Senate committee backs bill letting counties, townships vacate streets in dissolved cities

The Senate Transportation Committee voted to recommend Senate Bill 2329, which would let an organized township or a county (when a township is unorganized) use the same legal procedure cities use to vacate streets and alleys after a city dissolves.

Senator Du Lee, who introduced the bill, told the committee the proposal responds to calls from township officials and county attorneys about small communities that have unincorporated or dissolved and left streets and alleys “unsupervised or untended.” “There really needs to be something done about that,” Lee said.

Larry Severson, identified in testimony as the executive director of the North Carolina Township Officers Association, told the committee that the problem shows up around the state where once-incorporated…