21-295 - Form of petition; bond; summons of landowners not on petition.
§ 21-295. Form of petition; bond; summons of landowners not on petition.
Whenever a petition, signed by fifty-one percent or more of the owners ofland who own fifty-one percent or more of the land, within a proposeddrainage project, according to the county-land book or books or to the latestassessment lists of the county or counties in which such project is located,or by the heirs, guardians, conservators or executors of estates or by thosehaving color of title, or by those in adverse possession, or by the officersof corporations, whose lands will be affected by or assessed for the expenseof the proposed improvements, shall be filed in the office of the clerk ofthe circuit court of any county in which a part of the lands are located,setting forth that any specific body or district of land in the county oradjoining counties, described in such a way as to convey an intelligent ideaas to the location of such land, is subject to overflow, or too wet forcultivation, or in need of drainage, and the public benefit or utility or thepublic health, convenience or welfare, will be promoted by draining, ditchingor leveeing the same, or by changing or improving the natural watercourse orcourses; and setting forth therein, as far as practicable, the startingpoint, route and terminus and lateral tile or open branches, of the proposedimprovement, and there is filed therewith a bond for the amount or product often dollars multiplied by the square root of the estimated number of acreswithin the bounds of the proposed project, signed by two or more sureties orby some lawful and authorized surety company, to be approved by the clerk,and conditioned for the payment of all costs and expenses incurred in theproceedings in case the court does not grant the prayer of the petition, theclerk shall issue a summons, to be served on all the defendant landowners,including any railway company, who have not joined in the petition and whoselands are affected or included in the proposed drainage district, to showcause, if any there be, why the lands in the proposed drainage project shouldnot be drained or leveed.
(Code 1919, § 1738; 1920, p. 608; 1924, p. 707; 1926, p. 605; 1954, c. 642;1997, c. 801.)