By resolution each board of supervisors to which a petition is presented shall fix a time for a hearing, which shall be within 15 days after final publication of notice.
Formation of DistrictsHearing
Section § 15731
This law requires that when a petition is presented to a board of supervisors, they must decide on a date for a hearing. This hearing should occur within 15 days after the notice has been publicly announced for the last time.
board of supervisors petition hearing date
Section § 15732
After receiving a petition, the board of supervisors must publish it and announce when and where it will be discussed, all within 10 days.
Within 10 days after a petition is presented to it, the board of supervisors shall publish a copy of the petition, and a notice that the petition will be heard by the board at the time and place designated by the resolution.
board of supervisors petition publication hearing announcement
Section § 15733
This law section allows a hearing to be postponed multiple times if needed, but the total time for these delays cannot be more than two weeks. It's designed to help ensure that all the necessary facts can be determined.
The hearing may be adjourned from time to time for the determination of facts, not exceeding two weeks in all.
hearing adjournment postponement duration fact determination
Section § 15734
If the petition has enough valid signatures, any mistakes in its content, title, or the notice form won't invalidate the process.
If the signatures attached to the petition are sufficient, no defect in the contents of the petition or in the title to or form of the notice shall vitiate any proceedings thereon.
petition signatures petition validity petition defects
Section § 15735
This law section explains how a public notice should be published when there is business regarding unincorporated territories. If a local newspaper exists in that area, the notice should be in that newspaper. If not, it should be in another county newspaper that people in the area are likely to read, ensuring the information reaches local voters.
The publication of notice shall be pursuant to Section 6062 of the Government Code in a newspaper of general circulation, printed, published, and circulated in the respective unit of the unincorporated territory, or if no such newspaper is printed, published, and circulated in the territory, in a newspaper printed and published elsewhere in the county and deemed most likely to give notice to the electors of the territory.
unincorporated territory notice publication newspaper circulation
Section § 15736
If there's a hearing about creating a new district, property owners in the area can ask to have their property removed from this district. They do this by filing a petition with the board of supervisors before the hearing. If the board agrees that including the property in the district won't benefit it much, they can remove it from the proposed district. The board can also adjust the district's boundaries to make them more suitable.
At the hearing or at any time prior thereto, any owner of taxable property within the proposed district may file a petition with the board of supervisors asking that the property described in the petition be excluded from the proposed district. If the board, after hearing, finds the described property will not be substantially benefited by its inclusion in the district, it may exclude such property. At the hearing the board shall make such changes in the proposed boundaries as it deems advisable and shall define and establish the boundaries.
hearing taxable property proposed district
Section § 15737
This law allows someone who owns land next to an area mentioned in a petition to ask for their land to be added to a proposed district. The board will decide if their land can be included after reviewing the request.
Any person owning land adjoining any land described in the petition, upon his verified application, in the discretion of the board, may have his land included within the proposed district.
land ownership adjoining land verified application
Section § 15738
This section outlines the process a board must follow during a hearing to determine if a petition meets legal requirements for forming a district. The board checks if the notice was published correctly and listens to all relevant testimony. If the board finds the proposed district to be economic and feasible, they will arrange an election to decide if the district should be created. If it's deemed uneconomic or infeasible, the petition can be dismissed.
At the hearing the board shall determine whether or not the petition complies with the requirements set forth in this division and whether or not the notice has been published as required, and shall hear all competent and relevant testimony offered in support of or in opposition to the petition. If the board determines and finds from the evidence taken at the hearing that the proposed district as its boundaries are described in the petition or as changed by the board is uneconomic or infeasible, it may dismiss the petition, but, if the board determines and finds that the petition complies with the law and that the proposed district is economic and feasible, it shall call an election to be held in the proposed district for the purpose of determining whether or not the district shall be organizaed.
district formation petition requirements board hearing
