Louisiana § RS 38:1799 - Inclusion of contiguous or adjacent lands in district

§ RS 38:1799. Inclusion of contiguous or adjacent lands in district

The police juries of the various parishes, the parish of Orleans excepted, shall with the approval of the board of drainage commissioners, include any contiguous or adjacent lands in any gravity drainage district or gravity sub-drainage district, when the lands proposed to be included lie within the drainage basin, upon a petition signed by a majority of the land owners who are qualified electors of the area or areas proposed to be included.  The majority of land owners shall also own more than fifty per cent of the number of acres lying in the area or areas proposed to be included.  In the event there are no land owners who are qualified electors in the area or areas proposed to be included, or in the event there are land owners who are qualified electors but do not own more than fifty per cent of the number of acres lying in the area or areas proposed to be added, then, the petition shall be signed by a majority of the land owners, if any, who are qualified electors of the area or areas proposed to be added, together with the owners of more than fifty per cent of the number of acres lying in the area or areas proposed to be included, whether they be qualified electors of the area or areas or not.  The adjacent or contiguous area or areas proposed to be so included shall themselves be contiguous or else there shall be a separate petition and a separate action in each case.  The notice required in R.S. 38:1756 shall be published and after publication of the notices if no objections are urged thereto, the lands shall immediately become subject to all ad valorem taxes or forced contributions or acreage taxes theretofore levied and imposed against the lands in the district or subdistrict in which the lands have been included.  The petition praying the inclusion of lands in the gravity drainage district or gravity sub-drainage district shall expressly state that the petitioners are the owners of the lands so sought to be included and that they consent to the imposition thereon of the same taxes whether ad valorem or by way of forced contribution or acreage taxes as borne, or to be borne by the other lands in the district or subdistrict.  Any owner of land lying in the area proposed to be included who has not signed the petition shall have the right within a period of sixty days after the publication of the notice in the official journal of the parish in which the said area is located to contest before the police jury of the parish the inclusion of his lands, and in case it be established that his lands will not be benefited by the drainage, they shall not be included.