Chapter 156

If, at the time of the filing of the petition, or at any time subsequent thereto, it shall be made to appear to the court by affidavit or otherwise that the names of the owners of the whole or any share of any tracts of land are unknown, and cannot after due diligence be ascertai…

The clerk shall, on the filing of petition and bond, appoint a disinterested and competent civil and drainage engineer and two resident freeholders of the county or counties in which the lands are located as a board of viewers to examine the lands described in the petition and ma…

Any proprietor, through or on whose land such canal or ditch may be cut or embankment raised, may put a fence or make paths across the same, provided the usefulness thereof be not impaired; and the owner of the canal, ditch, or dam, his heirs and assigns, shall at all times have …

The petitioners shall select some learned attorney or attorneys to represent them, who shall prosecute the drainage proceeding and advise with the petitioners and board of viewers, and shall agree upon the compensation for his professional services up to the time when the distric…

The clerk may make an estimate of the aggregate sum of money which shall appear to be necessary to pay all the expenses incident to the performance of the duties by the board of viewers, including the compensation of the drainage engineer and his necessary assistants, and also in…

The board of viewers shall proceed to examine the land described in the petition, and other land if necessary to locate properly such improvement or improvements as are petitioned for, along the route described in the petition, or any other route answering the same purpose if fou…

The clerk of the superior court shall consider this report. If the viewers report that the drainage is not practicable or that it will not benefit the public health or any public highway or be conducive to the general welfare of the community, and the court shall approve such fin…

If the petition is entertained by the court, notice shall be given by publication once a week for at least two consecutive weeks in some newspaper of general circulation within the county or counties, if one shall be published in such counties, and also by posting a written or pr…

At the date appointed for the hearing the court shall hear and determine any objections that may be offered to the report of the viewers. If it appear that there is any land within the proposed levee or drainage district that will not be affected by the leveeing or drainage there…

Any person owning lands within the drainage or levee district which he thinks will not be benefited by the improvement and should not be included in the district may appeal from the decision of the court to the superior court of such county, in termtime, by filing an appeal, acco…

If it shall be necessary to acquire a right-of-way or an outlet over and through lands not affected by the drainage, and the same cannot be acquired by purchase, then and in such event the power of eminent domain is hereby conferred, and the same may be condemned. The owners of t…

After the district is established the court shall refer the report of the engineer and viewers back to them to make a complete survey, plans, and specifications for the drains or levees or other improvements, and fix a time when the engineer and viewers shall complete and file th…

The engineer and viewers shall have power to employ such assistants as may be necessary to make a complete survey of the drainage district, and shall enter upon the ground and make a survey of the main drain or drains and all its laterals. The line of each ditch, drain, or levee …

The earth necessary for the erection of a dam may be taken from either side of it, or wherever else the commissioners may designate and allow. And such dam may be removed by the proprietor of the land, his heirs or assigns, to any other part of his lands, and he may adjoin any da…

It shall be the further duty of the engineer and viewers to assess the damages claimed by anyone that are justly right and due to him for land taken or for inconvenience imposed because of the construction of the improvement, or for any other legal damages sustained. Such damages…

The district shall be deemed to have acquired title for the purpose of easements or rights-of-way to those areas of land identified in the final report of the board of viewers and as shown on the map accompanying said report, at the time said final report is confirmed by the cler…

It shall be the further duty of the engineer and viewers to personally examine the land in the district and classify it with reference to the benefit it will receive from the construction of the levee, ditch, drain, or watercourse or other improvement. In the case of drainage, th…

In case the work is delayed by high water, sickness, or any other good cause, and the report is not completed at the time fixed by the court, the engineer and viewers shall appear before the court and state in writing the cause of such failure and ask for sufficient time in which…

When the final report is completed and filed it shall be examined by the court, and if it is found to be in due form and in accordance with the law it shall be accepted, and if not in due form it may be referred back to the engineer and viewers, with instructions to secure furthe…

At the date set for hearing any landowner may appear in person or by counsel and file his objection in writing to the report of the viewers; and it shall be the duty of the court to carefully review the report of the viewers and the objections filed thereto, and make such changes…

Any landowner, party petitioner, or the drainage district may, within 10 days after the entry of an order or judgment by the clerk upon the report of the board of viewers, appeal to the superior court in session time or in chambers. The procedures for taking appeal are as provide…

The compensation of the engineer, including his necessary assistants, rodmen, and laborers, and also the compensation of the viewers, shall be fixed by the clerk. In fixing such compensation, particularly of the drainage engineer, the clerk shall confer fully with the Department …

The engineer and viewers shall keep an accurate account and report to the court the name and number of days each person was employed on the survey and the kind of work he was doing, and any expenses that may have been incurred in going to and from the work, and the cost of any su…

The clerk of the superior court shall provide a suitable book, to be known as the "Drainage Record," in which he shall transcribe every petition, motion, order, report, judgment, or finding of the board in every drainage transaction that may come before it, in such a manner as to…

(a) Any municipality may participate in drainage district works or projects upon mutually agreeable terms relating to such matters as the construction, financing, maintenance and operation thereof. (b) Any municipality may contribute funds toward the construction, maintenance and…

After the drainage district has been declared established, as aforesaid, and the survey and plan therefor approved, the court shall appoint three persons, in the manner set forth in G.S. 156-81, who shall be designated as the board of drainage commissioners. Any vacancy thereafte…

The earth excavated from the canal or ditch shall be removed away or leveled as nearly as may be with the surface of the adjacent land, unless the commissioners shall otherwise specially allow. (R.C., c. 40, s. 7; Code, s. 1303; Rev., s. 3988; C.S., s. 5267.)

The name of such drainage district shall constitute a part of its corporate name; for illustration, the board of drainage commissioners of Mecklenburg Drainage District, No. 1. In the naming of a drainage district the clerk of the court, notwithstanding the name given in the peti…

(a) Method of Appointment. - The manner of appointment shall be as follows: (1) If the drainage district shall lie solely within one county, the clerk of superior court for such county shall appoint such commissioners. (2) If the said district shall lie in more than one county, t…

The appointing authority as determined by G.S. 156-81 shall appoint a treasurer for the drainage district for a term not to exceed 12 months. The treasurer so appointed may be a member of the board of commissioners of the district or some other person deemed competent, and shall …

All irregularities caused by failure of any officer whose duty it was to provide for the election of a member or members of board of drainage commissioners of any drainage district, or the failure of any candidate to make a deposit as may be required by law, shall not invalidate …

(a) The board of drainage commissioners shall proceed with the levying of assessments, issuance of bonds and construction of canals, water retardant structures and other improvements and acquisition of equipment as approved by the court in the adjudication upon the final report o…

Notwithstanding any other provision of law (including, where applicable, any special acts or local modification of general law), the General Assembly hereby appoints all sitting drainage district commissioners and drainage commission treasurers, as of the date of ratification of …

(a) All expenditures heretofore incurred, and all actions heretofore taken, by a drainage district for purposes authorized by this Chapter are hereby validated notwithstanding any defect in the selection of any or all of its commissioners or any other defect. (b) The provisions o…

The board of drainage commissioners shall appoint a competent drainage engineer of good repute as superintendent of construction. Such superintendent of construction shall furnish a copy of his monthly and final estimates to the Department of Environmental Quality, in addition to…

The board of drainage commissioners shall cause notice to be given of the letting of the contract. The notice shall be posted at the courthouse door in the county wherein the district was organized. Notice shall be posted no less than 15 days prior to the opening of the bids and …

The superintendent in charge of construction shall make monthly estimates of the amount of work done, and furnish one copy to the contractor and file the other with the secretary of the board of drainage commissioners; and the commissioners shall, within five days after the filin…

If any contractor to whom such work has been let shall fail to perform the same according to the terms specified in his contract, action may be had in behalf of the board of drainage commissioners against such contractor and his bond in the superior court for damages sustained by…

In the construction of the work the contractor shall have the right to enter upon the lands necessary for this purpose and the right to remove private or public bridges or fences and to cross private lands in going to or from the work. In case the right-of-way of the improvement …

Where any public ditch, drain or watercourse established under the provisions of this Subchapter crosses or, in the opinion of the board of viewers, should cross a public highway under the supervision of the Department of Transportation the actual cost of constructing the same ac…

Whenever the engineer and the viewers in charge shall make a survey for the purpose of locating a public levee or drainage district or changing a natural watercourse, and the same would cross the right-of-way of any railroad company, it shall be the duty of the owner in charge of…

The proprietor of any swamp or flatlands through which a canal or ditch passes shall not have a right to open or cut any drain within 30 feet thereof but by the consent of the owner. Such proprietor, however, and other persons may cut into such canal or ditch in the manner herein…

The clerk of the superior court shall have notice served upon the railroad company of the time and place of the meeting to hear and determine the final report of the engineer and viewers, and the railroad company shall have the right to file objections to the report and to appeal…

(a) Duty of Railroad. - After the contract is let and the actual construction is commenced, if the work is being done with a floating dredge, the superintendent in charge of construction shall notify the railroad company of the probable time at which the contractor will be ready …

Whenever any improvement constructed under this Subchapter is completed it shall be under the control and supervision of the board of drainage commissioners. It shall be the duty of the board to keep the levee, ditch, drain, or watercourse in good repair, and for this purpose the…

The owner of any land that has been assessed for the cost of the construction of any ditch, drain, or watercourse, as herein provided, shall have the right to use the ditch, drain, or watercourse as an outlet for lateral drains from such land; and if the land be of such elevation…

Maintenance assessments and contracts; engineering assistance, construction equipment, etc.; joint or consolidated maintenance operations; water-retardant structures; borrowing in anticipation of revenue. (a) The board of drainage commissioners may annually levy maintenance asses…

The board of commissioners may construct, renovate, improve, enlarge and extend the drainage systems and water-retardant structures and any equipment of the district, by complying with the following provisions: (1) The commissioners shall file with the clerk of the superior court…

The boundaries of a drainage district may be extended upon compliance with the requirements and procedures as follows: (1) The request for extension shall be made by the board of commissioners of the district, in the form of a petition in the name of the drainage district, to the…

Coordination of proceedings under §