SECTIONS 9801-9821 - California Statutes

PUBLIC RESOURCES CODE

SECTION 9801-9821

9801. For purposes of cooperating with landowners or any other
agency or for purposes of cooperating with the United States under
provisions of the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act
(Chapter 656, Public Law 566, 83rd Cong., 2nd Session), and all acts
amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto, lands which need not be
contiguous may be formed into an improvement district for
constructing, both in or for the improvement district, one or more of
the following:
(a) Flood prevention improvements, including structural and land
treatment measures.
(b) Improvements for the agricultural phases of conservation,
development, utilization, drainage disposal, and distribution of
water.
(c) Improvements for prevention or stabilization of soil erosion.

9802. As used in connection with improvement districts:
(a) "Improvement" includes operation, maintenance, change, and
acquisition of existing works, and the construction, operation, and
maintenance of new works.
(b) "Construction" includes, but is not limited to, the
preparation and execution of plans, maintenance and operation.
(c) "Real property" means land only.
(d) "Owner of real property" means "owner of land".
(e) "Improvement district" means a resource conservation district
improvement district formed pursuant to this chapter.
(f) "Land" means land within the improvement district or proposed
improvement district.

9803. The formation of an improvement district shall be proposed
and the petition therefor shall be signed by two-thirds or more in
number of the owners of real property in the proposed improvement
district.

9804. A petition for the formation of an improvement district shall
contain all of the following:
(a) Statement of the plans of the proposed improvement.
(b) Description of the land of the proposed improvement district.
(c) Names of the owners of all real property within the proposed
improvement district with their last known addresses.
(d) Description and assessed value of the real property owned in
the proposed improvement district by each owner, which shall be
according to the next preceding equalized assessment roll. District
owned real property in the proposed improvement district shall be
described whether or not it appears on the next preceding assessment
roll.
(e) Signatures of the petitioners.

9805. The petition, all proceedings in reference to it, the
improvement district, and the real property in it shall be designated
by a number.

9806. The petition may consist of any number of separate
instruments, which shall be duplicates except as to signatures.

9807. A petition to form an improvement district shall be filed
with the secretary of the district and may be inspected by all
persons interested.

9808. Upon receipt of a petition to form an improvement district
the directors shall cause a survey to be made of the proposed
improvements, if any.

9809. If the survey shows that the improvements are feasible, the
directors shall cause to be prepared the following:
(a) Plans and specifications of the improvements proposed to be
constructed when the petition proposes the construction of
improvements.
(b) An estimate of the cost of the proposed improvements, which
may include an amount not in excess of 10 percent of the aggregate
cost of the proposed improvements to create a reserve fund to be used
and applied as additional security for the payment of principal of
and interest on any warrants of the improvement district issued
against assessments levied for the payment of the cost of the
proposed improvements.
(c) Statement of the proposed assessment for the cost of the
proposed improvements apportioned to each parcel of real property in
the proposed improvement district as the parcels appear on the last
equalized assessment roll and to district owned real property in the
proposed improvement district whether or not it appears on the last
equalized assessment roll, which assessments shall be apportioned in
accordance with the assessed value of the real property, as such
value is shown on the next preceding equalized assessment roll.

9810. If there are any, the plans and specifications, estimate of
cost, and the statement of the proposed assessment shall be filed
with the secretary of the district and may be inspected by all
persons interested.

9811. After the filing of the formation petition, and if any, the
plans and specifications, the estimate of cost, and statement of the
proposed assessment, the directors shall give notice of a hearing
upon the petition, and if a special assessment is to be levied in the
improvement district pursuant to this chapter, the notice shall also
state that the hearing is called to determine whether or not the
special assessment should be levied.

9812. Notice of the hearing shall be given by all of the following:
(a) Posting a notice in three public places within the proposed
improvement district.
(b) Publication of the notice pursuant to Section 6066 of the
Government Code in the principal county of the district.
(c) Mailing a copy of the notice to the last known address of all
of the owners of real property in the proposed improvement district
to the addresses appearing in the petition.
The notices shall be posted and mailed not less than 20 days prior
to the date set for the hearing.

9813. At the hearing the directors shall hear any objections coming
before it to any of the following:
(a) The petition.
(b) The formation of the improvement district.
(c) The real property to be included within the improvement
district.
(d) The plans and specifications.
(e) The estimate of cost.
(f) The proposed assessment.
(g) The apportionment of the assessment.

9814. At the hearing the directors shall make any changes in
reference to the matters set forth in Section 9813 as they consider
proper. The directors may exclude any part of the real property
described in the petition from the proposed improvement district and
may include additional real property.

9815. If any additional real property is included in the proposed
improvement district, the hearing shall be continued and the owners
of the added real property given personal notice of not less than 20
days of the addition of the land to the improvement district.

9816. The directors may include in the plans and specifications
such terms and conditions as to the respective parcels of real
property in the improvement district with respect to tolls, charges,
assessments, or the conservation or use of soil and water or any
other matters as the directors deem necessary or proper.

9817. Regardless of any findings made by the directors if more than
one-third in number of the holders of title to the real property
within a proposed improvement district object at the hearing to its
formation or the levy of the proposed assessment, the directors shall
deny the petition, and no further proceedings shall be had on it.

9818. If at the hearing the directors find that it would not be for
the best interests of the district and the proposed improvement
district to form the improvement district the directors shall order
the proceedings dismissed without prejudice to their renewal.

9819. If the directors find that it would be for the best interests
of the district and the proposed improvement district to form the
improvement district, they shall make and enter in their minutes a
final order:
(a) Approving the petition.
(b) Forming the improvement district.
(c) Levying the assessment if any is provided for and if the
assessment is necessary.
(d) Apportioning the assessment, if levied, to the real property
in the improvement district according to assessed value as shown on
the next preceding equalized assessment roll.

9820. The order shall contain a description of the lands within the
improvement district.

9821. The secretary shall cause a certified copy of the order
creating the improvement district to be recorded in the office of the
county recorder in each county in which any land of the improvement
district is situated.