24-1206. Sufficient petition transmitted to chief engineer; investigation, report and approval or disapproval; approval required, when; transmittal of approval to secretary of state and to chairperson of steering committee. (a) If the secretary of state finds the petition to be sufficient as to form and the number and qualifications of the petitioners, the secretary of state shall prepare a certified copy of the petition and transmit it to the chief engineer within five days after the secretary of state's determination of sufficiency.

(b) Upon receipt of a certified copy of a petition transmitted pursuant to subsection (a) or a certified copy of a resolution transmitted pursuant to K.S.A. 24-1203a, the chief engineer shall institute an investigation of each proposed district, its territory and purposes and, within 90 days after receipt of such copy shall transmit a written report of the chief engineer's findings on the petition or resolution, together with the chief engineer's written approval or disapproval of the petition or resolution, to the secretary of state and the acting chairperson of the steering committee named in the petition or resolution.

(c) The chief engineer shall approve the petition or resolution if the chief engineer finds and discloses by the chief engineer's report that:

(1) The lands proposed to be included in each district comprise substantially a watershed or two or more adjoining watersheds;

(2) each proposed district would not include lands in any existing watershed district;

(3) the statement of purposes contained in the petition or resolution conforms with the intents and purposes of this act;

(4) the lands within each proposed district or part thereof, are subject to erosion, floodwater or sediment damage or would be benefited by the construction of works for the conservation, development, utilization or disposal of water;

(5) the boundary of each proposed district is defined, as far as practicable, so as to include all quarter-quarter sections of which more than 1/2 of each is within the watershed;

(6) the downstream limit of each proposed district is established with due regard to the location of highways and railroads and the location and character of existing works of improvement, the boundaries of any organized levee, drainage, irrigation and watershed districts, and the physical characteristics of and the probable relative effect of the operation of the proposed district upon any flood plane area common to both the stream or watercourse and any other stream or watercourse; and

(7) the map attached to the petition or resolution and the description of lands proposed to be included in each district are adequate and correct, except the chief engineer, in the chief engineer's report, may make any minor corrections with respect to the map or the description of lands proposed to be included in the district to make such map and description of lands conform to the map previously prepared in consultation with the chief engineer and such corrections shall thereupon become a part of the petition or resolution and be deemed effective without a recirculation of the corrected petition among the landowners or amendment of the resolution.

(d) If the chief engineer approves the petition or resolution, the chief engineer shall transmit a certified copy of the chief engineer's report to the secretary of state and to the chairperson of the steering committee of the district.

History: L. 1953, ch. 477, § 6; L. 1957, ch. 226, § 3; L. 1959, ch. 172, § 5; L. 1961, ch. 193, § 6; L. 1995, ch. 210, § 6; May 4.