                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

FORM OF PETITION; BOND; SUMMONS OF LANDOWNERS NOT ON PETITION (§ 21-295)

Whenever a petition, signed by fifty-one percent or more of the owners of land
who own fifty-one percent or more of the land, within a proposed drainage
project, according to the county-land book or books or to the latest assessment
lists of the county or counties in which such project is located, or by the
heirs, guardians, conservators or executors of estates or by those having color
of title, or by those in adverse possession, or by the officers of corporations,
whose lands will be affected by or assessed for the expense of the proposed
improvements, shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the circuit court of
any county in which a part of the lands are located, setting forth that any
specific body or district of land in the county or adjoining counties, described
in such a way as to convey an intelligent idea as to the location of such land,
is subject to overflow, or too wet for cultivation, or in need of drainage, and
the public benefit or utility or the public health, convenience or welfare, will
be promoted by draining, ditching or leveeing the same, or by changing or
improving the natural watercourse or courses; and setting forth therein, as far
as practicable, the starting point, route and terminus and lateral tile or open
branches, of the proposed improvement, and there is filed therewith a bond for
the amount or product of ten dollars multiplied by the square root of the
estimated number of acres within the bounds of the proposed project, signed by
two or more sureties or by some lawful and authorized surety company, to be
approved by the clerk, and conditioned for the payment of all costs and expenses
incurred in the proceedings in case the court does not grant the prayer of the
petition, the clerk shall issue a summons, to be served on all the defendant
landowners, including any railway company, who have not joined in the petition
and whose lands are affected or included in the proposed drainage district, to
show cause, if any there be, why the lands in the proposed drainage project
should not be drained or leveed.

HISTORY: Code 1919, § 1738; 1920, p. 608; 1924, p. 707; 1926, p. 605; 1954, c.
642; 1997, c. 801.