19-2755.   Same, incorporation and organization; noticeand hearing; factors consideredin determining advisability.(a) Subject to the provisions of K.S.A. 19-270, when a petition conformingto this section and K.S.A. 19-2754,and amendments thereto, is filed with theboard of county commissioners requesting that an improvement district beincorporated and organized, the board shall hold a hearing on the petition.To be valid, the petition shall be signed: (1) By a majority of those personswho pay taxes on real property in the proposed district and who reside withinthe boundaries of the proposed district; or (2) by all the owners of allreal property in the proposed district, whether residing in the proposeddistrict or not. Upon the filing of such a petition, the board of countycommissioners shall fix atime for the hearing of such petition and to cause the county clerk togive notice of the hearing by publication once each week for two consecutiveweeks in a newspaper published inand of general circulation in the county. The notice shall be publishedat least 15 daysbefore the date fixed for the hearing. Notice of the hearing shall alsobe posted in not less than three public places in the territory notless than 15 days before the hearing. The county clerk,not less than 15 days before the hearing, shallsend notices of thehearing with a copy of the petition, without the signatures, to theclerk, secretary or chairperson of any duly constituted city, county,regional or metropolitan planning commission exercising planningauthority over all or part of the territory, to the director of thedivision of community development of the departmentof economic developmentand to the city clerk of any city, any portion of which is withinfive miles of the nearest boundary of the territory as described inthe petition.

      (b)   As a guide in determining the advisability of organizingthe district,the board shall consider the following factors, among others: (1)Population and population density of the area within theboundaries of the territory; (2) land area, topography, naturalboundaries and drainage basin; (3) area of platted land relative tounplatted land and assessed value of platted land relative to assessed valueof unplatted areas; (4) extent of residential, business, commercial andindustrial development; (5) past expansion in terms ofpopulation and construction; (6) likelihood of significantgrowth in the area, and in adjacent areas, during the next 10years; (7) the present cost and adequacy of governmental services andcontrols in the area and the probable effect of the proposed action, andof alternative courses of action, on the cost and adequacy of localgovernmental services and regulation in the area and in adjacent areas;(8) the need for the public improvements in the proposed district andwhether the issuance of bonds therefor would unduly require thespeculative use of public funds; and (9) effect of the proposed action, andof alternative actions, on adjacent areas and on the local governmentalstructure of the general area.

      (c)   If the territory or any part thereof is within five miles of anexisting city, the board shall take into consideration: (1) The size andpopulation of such city; (2) the city's growth in population, business andindustry during the past 10 years; (3) the extension of itsboundaries during the past 10 years; (4) the probability of itsgrowth toward the territory during the ensuing 10 years, takinginto consideration natural barriers and other reasons which mightinfluence growth toward the territory; (5) the willingness of the cityto annex the territory and its ability to provide city services in caseof annexation; and (6) the general effect upon the entire community, all ofthese and other considerations having to do with the overall orderly andeconomic development of the area and to prevent an unreasonablemultiplicity of independent municipal and special district governments.

      History:   L. 1945, ch. 180, § 3; L. 1965, ch. 172, § 3; L.1969, ch. 156, § 2; L. 1981, ch. 173, § 59;L. 1985, ch. 256, § 6;L. 1986, ch. 70, § 7; May 15.