§ 36-9-23-12 — Petition objecting to construction or acquisition of works; court hearing; notice; bond; further proceedings on project prohibited if petition sustained

(a) This section does not apply to
undertakings in compliance with orders of the department of
environmental management for which no objections are authorized.
(b) Forty (40) or more owners of property connected or to be
connected to and served by sewage works authorized by a resolution
under section 10(a) of this chapter may file a written petition objecting
to the construction or acquisition of the works. The petition must be
filed with the municipal legislative body, must contain the names and
addresses of the petitioners, and must set forth the following
objections:
(1) The works are not required by the public needs.
(2) The cost of the proposed works would be excessive
considering the value of the service to be rendered to the affected
community.
(3) Any other ground of objection.
The petition shall be filed within twenty (20) days after the publication
of notice under section 10(b) of this chapter.
(c) Unless the proposed works are abandoned, the municipal clerk
shall file in the office of the clerk of the circuit or superior court of the
county a copy of the resolution or resolutions together with the petition.
The court shall then set the matter for hearing at the earliest date
possible, which must be within twenty (20) days after the filing of the
petition with the court. The court shall send notice of the hearing by
certified mail to the municipality and to the first ten (10) signers of the
petition at the addresses shown on the petition. All interested parties
shall appear in the court without further notice, and the municipality
may not conduct any further proceedings concerning the works until
the matters presented by the petition have been heard and determined
by the court.
(d) The petitioners shall file with their petition a bond in the sum
and with the security fixed by the court. The bond must be conditioned
on the petitioners' payment of all or part of the costs of the hearing and
any damages awarded to the municipality if the petition is denied, as
ordered by the court.
(e) Upon the date fixed in the notice, the court shall, without a jury,
hear the evidence produced. The court may confirm the decision of the
municipal legislative body or sustain the objecting petition. The order
of the court is final and conclusive upon all parties to the proceeding
and parties who might have appeared at the hearing, subject only to the
right of direct appeal. All questions that were presented or might have
been presented are considered to have been adjudicated by the order of
the court, and no collateral attack upon the decision of the municipal
legislative body or order of the court is permitted.
(f) If the court sustains the petition, or if it is sustained on appeal,
the municipal legislative body may not institute any further
proceedings for the construction of the sewage works described in the
resolution or resolutions for a period of one (1) year after the date of
the order, unless the construction is required by a subsequent order of
the state department of environmental management to abate water
pollution.
[Pre-Local Government Recodification Citation: 19-2-5-6
part.]
As added by Acts 1981, P.L.309, SEC.96. Amended by
P.L.143-1985, SEC.198; P.L.163-2017, SEC.5.