The following definitions apply in this Chapter:

(1) Agency. – Any agency, bureau, commission, department, or instrumentality.

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(2) Air pollution control facility. – Any structure, equipment, or other facility for, including any increment in the cost of any structure, equipment, or facility attributable to, the purpose of treating, neutralizing, or reducing gaseous industrial waste and other air pollutants, including recovery, treatment, neutralizing, or stabilizing plants and equipment and their appurtenances, which have been certified by the government entity having jurisdiction to be in furtherance of the purpose of abating or controlling atmospheric pollutants or contaminants.

(3) Bonds. – Revenue bonds of an authority issued under the provisions of this Chapter.

(3a) Code. – The Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.

(4) Cost. – This term as applied to any project embraces all capital costs of the project, including all of the following:

a. The cost of construction.

b. The cost of acquisition of all property, including rights in land and other property, real and personal and improved and unimproved.

c. The cost of demolishing, removing or relocating any buildings or structures on lands so acquired, including the cost of acquiring any lands to which those buildings or structures may be moved or relocated.

d. The cost of all machinery and equipment, installation, start-up expenses, financing charges, and interest prior to, during and for a period not exceeding one year after completion of construction.

e. The cost of engineering and architectural surveys, plans and specifications.

f. The cost of consultants’ and legal services, other expenses necessary or incident to determining the feasibility or practicability of the project, administrative and other expenses necessary or incident to the acquisition or construction of the project and the financing of the acquisition and construction of the project.

(5) Repealed by Session Laws 2000, c. 179, s. 3, effective August 1, 2000.

(6) Financing agreement. – A written instrument establishing the rights and responsibilities of the authority, operator, and obligor with respect to a project financed by the issuance of bonds. A financing agreement may be in the nature of a lease, a lease and leaseback, a sale and leaseback, a lease purchase, an installment sale and purchase agreement, a conditional sales agreement, a secured or unsecured loan agreement or other similar contract and may involve property in addition to the property financed with the bonds.

(6a) Governing body. – The board, commission, council, or other body in which the general legislative powers of any county or other political subdivision are vested.

(6b) Industrial project. – Any industrial or manufacturing factory, mill, assembly plant, or fabricating plant; freight terminal; industrial research, development, or laboratory facility; industrial processing facility; facility used in the manufacturing or production of tangible personal property; facility used in the creation or production of intangible property as described in section 197(d)(1)(C)(iii) of the Code; or distribution facility for industrial or manufactured products.

(7) Obligor. – Any person, which may include the operator, who is obligated under a financing agreement or guaranty agreement or other contract or agreement to make payments to, or for the benefit of, the holders of bonds of the authority. Any requirement of an obligor may be satisfied by any one or more persons who are defined collectively by this Chapter as the obligor.

(8) Operator. – The person entitled to the use or occupancy of a project.

(9) Political subdivision. – Any county, city, town, other unit of local government or any other governmental corporation, authority, or instrumentality of the State now or hereafter existing.

(10) Pollution or pollutants. – Any noxious or deleterious substances in any air or waters of or adjacent to the State of North Carolina or affecting the physical, chemical or biological properties of any air or waters of or adjacent to the State of North Carolina in a manner and to an extent which renders or is likely to render the air or waters harmful or inimical to the public health, safety or welfare, or to animal, bird or aquatic life, or to the use of such air or waters for domestic, industrial or agricultural purposes or recreation.

(10a) Pollution control project. – Any air pollution control facility, water pollution control facility, or solid waste disposal facility if the facility is in connection with either an industrial project or a public utility plant.

(11) Project. – Any land or equipment or one or more buildings or other structures, whether or not on the same site or sites, and any rehabilitation, improvement, renovation or enlargement of, or any addition to, any building or structure for use as or in connection with (i) any industrial project, (ii) any pollution control project for industry or for public utilities, (iii) any special purpose project, or (iv) any combination of projects mentioned in clauses (i) through (iii) of this subdivision. Any project may include all appurtenances and incidental facilities such as land, headquarters or office facilities, warehouses, distribution centers, access roads, sidewalks, utilities, railway sidings, trucking and similar facilities, parking facilities, landing strips and other facilities for aircraft, waterways, docks, wharves and other improvements necessary or convenient for the construction, maintenance and operation of any building or structure, or addition to it.

(12) Revenues. – With respect to any project, the rents, fees, charges, payments, proceeds and other income or profit derived from the project or from the financing agreement or security document in connection with the project.

(13) Security document. – A written instrument establishing the rights and responsibilities of the authority and the holders of bonds issued to finance a project, which may provide for, or be in the form of an agreement with, a trustee for the benefit of the bondholders. A security document may contain an assignment, pledge, mortgage or other encumbrance of all or part of the authority’s interest in, or right to receive revenues with respect to, a project and any other property provided by the operator or other obligor under a financing agreement and may bear any appropriate title. A financing agreement and a security document may be combined as one instrument.

(14) Solid waste. – Solid waste materials resulting from any industrial or manufacturing activities or from any pollution control facility.

(15) Solid waste disposal facility. – A facility for the purpose of treating, burning, compacting, composting, storing or disposing of solid waste.

(15a) Special purpose project. – Any structure, equipment, or other facility for any one or more of the following purposes:

a. Water systems or facilities, including all plants, works, instrumentalities, and properties used or useful in obtaining, conserving, treating, and distributing water for domestic or industrial use, irrigation, sanitation, fire protection, or any other public or private use.

b. Sewage disposal systems or facilities, including all plants, works, instrumentalities, and properties used or useful in the collection, treatment, purification, or disposal of sewage, other than facilities constituting a water pollution control facility.

c. Public transportation systems, facilities, or equipment, including bus, truck, ferry, and railroad terminals, depots, trackages, vehicles, and ferries, and mass transit systems.

d. Public parking lots, areas, garages, and other public vehicular parking structures and facilities.

e. Public auditoriums, gymnasiums, stadiums, and convention centers.

f. Recreational facilities, including museums.

g. Land, equipment, and facilities for the disposal, treatment, or recycling of (i) solid or other waste that are described in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 159I-8 or (ii) solid, forestry, agricultural, or other waste, including any residual material which is the by-product or excess raw material remaining after the completion of any commercial, consumer, governmental, agricultural, or industrial production process. Facilities for the handling and transport of products resulting from treatment and recycling are included within this purpose.

h. Facilities for the provision of rehabilitation services, education, training, and employment opportunities for persons with disabilities and the disadvantaged. The term does not include a retail facility, however, unless the proposed operator of the facility certifies that at least seventy-five percent (75%) of its employees will be disadvantaged or disabled persons and at least seventy-five percent (75%) of its inventory will be composed of used, donated items and items manufactured by disadvantaged or disabled persons.

i. Orphanages and similar housing facilities for children or disadvantaged or disabled persons.

j. Facilities for the provision of material salvage and recycling services, the proceeds of which are used to provide for low, moderate, or affordable housing.

k. Research facilities owned or operated by a nonprofit corporation incorporated by two or more accredited universities whose main campuses are located in North Carolina or by the Chancellor, President, or similar official of such universities.

l. Facilities for housing the international headquarters of a nonprofit scholarly society that is a member of the Scholarly Societies Project.

m. Facilities that qualify as recovery zone property in connection with the issuance of recovery zone facility bonds pursuant to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Act of 2009.

(16) Water pollution control facility. – Any structure, equipment or other facility for, including any increment in the cost of any structure, equipment or facility attributable to, the purpose of treating, neutralizing or reducing liquid industrial waste and other water pollution, including collecting, treating, neutralizing, stabilizing, cooling, segregating, holding, recycling, or disposing of liquid industrial waste and other water pollution, including necessary collector, interceptor, and outfall lines and pumping stations, which have been certified by the agency exercising jurisdiction to be in furtherance of the purpose of abating or controlling water pollution. (1975, c. 800, s. 1; 1977, 2nd Sess., c. 1197; 1979, c. 109, s. 1; 1995 (Reg. Sess., 1996), c. 575, ss. 4, 5; 2000-179, s. 3; 2005-238, s. 10; 2007-128, s. 1; 2009-140, s. 6; 2013-135, s. 1.)