GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2015

SESSION LAW 2015-60

SENATE BILL 139

AN ACT to amend the charter of the town of sylva to authorize the town to adopt and enforce ordinances relating to parking.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  The Charter of the Town of Sylva, being Chapter 72 of the 1899 Private Laws, as amended by Chapter 47 of the 1905 Private Laws, Chapter 131 of the 1913 Private Laws, Chapter 27 of the 1957 Session Laws, Chapter 31 of the 1961 Session Laws, Chapter 318 of the 1973 Session Laws, and S.L. 2000‑30, is amended by adding a new section to read as follows:

"Sec. 30. (a) The board of commissioners may provide by ordinance that each hour a vehicle remains illegally parked in an on‑street parking space is a separate offense, and the violator may be given a ticket for each offense.

(b) The board of commissioners may provide by ordinance that any vehicle that has been towed for a parking violation is to be held until the towing fee and penalties related to all outstanding parking tickets and parking penalties owed to the town are paid in full, or a bond is posted in the amount of the towing fee and all outstanding parking tickets and parking penalties. Payment of the towing fee and all outstanding parking tickets and parking penalties shall not constitute a waiver of a person's right to contest the towing or the outstanding parking tickets and parking penalties.

(c) The board of commissioners may provide by ordinance for the use of wheel locks on a vehicle parked in a public vehicular area for which there is one or more outstanding, unpaid, and overdue parking tickets for a period of 90 days. The ordinance shall provide for notice or warning to be affixed to the vehicle, immobilization, towing, impoundment, appeal, an immobilization fee not to exceed fifty dollars ($50.00), and charges for towing and storage. The town shall not be responsible for any damage to an immobilized vehicle parked in a public vehicular area that results from unauthorized attempts to free or move that vehicle."

SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 10^th day of June, 2015.

                                                                    s/  Daniel J. Forest

                                                                         President of the Senate

                                                                    s/  Tim Moore

                                                                         Speaker of the House of Representatives