During their session to determine Hurricane Florence relief funding on Monday, October 15, 2018, the North Carolina General Assembly (NCGA) approved and Governor Roy Cooper signed into law, legislation which, among many efforts, enacts a moratorium on building permit, inspection, and certificate of occupancy fees for projects related to Hurricane Florence damage.
The full Senate Bill 3 (SB3), the 2018 Hurricane Florence Disaster Recovery Act, can be viewed in its entirety by CLICKING HERE, and the accompanying committee report detailing the disaster relief line item appropriations is available by CLICKING HERE. Governor Cooper’s Hurricane Florence Recovery Recommendations Report is available by CLICKING HERE.
In SB3, it states: Notwithstanding any other provision of law, for any single commercial or residential project, the Department of Insurance, counties, and cities shall not impose any fee associated with a permit, inspection, or certificate of occupancy required by law for construction, reconstruction, alteration, repair, movement to another site, removal, or demolition of a manufactured home, building, dwelling, or structure damaged as a direct result of Hurricane Florence. SECTION 5.16.(b) The moratorium provided in subsection (a) of this section applies in North Carolina counties designated under a major disaster declaration by the President of the United States under the Stafford Act (P.L. 93-288) as a result of Hurricane Florence. A person is allowed a refund of any fee assessed and collected that is subject to the moratorium imposed by this section. The Department of Insurance, counties, and cities shall post a notice of the availability of a refund on their Web sites. SECTION 5.16.(c) This section is effective when it becomes law and applies to applications for issuance of a permit dated on or after September 13, 2018. This section expires December 31, 2018.