Article 3. Hearing And Order of California Water Code >> Division 21. >> Part 10. >> Chapter 1. >> Article 3.

The board, at the time and place mentioned in the notice of the filing of the petition for exclusion of lands, or at the time or times to which the hearing of the petition may be adjourned, shall proceed to hear the petition, all evidence or proofs that are introduced by or on behalf of the petitioner or petitioners, and all objections to the petition that are presented in writing by any person showing cause why the change of boundaries should not be made, and all evidence and proofs that are introduced in support of such objections. Such evidence shall be taken down in shorthand, and a record made thereof and filed with the board.

The failure of any person interested in the district, other than the holders of bonds thereof outstanding at the time of the filing of the petition for exclusion of lands, to show cause, in writing, why the tract or tracts of land mentioned in the petition should not be excluded from the district shall be deemed and taken as an assent by him to the exclusion of such tract or tracts of land, or any part thereof, from the district; and the filing of such petition shall be deemed and taken as an assent by each petitioner to the exclusion from the district of the lands mentioned in the petition, or any part thereof.

The expenses of giving the notice of the filing of the petition for exclusion of lands and of the proceedings on the petition shall be paid by the person or persons filing the petition.

If, upon the hearing of the petition for exclusion of lands, no evidence or proofs in support thereof are introduced, or if the evidence fails to sustain the petition, or if the board deems it not for the best interest of the district that the lands, or some portion thereof, mentioned in the petition, should be excluded from the district, the board shall order that the petition be denied as to such lands.

If the board deems it for the best interest of the district that the lands mentioned in the petition for exclusion of lands, or some portion thereof, be excluded from the district, and if no person interested in the district shows cause in writing why such lands or some portion thereof, should not be excluded from the district, or if, having shown cause, withdraws his objections, or upon the hearing fails to establish such objections as he may have made, the board may, by unanimous vote of all of its members, make an order that the lands mentioned and described in the petition, or some defined portion thereof, be excluded from said district. The board shall order the exclusion of all lands petitioned to be excluded from the district which, in the judgment of all of its members, will not be benefited by the operations of the district.