S.C. Code Ann. § 27-16-90 – State may convey Existing Reservation to United States; Expanded Reservation; Expansion Zones; improvements in Expansion Zones; eminent domain; taxes; easements

(A) The State, after obtaining any necessary judicial approval, may convey the Existing Reservation to the United States of America.
(B) An Expanded Reservation shall be created in the manner prescribed by the federal implementing legislation and the Settlement Agreement. This Expanded Reservation must be joined with the Existing Reservation to form the new tribal Reservation.
1. (1)
  1. (a) The total area of the Reservation is limited to three thousand acres, including the Existing Reservation, but the Tribe may exclude from this limit up to six hundred acres of additional land if the land is:
    1. (i) within rights-of-way for public roads or public utilities rendered unusable for development by the easement or right-of-way;
    2. (ii) within the one hundred-year flood plain of the Catawba River as defined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or its successor;
    3. (iii) nondevelopable wetland defined or restricted by law or regulation so that buildings, structures, and other improvements are prohibited;
    4. (iv) park or recreational land accessible to the public and dedicated permanently to public use.
  2. (b) After completion of a comprehensive development plan the Tribe may seek to have the permissible area of the Expanded Reservation enlarged to a maximum of three thousand, six hundred acres, plus up to six hundred acres of land as described in subitem (a). Expansion must be approved first, however, by the Secretary and then by ordinance of the county council governing the area where the additional lands are to be acquired and by a law or joint resolution enacted by the General Assembly and signed by the Governor of South Carolina.
2. (2) Before placing a noncontiguous tract in Reservation status, the Tribe, in consultation with the Secretary, shall submit to the county council in a county where it proposes to purchase noncontiguous tracts for Reservation status a Noncontiguous Development Plan Application. As used in this item 'application' is as described in the Settlement Agreement.
3. (3) The Tribe shall present its application to the county council of each county in which the Secretary proposes to purchase noncontiguous tracts to be placed in Reservation status. The county council shall make findings on the extent to which the application has met the criteria set forth in the Settlement Agreement and recommend to the Governor whether or not the application should be approved. After receiving the county council's recommendation, the Tribe may modify its application and resubmit it to the county council or present it to the Governor for approval. Giving due deference to the recommendation of the county council, the Governor shall review the application and decide whether to approve or disapprove it on the basis of the criteria set forth in the Settlement Agreement. Neither the county council's approval nor the Governor's approval may be withheld unreasonably. The Governor's final action must be accompanied by a written statement of reasons and is reviewable under the laws of the State.
4. (4) Upon approval by the Governor of the Tribe's Application, the Secretary, in consultation with the Tribe, may proceed to place noncontiguous tracts in Reservation status in accordance with the application, this chapter, and the terms of the Settlement Agreement.
(C) The Secretary and the Tribe shall endeavor at the outset to acquire contiguous tracts for the expanded Reservation in the area referred to in the Settlement Agreement as the "Primary Expansion Zone". The Primary Expansion Zone lies within the area bounded by S. C. Highway No. 5 on the south running northwesterly to its intersection with Springdale Road on the west and northeasterly to the Catawba River along Sturgis Road; east along the Catawba River to its confluence with Sugar Creek; north along Sugar Creek to its intersection with S. C. Highway No. S-29-41, Doby Bridge Road; with S. C. Highway S-29-41 to its intersection with U.S. Highway No. 521; with U.S. Highway No. 521 in a southerly direction to its intersection with S. C. Highway No. S-29-55, Van Wyck Road, on the east; with S. C. Highway No. S-29-55 to its intersection with Twelve Mile Creek on the south; and with Twelve Mile Creek to S. C. Highway No. 5 on the south. This area is known as the "Catawba Reservation Primary Expansion Zone".
(D) The Secretary, in consultation with the Tribe, may elect to purchase contiguous tracts in an alternative area described in the Settlement Agreement as the Secondary Expansion Zone, under the conditions provided in subsections (B)(2) and (3). The Secondary Expansion Zone consists of the area bounded by Sugar Creek on the west; the Catawba River on the south extending to the Norfolk Southern Railway trestle on the west; northerly with the railroad right-of-way to its intersection with S.C. S-46-329, Brickyard Road; east to S.C. S-46-41, Doby Bridge Road; easterly along S.C. S-46-41 to its intersection with Sugar Creek. This area is known as the "Catawba Reservation Secondary Expansion Zone".
(E) The Primary and Secondary Expansion Zones in subsections (C) and (D) are the preferred and only approved zones for expansion of the Reservation. However, after completing a comprehensive plan of development, the Tribe may propose different or additional expansion zones. The zone first must be approved by the Secretary, then by ordinance of the county council where the zone is located, and by law or joint resolution enacted by the General Assembly of South Carolina and signed by the Governor. The combined area of all land acquisitions, including land in specially approved zones, may not exceed the limits imposed by this section.
(F) Before the Tribe's comprehensive planning process, the South Carolina Department of Highways and Public Transportation shall consult with the Tribe about planned and proposed major highways within the Primary and Secondary Expansion Zones in the manner described in the Settlement Agreement.
(G) Before the Tribe's comprehensive planning process, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control shall consult with the Tribe about the location of future sewage treatment facilities that may serve the Primary and Secondary Expansion Zones in the manner described in the Settlement Agreement. The Tribe is responsible for the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of its own sewage collection system and for the cost of constructing an extension line and tap to the transmission line. The Tribe also is subject to fees for use of the treatment system and transmission line and subject to all regulations imposed on users of the system. The Department of Health and Environmental Control shall endeavor to ensure that the fees, charges, and rules are the same as those applied to municipal users of the system. If the Tribe is required to construct an extension line to connect with a transmission line, the Tribe may charge non-Reservation users along the extension line reasonable tap and user fees.
(H) Except as provided in this subsection, the power of eminent domain must not be used by a governmental authority in acquiring parcels of land for the benefit of the Tribe, whether or not the parcels are to be part of the Reservation. All purchases may be made only from willing sellers by voluntary conveyances, except if the ostensible owner agrees to the sale, the Secretary may use condemnation proceedings to perfect or clear title and to acquire any interests of putative defendants whose addresses are unknown or the interests of unborn heirs or persons subject to mental disability. For South Carolina income tax purposes, the conveyance must be treated in the manner provided by Internal Revenue Code Section 1033 if the federal implementing legislation provides for that treatment under federal law. Filing and recording fees, all documentary tax stamps, and other fees incident to the conveyance of real estate are payable in connection with the purchases regardless of whether the property is purchased by the Tribe or by the United States in trust for the Tribe. Real property taxes levied for the year of closing must be prorated and paid at closing, or if the amount of property taxes to be due then cannot be calculated, property taxes must be estimated and escrowed at closing.
(I) The purchase of land specially assessed as agricultural use property by York or Lancaster County shall not result in a rollback of property taxes if the property is placed by the Tribe in Reservation status within one year of the date of purchase. If specially assessed land is acquired and not made part of the Reservation within one year, deferred or rollback taxes are due and payable without interest to the county treasurer.
(J) The acquisition of lands for the expanded Reservation may not extinguish easements or rights-of-way then encumbering the lands unless the Secretary or the Tribe enters into a written agreement with the owners terminating the easements or rights-of-way. The Secretary, with the approval of the Tribe, has the power to grant or convey easements and rights-of-way for public roads, public utilities, and other public purposes over the Reservation. Unless the Tribe and the State agree upon a valuation formula for pricing easements over the Reservation, the Secretary is subject to proceedings for condemnation and eminent domain to acquire easements and rights-of-way for public purposes through the Reservation under the laws of South Carolina in circumstances where no other reasonable access is available. With the approval of the Tribe, the Secretary also may grant easements or rights-of-way over the Reservation for private purposes, and implied easements of necessity apply to all lands acquired by the Tribe, unless expressly excluded by the parties.
(K) Only land made part of the Reservation is governed by the special jurisdictional provisions set forth in this chapter and in the federal implementing legislation.