Chapter 6. Incorporation Of The District of California Streets And Highways Code >> Division 16. >> Part 3. >> Chapter 6.

When all of the petitions, or certifications of the result of elections have been received from the county elections officials of the counties having any portion of their territory within the boundaries of the proposed district the Secretary of State shall publish the text of the petition, together with a notice fixing the time within which protests against the inclusion of property within the proposed district may be filed.

The petition and notice shall be published for at least three weeks prior to the last day in which protests may be filed in at least one and not to exceed three newspapers printed and published in each of the counties from which petitions have been presented.

Neither the names attached to the petition, nor the certificates of any of the county elections officials, need be published with the petition. It shall be sufficient to state that the petition has been signed by a certain number of electors, naming it, and duly verified by the county elections official of the county in which the petition was circulated.

Any owner of property which is subject to taxation within the boundaries of the proposed district may, within the time specified, protest against the formation of the district. The protest shall be in writing and shall be filed with the Secretary of State. The protest shall contain:
  (a) The name and address of the person protesting and the name and address of his attorney, if he has one.
  (b) The grounds upon which the protestant claims that his property will not be benefited by the formation of the proposed district.

The Secretary of State shall attach the protests which he receives from each county to the petition filed from that particular county, and forward the petition with the protests attached to the superior court of that county. The superior court in each county shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine the protests so received. The clerk of the court shall set the protests for hearing, and give notice thereof in writing to the protestants, and to their attorneys if they have any, at least 10 days before the date set for the hearing.

At the time specified in the notice, or at such other time to which the said hearing may be continued, the superior court shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine all matters urged by the protestants against the formation of the proposed district, or against the inclusion of their lands therein.

The superior court shall have jurisdiction to exclude any lands from the proposed district, together with any other lands contiguous to the excluded lands, and contiguous to the exterior boundaries of the proposed district which are similarly situated to the lands of the protestants, to the end that isolated tracts may not be excluded from the district without also rectifying the boundaries thereof so that the district when finally formed shall be compact, continuous and without tracts of land excluded therefrom which are totally surrounded by other lands which are left within the district.

The judgment of the superior court shall not be appealable, and all questions of fact therein contained shall be final and conclusive.

The judgment shall only be subject to review by the Supreme Court of this State, upon a writ of review issued out of that court in such cases as writs of review are now permissible against superior courts. Proceedings for a writ of review may only be taken within 10 days after the entry of the judgment in the superior court and if not so taken all such judgments of the superior court shall become final.

After the judgment of the court has become final the county elections official shall certify the judgment together with the petition and the protests which he or she received, to the Secretary of State.

When the results of the final judgments upon all protests have been certified to the Secretary of State, he shall issue his certificate of incorporation declaring the district with the boundaries as finally established to be duly incorporated. He shall file the original certificate of incorporation in his office, and have a certified copy of the certificate recorded in the office of the county recorder of each of the counties having any territory within the boundaries of the district.

Upon the issuance of the certificate of incorporation the district shall come into existence and shall have all the rights, powers and privileges expressly or impliedly conferred upon it by this part.

After the Secretary of State has issued his certificate of incorporation of the district, the sufficiency of any petition shall not be subject to judicial review or be otherwise questioned.

No informality in any proceeding not substantially affecting adversely the legal rights of any person shall invalidate the incorporation of any district. All proceedings to contest the validity of the incorporation of any district may only be commenced within three months from the date of the issuance of the certificate of incorporation. If no such proceedings are commenced within the time allowed, the incorporation of the district, and all proceedings in connection therewith, shall be valid and incontestable.