§ 30-299. Unit development; powers of supervisors to designate units of district and adopt system of progressive drainage by units; plans of reclamation and financing assessments, etc., for each unit.

(a)

The Board of Supervisors of North Lauderdale Water Control District shall have the power and is hereby authorized in its discretion to drain and reclaim or more completely and intensively to drain and reclaim the lands in said district by designated areas or parts of said district to be called "units." The units into which said district may be so divided shall be given appropriate numbers or names by said board of supervisors, so that said units may be readily identified and distinguished. The board of supervisors shall have the power to fix and determine the location, area and boundaries of and lands to be included in each and all such units, the order of development thereof, and the method of carrying on the work in each unit. The unit system of drainage provided by this section may be conducted and all of the proceedings by this section and this article authorized in respect to such unit or units may be carried on and conducted at the same time as or after the work of draining and reclaiming of the entire district has been or is being or shall be instituted or carried on under the provisions of this article. If the board of supervisors shall determine that it is advisable to conduct the work of draining and reclaiming the lands in said district by units, as authorized by this section of this article, said board shall, by resolution duly adopted and entered upon its minutes, declare its purpose to conduct such work accordingly, and shall at the same time and manner fix the number, location and boundaries of and description of lands within such unit or units and give them appropriate numbers or names. As soon as practicable after the adoption and recording of such resolution said board of supervisors shall publish notice once a week for two (2) consecutive weeks in a newspaper published in Broward County, Florida, or duly notify the landowners by registered letter, briefly describing the units into which said district has been divided and the lands embraced in each unit, giving the name, number or other designation of such units, requiring all owners of lands in said district to show cause in writing before said board of supervisors at a time and place to be stated in such notice why such division of said district into such units should not be approved, and said system of development by units should not be adopted and given effect by said board, and why the proceedings and powers authorized by this section of this article should not be had, taken and exercised. At the time and place stated in said notice, said board of supervisors shall hear all objections or causes of objection (all of which shall be in writing) of any landowner in said district to the matters mentioned and referred to in such notice, and if no objections are made, or if said objections, if made, shall be overruled by said board, then said board shall enter in its minutes its finding and order confirming said resolution, and may thereafter proceed with the development, drainage and reclamation of said district by units pursuant to such resolution and to the provisions of this article. If, however, said board of supervisors shall find as a result of such objections, or any of them, or the hearing thereon, that the division of said district into such units as aforesaid should not be approved, or that said system of development by units should not be adopted and given effect, or that the proceedings and powers authorized by this section of this article should not be had, taken or exercised, or that any other matter or thing embraced in said resolution would not be in the best interest of the landowners of said district or would be unjust or unfair to any landowner therein or otherwise inconsistent with fair and equal protection and enforcement of the rights of every landowner in said district, then said board of supervisors shall not proceed further under such resolution, but said board of supervisors may, as a result of such hearing, modify or amend said resolution so as to meet such objections so made, and thereupon said board may confirm said resolution as so modified or amended and may thereafter proceed accordingly. The sustaining of such objections and the rescinding of such resolutions shall not exhaust the power of said board under this section; but, at any time not less than one (1) year after the date of the hearing upon any such resolution, the board of supervisors may adopt other resolutions under this section and thereupon proceed on due notice in like manner as above. If said board of supervisors shall overrule or refuse to sustain any such objections in whole or in part made by a landowner in the district, or if any such landowner shall deem himself aggrieved by any action of the board of supervisors in respect to any objections so filed, such landowner may, within ten (10) days after the ruling of said board, file his bill of complaint in the Circuit Court in and for Broward County, Florida, in Chancery, against said district praying an injunction or other appropriate relief against the action or any part of such action proposed by such resolution or resolutions of said board, and such suits shall be conducted like other chancery suits, except that said suits shall have preference over all other pending actions except criminal actions and writs of habeas corpus. Upon the hearing of said cause said circuit court shall have the power to hear the objections and receive the evidence thereon of all parties to such cause and approve or disapprove said resolutions and action of said board in whole or in part, and to render such decree in such cause as right and justice require. When said resolutions creating said unit system shall be confirmed by the board of supervisors (or by the Circuit Court in and for Broward County, Florida, if such proposed action shall be challenged by a landowner by the judicial proceedings hereinabove authorized), said board of supervisors may adopt a plan or plans of reclamation for and in respect to any or all such units, and to have the benefits and damages resulting therefrom assessed and apportioned by commissioners appointed by the circuit court, and the report of the said commissioners considered and confirmed, all in like manner as is provided by law in regard to plans of reclamation for, and assessments for benefits and damages of, the entire district. With respect to plan of reclamation, notices, appointment of commissioners to assess benefits and damages, report of commissioners and notice and confirmation thereof, the levy of assessments and taxes, including maintenance taxes, and the issuance of bonds and all other proceedings as to each and all of such units, said board shall follow and comply with the same procedure as is provided by law with respect to the entire district; and said board of supervisors shall have the same powers in respect to each and all of such units as is vested in them with respect to the entire district. All the provisions of this article shall apply to the drainage, reclamation and improvement of each, any and all of such units, and the enumeration of or reference to specific powers or duties of the supervisors or any other officers or other matters in this article as hereinabove set forth, shall not limit or restrict the application of any and all of the proceedings and powers herein to the drainage and reclamation of such units as fully and completely as if such unit or units were specifically and expressly named in every section and clause of this article where the entire district is mentioned or referred to. All assessments, levies, taxes, bonds and other obligations made, levied, assessed or issued for or in respect to any such unit or units shall be a lien and charge solely and only upon the lands in such units, respectively, for the benefit of which the same shall be levied, made or issued, and not upon the remaining units or lands in said district. The board of supervisors may at any time amend its said resolutions by changing the location and description of lands in any such unit or units; and provided, further, that if the location of or description of lands located in any such unit or units is so changed, notice of such change shall be published as hereinabove required in this section for notice of the formation or organization of such unit or units, and all proceedings shall be had and done in that regard as are provided in this section for the original creation of such unit or units; provided, however, that no lands against which benefits shall have been assessed may be detached from any such unit after the confirmation of the commissioners' report of benefits in such unit or units or the issuance of bonds or other obligations which are payable from taxes or assessments for benefits levied upon the lands within such unit or units.

(b)

Provided, however, that if, after the confirmation of the commissioners' report of benefits in such unit or units, or the issuance of bonds or other obligations which are payable from taxes or assessments for benefits levied upon lands within such unit or units, the board of supervisors finds the plan of reclamation for any such unit or units insufficient or inadequate for efficient development, the plan of reclamation may be amended or changed as provided in Chapter 298, F.S., and the unit or units may be amended or changed as provided in this section, by changing the location and description of lands in any such unit or units, by detaching lands therefrom or by adding land thereto, upon the approval of at least fifty-one (51) per cent of the landowners according to acreage, in any such unit and seventy-five (75) per cent of the holders of bonds issued in respect to any such unit, and provided that in such event all assessments, levies, taxes, bonds and other obligations made, levied, assessed, incurred or issued for or in respect to any such unit or units may be allocated and apportioned to the amended unit or units in proportion to the benefits assessed by the commissioners' report for the amended plan of reclamation and said report shall specifically provide for such allocation and apportionment. The landowners and all of the bondholders shall file their approval of or objections to such amended plan of reclamation within the time provided in § 298.27, F.S. and shall file their approval of or objections to the amendment of such unit as provided in this section.

(c)

No lands shall be detached from any unit after the issuance of bonds or other obligations for such unit except upon the consent of seventy-five (75) per cent of all the holders of such bonds or other obligations. In the event of the change of the boundaries of any unit as provided herein and the allocation and apportionment to the amended unit or units of assessments, levies, taxes, bonds and other obligations in proportion to the benefits assessed by the commissioners' report for the amended plan of reclamation, the holder of bonds or other obligations heretofore issued for the original unit who consent to such allocations and apportionment shall be entitled to all rights and remedies against any lands added to the amended unit or units as fully and to the same extent as if such added lands had formed and constituted a part of the original unit or units at the time of the original issuance of such bonds or other obligations, and regardless of whether the holders of such bonds or other obligations are the original holders thereof or the holders from time to time hereafter, and the rights and remedies of such holders against the lands in the amended unit or units, including any lands added thereto, under such allocation and apportionment, shall constitute vested and irrevocable rights and remedies to the holders from time to time of such bonds or other obligations as fully and to the same extent as if such bonds or other obligations had been originally issued to finance the improvements in such amended unit or units under such amended plan of reclamation.

(Sp. Acts, Ch. 63-661, § 19)