall be appointed biennially by a majority of the governing body of the said City, at the first regular meeting in January. Said representatives shall hold office from their appointment until their successors are appointed and qualified and until the first regular meeting of the governing body in the second January thereafter, when successors shall be appointed.

Said County shall be entitled to have three (3) representatives on said board and the representatives shall be appointed biennially by a majority of the board of county commissioners of said County at the first regular meeting in January. Said representatives shall hold office from their appointment until their successors are appointed and qualified and until the first regular meeting of the board of county commissioners in the second January thereafter, when successors shall be appointed. The said board so appointed by the governing bodies of the City and County shall be known as the "Goldsboro-Wayne Airport Authority". Upon the occurrence of any vacancy on said board, said vacancy shall be filled within sixty (60) days after notice thereof by a majority of the governing body of the City or County which has a vacancy within its representation. Within thirty (30) days after the ratification of this Act, the governing body of each said municipality and County shall appoint its representatives on said board to hold office until successors shall be appointed in the manner hereinbefore set forth, provided, however, that the representatives first so appointed by said City and County shall hold office from appointment until the second January thereafter, at which time successors shall be appointed in the manner hereinbefore set forth.

Sec. 8. The board, appointed as herein provided by the governing bodies of said City and County, shall act in an administrative capacity and it is hereby authorized and empowered:

(a)       To establish, construct, control, lease, maintain, improve, operate and regulate joint airports and landing fields established under the provisions of this Act; to have complete authority over any airport or landing field jointly acquired, established, or constructed by said City and County represented on said board.

(b) (1) To adopt, repeal, amend, readopt rules, regulations, laws and ordinances not inconsistent with this Act, for its own government, management and operation; and

(2)       To adopt, repeal, amend and readopt rules, regulations and ordinances with respect to traffic on and use of streets, alleys, driveways, roadways, parking areas, crosswalks and safety areas (not included in the public road system of the State of North Carolina) located within the territorial limits of the lands comprising the Goldsboro-Wayne Airport, including by way of illustration but not in limitation of the authority herein granted, the establishment of routes of traffic, the regulation of speed, the location of parking areas, the regulation and prohibition of parking and standing in designated areas and on said streets, driveways, alleys and roadways, the prohibition of obstruction thereof, the prohibition of vehicles and pedestrians on the aprons, ramps, taxiways, runways and other designated parts of the Airport.

(3)       To adopt, repeal, amend and readopt rules, regulations, and ordinances with respect to the use of the Airport and its facilities by the public, including by way of illustration but not in limitation of the authority granted, the Terminal Building, the ramps, aprons, hangars, taxiways, runways, water plants and shops, and to prohibit the use of, occupation of, or trespass upon any part thereof.

(c)       To lease (without the joinder in the lease agreements of the owning municipalities, to wit, the County of Wayne and the City of Goldsboro) for a term not to exceed fifteen (15) years, and for purposes not inconsistent with the grants and agreements under which the said Airport is held by said owning municipalities, real or personal property under the supervision of or administered by the said Authority.

(d)       To contract with persons, firms or corporations for terms not to exceed fifteen (15) years, for the operation of airline-scheduled passenger and freight flights, non-scheduled flights, and any other airplane activities, not inconsistent with said grant agreements under which the airport property is held by the owning municipal corporations, and to charge and collect reasonable and adequate fees, charges and rents for the use of such property or for services rendered in the operation thereof.

(e)       To operate, own, control, regulate, lease or grant to others the right to operate any airport premises, restaurants, apartments, hotels, motels, tracks, motion picture shows, cafes, soda fountains, or other businesses, amusements or concessions for a term not exceeding fifteen (15) years, as may appear to said Authority advantageous or conducive to the development of said Airport.

(f)        To erect and construct buildings, hangars, shops and other improvements and facilities, not inconsistent with or in violation of the agreements applicable to and the grants under which the real property of the Airport is held; to lease the same for a term or terms not to exceed fifteen (15) years, to borrow money for use in making or paying for such improvements and facilities, secured by and on the credit only of the lease agreements in respect thereto, to pledge and assign such leases and lease agreements as security for loans herein authorized.

(g)       To expend funds appropriated from time to time by said City and County, jointly or severally, for joint airport purposes, and to appropriate and expend for airport purposes funds received by it from fees, charges, rents and dues ariving out of the operation of said Airport, the facilities, improvements and concessions located thereat or operated thereon.

(h)       To enter into contracts and to pledge the credit of the said Airport Authority to the extent herein authorized; provided, however, that neither said Airport Authority nor the individual members thereof shall have authority to pledge the credit of or contract for the City of Goldsboro or the County of Wayne.

(i)        To contract and deal with the Federal Aviation Authority of the United States Government and any other representative or agency of said government relating to the grading, constructing, equipping, improving, maintaining and operation of airports and landing fields acquired under the authority of this Act.

Sec. 9. A majority of the Goldsboro-Wayne Airport Authority members shall control its decisions. Each member of the Authority, including the chairman, shall have one vote. The Authority shall elect annually in April, from among its members, a chairman, a vice chairman, a secretary and treasurer. In the absence of rules of the Authority in respect thereof, the Authority shall meet at such places and times as the chairman shall designate. Each member of said Authority shall take an oath of office to faithfully perform his duties. All members of said Authority shall serve without compensation.

Sec. 10. The Goldsboro-Wayne Airport Authority shall in no case be liable for damages for injuries to persons or property caused by or growing out of fueling, refueling or servicing any airplane at said Airport, or from falling, exploding and burning airplanes. Members of said Authority shall not be personally liable in any manner for their acts as members of the Authority, except for misfeasance or malfeasance.

Sec. 11. The Authority shall operate under a budget on a fiscal year basis from July 1 to June 30, and shall make its requests for appropriations from the City of Goldsboro and the County of Wayne in the same manner as that provided under the Fiscal Control Act, and shall maintain complete and adequate records of all receipts and disbursements to be audited and reported thereon at least annually to the City of Goldsboro and County of Wayne as required by the aforesaid Fiscal Control Act. The treasurer shall furnish bond in some surety company authorized to do business in North Carolina, in the amount to be fixed by the Wayne County Board of Commissioners and the Board of Aldermen of the City of Goldsboro.

Sec. 12. It is hereby declared to be the policy of the State of North Carolina to promote, encourage and develop air transportation, service and facilities in connection with the commerce of the United States and to foster and preserve air transportation; and the area including the County of Wayne and the City of Goldsboro is hereby declared to be an area which should be developed in connection with the interior of the State of North Carolina and other states and it is hereby declared to be necessary and desirable and in the public interest of the entire State that there shall be established air transportation facilities in such area in accordance with the provisions of the Acts of Congress and the laws of this State. The joint Authority established pursuant to the provisions of this Act shall be regarded as performing an essential governmental function in undertaking the construction, maintenance and operation of the facilities herein provided for and in carrying out the provisions of this Act, and shall be required to pay no taxes or assessments upon any of the property acquired or used by it for such purposes. Except as herein specifically otherwise provided, the provisions of Chapter 63 of the General Statutes of North Carolina shall be applicable to the joint Authority herein established.

Sec. 13. All rules, regulations and ordinances adopted pursuant to the authority of this Act shall be recorded in the proceedings of the Goldsboro-Wayne Airport Authority and a true copy of all such rules, regulations and ordinances, certified under the hand of the secretary and the seal of the Authority, shall be filed with the Board of County Commissioners of Wayne County and the Board of Aldermen of the City of Goldsboro.

The Goldsboro-Wayne Airport Authority shall cause to be posted at appropriate places on the Goldsboro-Wayne Airport, notice to the public of applicable rules, regulations and ordinances pertaining to the Goldsboro-Wayne Airport.

Any person violating any rule, regulation or ordinance adopted pursuant to Section 8 (b) (2) and (b) (3) shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be punishable by a fine not exceeding fifty dollars ($50.00) or imprisonment not exceeding thirty (30) days.

Sec. 14. This Act shall apply only to the City of Goldsboro and the County of Wayne.

Sec. 15. If any part or parts of this Act shall be held to be unconstitutional, such unconstitutionality shall not affect the validity of the remaining parts of this Act. The General Assembly expressly declares that it would have passed the remaining parts of this Act, if it had known that such part or parts thereof would be declared unconstitutional.

Sec. 16. This Act shall take effect from and after its ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 14th day of June, 1963.