CHAPTER 276 AN ACT TO AMEND, REVISE, AND CONSOLIDATE THE STATUTES THAT CONSTITUTE THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF CHARLOTTE. The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:
Section 128. That in order to equalize the assessments on real estate, for the purposes described, as elsewhere provided in this act, the board of aldermen shall, before the commencement of any such work or improvement, estimate the total cost of such improvement to be made throughout the entire length of such work or improvement, and shall then prorate the cost thereof on the real estate abutting thereon in proportion to the frontage on the street or portion of the street so improved, and charge to and assess upon each side of the street upon which said work is to be done its pro rata share of the entire cost of all such improvements as may be made under the provisions of this act: Provided, however, in order to avoid obstructing lot owners in subdividing and selling their property, by reason of the liens hereby created upon the same, such lot owners may subdivide their lots in such manner as they see fit, and shall file in the office of the city clerk and treasurer a plat of the subdivisions, making the lots fronting on the streets so paved or improved of any desired frontage, but not less than one hundred feet in depth; and the assessment made and the liens created by virtue of this act for street improvement shall thereafter affect and attach to such front lots only, not less than one hundred feet in depth ; and where in any such cases lands fronting on such improvements are so subdivided into lots, each of said lots fronting on such improvements shall be and remain chargeable with its ratable proportion of said assessments, and liens, according to its frontage. That the board of aldermen shall cause to be established a permanent grade on any such street, sidewalk, or public alley; shall cause said street, sidewalk, or public alley to be accurately surveyed, and a map to be made of the various lots and properties on such street, sidewalk, or alley, or portion thereof so proposed to be improved, showing the exact frontage of each lot, and also the subdivisions, if any; and the said map shall be filed with the city clerk and treasurer, to be subject to public inspection; and when the assessments and liens, as provided for in this act, shall have been made upon the various lots and properties on the streets, sidewalks, or alleys, the city clerk and treasurer, or other proper clerical city officer, shall write upon said map the amgunt assessed upon the same, and he shall keep a properly indexed record book showing such assessments and liens, and the date and amount of all payments made on any of said assessments and liens: Provided, that no section or district shall be ordered or declared a section or district for permanent street improvement under the provisions of this act until and unless one-third, at least, in frontage of the various lots or properties abutting on the streets or sidewalks of such district or section shall have been built up or improved for business or residential purposes: Provided further, that no assessment against any piece of property improved as in this act provided shall in any ase exceed the amount of special benefit to or enhancement in value of said property by reason of said improvements, or twenty per cent of the assessed taxable value thereof; and where permanent street improvements shall be made, the property bearing such assessments shall not be assessed again until after expiration of ten years from the date of the last preceding assessment: Provided Priv.49 further, that in case any street or part of a street laid out as a district for permanent improvement is of such unequal width as to render the plan of equalization of assessments, as above set out, unjust to any abutting property owner, then and in that case the board of aldermen is authorized to divide such district into subsections and to apply the rule of equalization of assessments prescribed herein to such subsections, instead of to the entire district or section; and the board of aldermen may make as many subsections as may be necessary to make a just distribution of the cost of permanent improvements made or to be made in such district. The cost of all such improvements for special benefits to property as estimated in the above manner shall be financed by the issue of bonds, and the levy of special tax to pay the same and the interest thereon, aS hereinafter provided.