§167-17  Formation of irrigation project oninitiative of board; notice and hearing; protests.  The board ofagriculture may organize irrigation projects upon its own initiative.  In thisevent, it shall fix a date for public hearing upon the proposed project, whichdate shall not be less than sixty days after the first public notice thereof inthe county in which the project is proposed.  The notice shall be given once ineach of four successive weeks, describing or identifying the area to beincluded in and general details of the proposed project, stating the time andplace of the public hearing.  If the owners of fifty-five per cent of theacreage of agricultural and pasture lands proposed to be organized into anirrigation project at the hearing or prior thereto file written protest againstthe proposed project, the project shall not be made and proceedings shall notbe renewed within twelve months from the date of closing the public hearing,unless each and every owner protesting withdraws each and every owner'sprotest; provided that any lessee of any agricultural or pasture lands includedwithin the proposed project, who, by the express terms of the lessee's leasemust pay the assessment contemplated hereunder shall be subrogated to all therights of the owner to protest by filing at the hearing or prior theretowritten protest against the proposed project, the written protest to beaccompanied by a certified copy of the lease; provided further that any lessor,at any time before the closing of the public hearing, may make void the protestof the lessor's lessee on consideration of the filing with the board a dulyacknowledged waiver of the provision in the lease which requires the lessee topay the assessment, and a written undertaking of the lessor to pay theassessment to be made on account of the proposed project; and further providedthat a project may be instituted without further public notice for a smalleracreage within the acreage described in the public notice in the event theboard determines the smaller project to be economically feasible, if writtenprotests by the owners, or lessees subrogated to the right to protest, offifty-five per cent of the smaller acreage shall not be filed. [L 1987, c 306,pt of §1; am L 1998, c 2, §33]