The board of supervisors of Devil's Garden Water Control District shall have the power
and is hereby authorized in its discretion to drain, irrigate and reclaim or more
completely and intensively to drain, irrigate 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
improvement thereof, and the method of carrying on the work in each unit. The unit
system of water control 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 improving 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 improving 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 from time to time 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 consecutive weeks in a newspaper
published in Hendry and Collier Counties, Florida, 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 improvement 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 an order confirming said resolution,
and may thereafter proceed with the improvement 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 improvement 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 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 any 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
days after the ruling of said board, file his complaint in the circuit court 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 suits. 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 if such proposed
action shall be challenged by a landowner by the judicial proceedings hereinabove
authorized), said board of supervisors may adopt a water management plan or plans
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 water management plans for and assessments
for benefits and damages of the entire district. With respect to the water management
plan, 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 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 improvement 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 unit or 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 each unit or units.
Provided, however, that if, after 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 water management plan for any such unit or units
insufficient or inadequate for efficient improvement, the plan may be amended or changed
as provided in F.S. Ch. 298, 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 lands thereto, upon the approval
of at least 51 percent of the landowners according to acreage, in any such unit and
of all 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 water management plan 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 within the time provided in F.S. § 298.27 and shall file their approval of or
objections to the amendment of such unit as provided in this section.
No lands shall be detached from any unit after the issuance of bonds or other obligations
for such unit except upon the consent 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 water management plan, 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 improvement in such amended unit or units under such amended water management
plan.
