Article 2. Formation of California Health And Safety Code >> Division 5. >> Part 3. >> Chapter 3. >> Article 2.

A board of supervisors desiring to form a county sanitation district shall adopt a resolution of its intention to do so. The resolution shall contain all of the following:
  (a) A statement of the intention to form a district.
  (b) The boundaries of the proposed district or some other designation of its territorial extent.
  (c) The name of the proposed district.
  (d) The time and place where objections to the formation of the district or to its extent will be heard.
  (e) Instructions to the clerk of the board to publish the resolution and notices of hearing.
  (f) When the proposed district includes parcels of noncontiguous territory, a statement that the proposed district will be in accordance with the master plan of county sanitation service as adopted by the board of supervisors or if the county has not adopted such a master plan then a statement that the proposed district is within the same watershed. Watershed as used in this section means to include only that area drained by gravity to the trunk sewer or sewers.

The district as formed may include unincorporated or incorporated territory, or both. The incorporated territory included in the district may include the whole or part of one or more cities. However, less than the whole of a city shall not be included in the district except by the vote of a majority of the governing body of the city. The district shall not include the whole or any part of another sanitation district or any other district formed for similar purposes unless the governing body of such other district shall consent thereto and the board of supervisors, after a hearing, shall find and determine by resolution duly adopted that the proposed inclusion of the whole or part of such other district within the district is in the public interest and the territory affected will benefit thereby. Notice of such hearing shall be given by publication in at least two successive issues, not more than 30 nor less than 10 days prior to the hearing, in a newspaper of general circulation published within the county.

The land proposed to be formed into a district need not consist of contiguous parcels.

The time to be fixed for the hearing of objections shall be not less than thirty days after the adoption of the resolution. The hearing shall be held at the regular meeting place of the board of supervisors or else at some place in the proposed district.

Prior to the time of hearing, the resolution shall be published at length twice in at least one newspaper of general circulation in the proposed district and brief notices of the passage of the resolution and the time and place of the hearing may be published in one or more daily or weekly newspapers published and circulated in the proposed district.

At the time provided in the resolution of intention or at any time to which the hearing is continued, the board of supervisors shall hear any objections to the formation of the district or to its extent. At the hearing the board of supervisors may exclude any territory that in its opinion will not be benefited by being in the district.

If the board of supervisors finds that protests have been made, prior to its final determination for formation of the district, by the owners of real property within the proposed district the assessed value of which, as shown by the last equalized assessment roll, constitutes more than one-half of the total assessed value of the real property within the proposed district, the proceeding shall terminate. The board of supervisors shall order the proceeding terminated when such protests are received.

If written objection to the formation of the district, signed by 5 percent of the voters registered in the district if the district contains less than 2001 registered voters, or by 2 percent of the registered voters, but not less than 100 registered voters, if the district contains 2001, or more, registered voters, is filed with the board, it shall, and in any event it may, either adopt an order abandoning the formation of the proposed district or order the matter of the formation of the district with the boundary lines determined at the close of the hearing submitted to the voters of the proposed district at an election.

At the election only voters registered in the proposed district may vote. Election precincts shall be established by the board of supervisors, and precinct boards, composed of one inspector, one judge, and one clerk, shall be appointed. At least one week prior to the election, notice of the election shall be given by publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the proposed district. In other particulars the election shall be conducted in the manner ordered by the board of supervisors.

Within five days after the district formation election has been called, the legislative body which has called the election shall transmit, by registered mail, a written notification of the election call to the executive officer of the local agency formation commission of the county or principal county in which the territory or major portion of the territory of the proposed district is located. Such written notice shall include the name and a description of the proposed district, and may be in the form of a certified copy of the resolution adopted by the legislative body calling the district formation election. The executive officer, within five days after being notified that a district formation election has been called, shall submit to the commission, for its approval or modification, an impartial analysis of the proposed district formation. The impartial analysis shall not exceed 500 words in length and shall include a specific description of the boundaries of the district proposed to be formed. The local agency formation commission, within five days after the receipt of the executive officer's analysis, shall approve or modify the analysis and submit it to the officials in charge of conducting the district formation election.

The board of supervisors or any member or members of the board authorized by the board, or any individual voter or bona fide association of citizens entitled to vote on the district formation proposition, or any combination of such voters and associations of citizens, may file a written argument for or a written argument against the proposed district formation. Arguments shall not exceed 300 words in length and shall be filed with the officials in charge of conducting the election not less than 54 days prior to the date of the district formation election.

If more than one argument for or more than one argument against the proposed district formation is filed with the election officials within the time prescribed, such election officials shall select one of the arguments for printing and distribution to the voters. In selecting the arguments, the election officials shall give preference and priority in the order named to the arguments of the following:
  (a) The board of supervisors or any member or members of the board authorized by the board.
  (b) Individual voters or bona fide associations of citizens or a combination of such voters and associations.

The elections officials in charge of conducting the election shall cause a ballot pamphlet concerning the district formation proposition to be voted on to be printed and mailed to each voter entitled to vote on the district formation question. The ballot pamphlet shall contain the following, in the order prescribed:
  (a) The complete text of the proposition.
  (b) The impartial analysis of the proposition, prepared by the local agency formation commission.
  (c) The argument for the proposed district formation.
  (d) The argument against the proposed district formation. The elections officials shall mail a ballot pamphlet to each voter entitled to vote in the district formation election at least 10 days prior to the date of the election. The ballot pamphlet is "official matter" within the meaning of Section 13303 of the Elections Code.

At the conclusion of the hearing, or if an election is held and the canvass of the election returns shows that a majority of all the votes cast in the entire proposed district and that a majority of the votes cast on the question in each city or part thereof in the proposed district were in favor of the formation of the district, the board of supervisors may, if it deems best, make an order forming the district.

The order of formation shall contain the name of the district, and a description of the boundaries or otherwise indicate its territory. The order is conclusive evidence of the regularity of all prior proceedings, except the adoption and publication in full of the resolution of intention and of the fact of the hearing.