The City Council is hereby empowered and authorized to construct roadbeds, sidewalks, curbs, gutters and street and alley improvements, or any or all, in the City, in such cases as it may determine the same to be necessary for the public benefit, and for the benefit of the abutting land and of the owners of such abutting land, provided that, before any permanent street, sidewalk, curb and/or alley improvements shall be made under the provisions of this section, the City Council shall obtain from more than fifty percent (50%) of the property owners of record abutting upon such street, sidewalk, curb and/or alley their written approval of such permanent improvement and/or improvements; provided, however, that where there is a gap not exceeding one (1) block in length in the permanent paving of a street and such street is permanently paved for at least one block distance in each direction from such gap, no written approval of any property owners need be obtained for the construction by the City Council and assessment of the costs thereof under this Article of a permanent roadbed, curbs and gutters in such gap to connect the aforementioned permanently paved portions of such street. No written approval of any property owners need be obtained for the construction by the City Council and assessment of the costs thereof under this Article of a permanent roadbed, curbs and gutters in any street connecting with Baltimore Avenue for a distance of not exceeding one (1) block from Baltimore Avenue. If permanent roadbeds, curbs and/or gutters are constructed by the City Council under these provisions without the written approval of more than fifty percent (50%) of the property owners abutting thereon, the same sideline exemptions shall be granted to corner lots and to lots abutting on more than two (2) streets as are provided in § C8-3 of this Charter, except that the cost of such exemptions shall be paid by the City Council out of any funds properly chargeable with such costs. The ten-year payment plan provided in this Article shall extend to and be accorded to the City Council in the same manner as accorded to property owners paying assessments under this Article.
When the City Council shall have determined to make roadbed, sidewalk, curb, gutter and street and alley improvements or all or any in the City, it shall thereupon notify, as far as practicable, each owner of land abutting upon such street or other proposed improvements by depositing said notice in the United States Post Office, addressed to such owner's last known address, setting forth that on a certain day to be named therein, which day shall be not less than one (1) week after the mailing of said notices, that the City Council will meet to consider the kind and character of roadbed, sidewalk, curb, gutter and street and alley improvements, or all or any, to be laid and notifying said owner to appear at said meeting and express his views on the question if he so desires; and that at such meeting, the City Council shall hear any suggestions of said owners and immediately thereafter or, within a reasonable number of days, shall determine the character and kind of work to be done, which determination shall be final and conclusive.
A. 
Authorized. The City Council shall have the power to assess against the abutting property and collect from the owners thereof the cost of roadbeds, sidewalks, curbs, gutters, street and alley improvements or any or all constructed under the provisions of this Article, including the cost of street and public alley intersections and all construction costs, including that for drains and culverts where necessary, excavation, preparation or plans, advertising for bids and supervision and all costs for the preparation of ordinances pertaining to such improvements, costs for verification of titles, for service or mailing of notices to owners of abutting property as required by law and costs for the preparation of assessment collection rolls to be supplied for the use of the Treasurer of the City, provided that before any assessment is levied hereunder, notice, in writing, of the proposed assessment shall be sent to all owners of property against which the assessment is proposed to be levied, naming in such notice a time and place when and at which said owners will be heard. Such notice may be mailed to the last known address of the owner or served in person upon any adult occupying the premises or, in case of vacant or unimproved property, posted upon the premises.
B. 
Amount. If the property to be assessed for improvements under this Article is located at the intersection of two (2) streets and is what is known as a "corner lot," the City Council shall have the power to make an assessment for the number of feet in the front of such lot where the improvements in question about the front of such lot; and, in case the improvements about the side of such a lot, the assessment made for such improvements against the lot shall be for one-half (1/2) of the number of linear feet of the side of said lot, not to exceed a total exemption of fifty (50) linear feet; and, for the purpose of assessment, the short side of such lot shall be considered the front of such lot; except, however, that in cases where the two (2) sides are equal or where improvements similar in kind to those being assessed have not been made along the short side of such lot, the City Council shall determine which is the front and which is the side of such lot, and such determination shall be final and conclusive. In the cases of lots abutting on more than two (2) streets and of lots of irregular or unusual shape and in cases of lots abutting on two (2) or more streets in one (1) or more of which improvements similar in kind to those being assessed have been or are about to be constructed under such circumstances as not to subject such lots to a special assessment by the City Council, the City Council shall have full power and authority to deny or grant sideline exemptions or otherwise adjust assessments to be made against such lots for the cost of improvements herein authorized abutting such lots to such an amount as shall be just and equitable. The cost of improvements exempted as provided in this section shall be included in the assessments to be made against the abutting property included in the project, and such adjustments as made by the City Council shall be final and conclusive.
C. 
Collection. Such assessments, when made, shall constitute a tax lien upon such abutting property and shall bear interest at the rate prescribed by law, and the principal of such assessments shall be payable in twenty (20) equal semiannual installments from the date of such assessment. At the time of the payment of each of said installments there shall be due and payable the interest on such installment and on the balance of the principal then unpaid. The owner or owners of any property assessed or anyone on his or their behalf shall at any time have the right to anticipate by payment all installments, with interest to date, of the assessment not then due. Any assessment or part thereof remaining due and unpaid shall be enforced and collected by the City Council in the same manner as special assessments are now enforced and collected as now or hereafter prescribed and required by law. The Treasurer of the City is charged with the custody of any moneys received from the sale of such bonds or certificates of indebtedness as above mentioned and with the prompt collection and safekeeping of the moneys arising from assessments upon roadbeds, sidewalks, curbs, gutters and street and alley improvements which last said funds shall be kept as a separate account and fund, and no part thereof shall ever be used for any other purpose than to liquidate the bonds or certificates of indebtedness and interest thereon issued for sidewalks, curbs, gutters, roadbeds and street and alley improvements, which bonds and certificates, when paid, shall be canceled and kept and filed among the papers of the City.
All special assessments and interest thereon heretofore made or to be made by the City Council for the cost of roadbeds, sidewalks, curbs, gutters and street improvements under the provisions of any law in force prior hereto which have not become fully due and which are now unpaid shall come within the provisions of this Article.
A. 
All of such special assessments as referred to in § C8-4 of this Charter shall be in default, shall bear the same penalties and shall be collected in the same manner as are now provided for by existing law and shall continue to be a lien upon the property against which they are levied and assessed as now provided by law, and nothing herein shall be construed to affect the validity of such lien or the effectiveness of such sale for default on future installments.
B. 
The City Council may renew, reissue, extend or refund any of the obligations of the City that may be outstanding, provision for the payment of which is dependent upon the payment of the special assessments provided for in this Article, for such time and at such a rate and upon such conditions as the City Council may determine.
The City Council is hereby authorized to make sidewalk, curb, gutter, roadbed and street improvements by contract, either by doing the work themselves without letting bids or by contracting for the same as provided in § C5-21 of this Charter. All contractors for such street improvements shall give bond in such sum as the City Council shall require, with sufficient sureties to be approved by the City Council for the faithful performance of their contract; provided, however, that this section shall not be construed to apply where a majority of the land owners abutting the proposed improvement have requested that the improvements be made.