(1)The establishment of conservancy districts for the
purposes and in the manner provided for in articles 1 to 8 of this title is declared to
be conducive to public health, safety, convenience, and welfare. Before any
conservancy district is established under articles 1 to 8 of this title, a petition shall
be filed in the office of the clerk of the court vested with jurisdiction, in a county in
which all or part of the lands embraced in said proposed conservancy district are
situated, signed either by two hundred owners of land or by a majority of the
owners of land situate within the limits of the territory proposed to be organized
into a district. Such petition may be signed by the governing body of any public
corporation lying wholly or partly within the proposed district, in
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(1) The establishment of conservancy districts for the
purposes and in the manner provided for in articles 1 to 8 of this title is declared to
be conducive to public health, safety, convenience, and welfare. Before any
conservancy district is established under articles 1 to 8 of this title, a petition shall
be filed in the office of the clerk of the court vested with jurisdiction, in a county in
which all or part of the lands embraced in said proposed conservancy district are
situated, signed either by two hundred owners of land or by a majority of the
owners of land situate within the limits of the territory proposed to be organized
into a district. Such petition may be signed by the governing body of any public
corporation lying wholly or partly within the proposed district, in such manner as it
may prescribe, and when so signed by such governing body such a petition on the
part of the said governing body shall fill all the requirements of representation
upon such petition of the owners of land of such public corporation as they appear
upon the tax rolls; and thereafter it shall not be necessary for individuals within said
public corporation to sign such a petition. Such a petition may also be signed by
railroad corporations and other corporations owning lands within the proposed
district. Any city interested in some degree in the improvement, upon proper action
by its governing body, may alone file the petition required by this section.
(2) The petition shall set forth: The proposed name of said district; that
property within the proposed district will be benefited by the accomplishment of
one or more of the purposes enumerated in section 37-2-101; and a general
description of the purpose of the contemplated improvement and of the territory to
be included in the proposed district. Said description need not be given by metes
and bounds or by legal subdivisions, but it shall be sufficient to enable a property
owner to ascertain whether his property is within the territory proposed to be
organized as a district. Said territory need not be contiguous if it is so situated that
the organization as a single district of the territory described is calculated to
promote one or more of the purposes enumerated in section 37-2-101. Said petition
shall pray for the organization of the district by the name proposed.
(3) No petition with the requisite signatures shall be declared null and void
on account of alleged defects, but the court may at any time permit the petition to
be amended to conform to the facts by correcting any errors in the description of
the territory or in any other particular. Several similar petitions or duplicate copies
of the same petition for the organization of the same district may be filed and shall
together be regarded as one petition. All such petitions filed prior to the hearing on
the first petition filed shall be considered by the court the same as though filed
with the first petition placed on file. In determining whether a majority of
landowners have signed the petition, the court shall be governed by the names as
they appear upon the tax roll, which shall be prima facie evidence of such
ownership.