245.140. Plan of reclamation may be changed--procedure. - Missouri Statutes

Plan of reclamation may be changed--procedure.

245.140. 1. The board of supervisors for and in behalf of any leveedistrict organized under the provisions of sections 245.010 to 245.280, or theowners of land adjacent to such district, shall have the right to file apetition in the office of the clerk of the court organizing the districtpraying the court to amend its former decree incorporating the district, bycorrecting the names of landowners, by striking out any such names, by adding,striking out or correcting the descriptions of any lands within or alleged tobe within the boundary lines of any such district, or in any other manneramend its decree; said petition may ask permission of the court for said boardto amend or change the plan for reclamation, or to correct any errors,omissions or other mistakes that have been discovered in the plan forreclamation, or said petition may ask that the boundary lines of said districtbe extended so as to include lands not described by and included in thearticles of association filed and the decree of the court incorporating thedistrict. If such petition asks the court permission to change the plan forreclamation or that the boundary lines of such district be in any mannerchanged, it shall also ask the court to appoint three commissioners asprovided for under the provisions of section 245.110 to appraise the land thatshall be taken for rights-of-way or other works, or assess the benefits anddamages to any or all lands, railroad and other property already in thedistrict or that may be annexed to the district by the proposed amendments,and changes to the plan for reclamation or the proposed change in the boundarylines of said district.

2. After said petition shall have been filed, the court wherein saidpetition is filed, if in session, or the clerk thereof in vacation, shall fixthe date, not less than forty-five nor exceeding sixty days from the date offiling of said petition, on or before which objections, if any, shall be filedto said petition, and the clerk shall give notice of the filing of saidpetition and of the date on or before which objections, if any, to saidpetition, and the clerk shall give notice of the filing of said petition andof the date on or before which objections, if any, to said petition shall befiled by causing publication to be made once a week for four consecutive weeksin some newspaper published in each county in which are situate the land andother property affected by the proposed changes, amendments and correctionsmentioned in said petition, the first insertion to be made not more thanfourteen days after the date on which the petition was filed. Said noticeshall be substantially in the following form and it shall be deemed sufficientfor all purposes of sections 245.010 to 245.280:

NOTICE OF LEVEE HEARING To the owners and all personsinterested in the lands, corporate and other property in and adjacent to"......... levee district".

You, and each of you, are hereby notified that a petition has been filedin this office praying the circuit court of ......... County for permissionto (here insert the prayer of said petition with the lands mentioned thereinand the names of the owners thereof), and you, and each of you, may fileobjections to the prayer of said petition, on or before the ......... day of........., 20...., in this office, but not thereafter, if any there be, whythe prayer of said petition should not be granted.

...........................,

Clerk of circuit court of ......... County, Missouri.

3. Where lands or other property in different counties will be affectedby the proposed changes, amendments and corrections enumerated in the saidpetition, it shall not be necessary to include all the said lands or otherproperty in the notice published in the different counties, but only such ofsaid lands and other property as are situated in the respective counties. Anyowner of land or other property that will be affected by the proposed changes,amendments and corrections mentioned in the petition, may on or before thedate fixed and published as above provided, file objections in the court or ifin vacation thereof, in the office of the clerk of such court wherein the saidpetition is filed, to the granting of the prayer of the said petition;provided, that the court may in vacation or term time extend the time uponterms. The court shall hear said petition and all objections that may havebeen filed against said petition in a summary manner without unnecessarydelay, and enter its decree according to its findings.

4. The clerk of said court shall, within fifteen days after the grantingof such decree, transmit a certified copy of said decree and a copy of thepetition to the secretary of the board of supervisors, who shall transmit acopy of the same to each of the recorders of deeds of the counties having landin the district and to the secretary of state. Each such recorder shall fileand preserve the same in his office, and for such filing and preserving heshall receive a fee of one dollar.

5. If said decree of the court provides that the plan for reclamationmay be amended, changed or corrected or the boundary lines of the districtextended, the court shall appoint three commissioners, possessing the samequalifications as the commissioners appointed under the provisions of section245.110, to appraise property to be taken, assess benefits and damages andestimate the cost of improvements the same as is required of commissionersacting under the provisions of section 245.120. Said commissioners shall maketheir report in writing and file the same with the circuit clerk, after whichthe case shall be proceeded with in the same manner as is now provided for insections 245.010 to 245.280 for the organization of levee districts; provided,that if the petition be dismissed the district shall pay the cost, but if thepetition be sustained in whole or in part, the objectors shall pay the courtcosts. In case the benefits and damages have been assessed on the land andother property remaining in the district and the court finds the same will notbe altered by either the change in the boundary line or change in the plan forreclamation, the court shall not appoint commissioners to make assessments.

(RSMo 1939 § 12532, A.L. 1978 H.B. 1634)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 10942; 1919 § 4636

Effective 1-2-79

(1956) The election to abandon the condemnation proceedings as to one tract was not a change of the plan for reclamation as contemplated by this section. McCord v. Missouri Crooked River Backwater Levee District (Mo.), 295 S.W.2d 42.