Whenever the legislative body, of its own volition,
shall propose to lay out, open, widen or extend any street in the
City or whenever any responsible citizen thereof or person holding
real or leasehold property therein shall apply to the legislative
body by petition for the same purpose, the legislative body shall
cause notice thereof to be published for at least two weeks in one
or more of the newspapers published in the City, in which shall be
stated the object proposed, where the same is to be located, its extent,
what and whose property is likely to be affected thereby, also the
time and place fixed for the hearing and determination of the matter
and warning all persons interested who may desire to oppose the project
to file their objection, in writing, with the City Clerk on or before
the day fixed for such hearing; and at the time appointed, the legislative
body shall take the whole subject matter into consideration and from
the petition, objections and such other testimony as may be produced
before them, shall determine whether, in its judgment, the public
welfare or convenience requires that such street or alley should be
laid out, opened, widened or extended as proposed. And should any
such petition be rejected, the petitioners therein shall be required
to pay the costs incurred thereby.
Should the legislative body decide that the public convenience or welfare requires that any street or alley shall be laid out, opened, widened or extended as provided in § 139-9, they shall immediately determine whether the damages and expenses thereof shall be levied upon the entire assessable property of the City and paid out of the City treasury or shall be paid by the owners of property specially benefited thereby or whether such damages and expenses shall be paid in part by the City and in part by the owners of property specially benefited, and the proportion to be paid by either; and they shall also cause an accurate survey and plat to be made by a competent surveyor of the ground and premises proposed to be taken to lay out, open, widen or extend the street or alley, on which plat shall be located and shown the particular property and quantity thereof, included in the proposed improvement belonging to each owner of said ground and premises.
