The General Assembly finds and declares the following to be the public policy of the State of South Carolina:

1. (1) publicly-owned property may be incorporated or annexed by a municipality as provided by the state's statutory law; however, publicly-owned property is for the benefit of all citizens of the State and is not the exclusive territory of any one municipality; and

2. (2) incorporation or annexation of publicly-owned property does not confer or convey to a municipality control over the publicly-owned property that in any way:

   1. (a) interferes with the superior authority of the federal, state, or county government; or
   2. (b) prevents an area seeking to be incorporated from using the publicly- owned property to establish contiguity as provided in Section 5-1-30(A)(4).

HISTORY: 2005 Act No. 77, SECTION 1, eff July 1, 2005.