On Saturday, July 10, just after 4:30 a.m., the North Carolina General Assembly passed House Bill 683 (“HB 683”) which extends the tolling period for development approvals to December 31, 2011. The original tolling period set forth in the Permit Extension Act of 2009 was set to expire on December 31, 2010. The bill was heavily lobbied by both the development community and local government associations. Governor Perdue is expected to sign the new legislation which will make it effective immediately.
In short, the Permit Extension Act of 2009 suspended the expiration of development approvals that were current and valid at any point during the three-year period running from January 1, 2008 through December 31, 2010. In effect, it stopped the clock from running on development approvals during this three-year period. HB 683 extended this tolling period to December 31, 2011 thereby making the tolling period a total of four years. For example, if a permit holder obtained a development approval on March 1, 2008 that requires construction to begin within 12 months, that 12 month period would not begin to run until January 1, 2012. If, however, the development approval was obtained on March 1, 2007, the clock would stop running on January 1, 2008 and would resume on January 1, 2012. The developer would then have 3 months remaining on his development approval to begin construction.
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