Chap. 757.—An ACT to amend and re-enact the 33d section of the charter of
the city of Alexandria, approved February 20, 1871,as amended by an act
approved March 22, 1871, and by an act approved 17th day of March, 1876,
and by an act approved March 20, 1877, and by an act approved January 25,
1879, and by an act approved March 1, 1888, and by an act approved February
25, 1892, and by an act approved March 8, 1894.

Approved March 4, 1896.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sec-
tion thirty-three of an act entitled an act to amend the charter of
the city of Alexandria, approved February twentieth, eighteen hun-
dred and seventy-one, as amended by an act approved March twenty-
second, eighteen hundred and seventy-one, and by an act approved
the seventeenth day of March, eighteen hundred and seventy-six,
and by an act approved March twentieth, eighteen hundred and
seventy-seven, and by an act approved January twenty-fifth, eighteen
hundred and seventy-nine, and by an act approved March first, eigh-
teen hundred and eighty-eight, and by an act approved February
twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and ninety-{wo, and by an act
approved March eighth, eighteen hundred and ninety-four, be
amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

§ 33. That the city council is authorized and empowered to lay
out, establish, open, close, vacate, widen, extend, regulate, grade,
pave, gravel, macadamize, regrade, and repave streets, lanes, avenues,
and alleys in said city; to improve, repair, pave, and repave side-
walks, pavements, and gutters; to set and reset curb; to cause sew-
ers and drains to be built, and public squares and parks to be opened,
regulated, ornamented, and perfected in the manner hereinafter pro-
vided, and generally to have such other improvements made in and
about such streets, avenues, lanes, alleys, parks, and squares as the
public wants and conveniences may require.

That whenever the city council shall deem it expedient to lay out,
establish, open, widen, extend, regulate, grade, pave, gravel, macada-
mize, regrade, or repave any street, lane, avenue, or public alley in
in said city, or to improve, pave, or repave any sidewalk, pavement, or
gutter, or to have set or reset and put down any curbing, it shall by
joint resolution designate the district to be improved and the charac-
ter of the improvements proposed, and direct the city engineer to
survey the street, lane, avenue, or public alley which it is proposed to
1m prove, and to make a report to the city council and to file with said
report a plat showing the grade or change of grade, if any, and plans
and specifications and an estimate of the costs of the proposed
Improvement, with the names of the owners of the property to be
affected thereby; and the said report shall be filed with the
auditor of the city of Alexandria, who shall publish for ten days
in one or more newspapers of said city, to be designated by the
city council, a notice that the said report has been filed, and that
all persons interested are notified to examine the same, and that
they must file their objections thereto in writing with the said
auditor within fifteen days from the first day said notice is pub-
lished, and the said notice shall also designate with convenient
certainty the property to be affected and the district to be im-
proved; and the said auditor, after the expiration of the said fif-
teen days, shall transmit the said report of the city engineer, a copy
of said notice, and the objections filed with him to said report or to
the proposed improvement, to the city council. The city council,
after considering said report, plans, and specifications, with the
objections filed thereto, and making such alterations as it may deem
proper, may by an ordinance direct such street, lane, avenue, or public
alley to be laid out, established, opened, widened, extended, regulated,
graded, paved, gravelled, macadamized, regraded, repaved, or other-
wise improved, or such sidewalk or gutter to be improved, repaired,
paved, or repaved, or such curbing to be set or reset and put down,
the same to be done by the persons and in the same manner specified
in said ordinance; and when the said improvements have been com-
pleted the city council shall, after giving ten days’ notice thereof by
advertisement in some newspaper published in said city, and by
posting at the front door of the court-house, apply to the corporation
court of the city of Alexandria, which shal] thereupon appoint three
commissioners, who shall constitute a board to ascertain the property
benefited by such improvements and the amount each piece of pro-
perty is peculiarly benefited by the same over and above the benefits
to the public generally. Vacancies in the said board shall be filled
by the said court without further notice; and the said commissioners
shall hold their office during the pleasure of the court, and shall
receive two dollars and fifty cents each for every day necessarily em-
ployed in the performance of their duties, to be paid by thecity council.
Before acting hereunder each of said commissioners shal! take an oath
in writing before some officer authorized to administer oaths to faith-
fully and impartially perform the duties aforesaid, which oath shall be
filed in the clerk’s office of the said court. The said commissioners, after
giving ten days’ notice to the owners of the property, or to the agent,
guardian or committee of such owner affected by the said improve-
ment, or by publication in some newspaper published in the city of
Alexandria if the owners are not residents of said city or unknown,
of the time and place when and where they will proceed to perform
their duties, shall after hearing all evidence offered by any person
affected by said improvement proceed to ascertain the property
benefited, and the amount each lot or parcel of land is peculiarly
benefited more than the public generally by such improvements;
and if when the said commissioners shall have ascertained all the
property benefited and the amount each lot or parcel of land is pecu-
liarly benefited as aforesaid, it shall be found that the aggregate
amount of the assessments for benefits exceeds two-thirds of the cost
of such improvements, the said commissioners shall deduct such
excess from the amount assessed against the several lots or parcels
of land in the districts where such assessment is made in propor-
tion to their respective amounts. When the said commissioners
shall have performed all the duties hereinbefore required of them,
they shall make a report, in which they shall describe each lot or
piece of land peculiarly benefited by such improvements, and state
the name‘of the owner or that the owner is unknown, and the sum
assessed upon each lot or part thereof for said benefits, which report
they shall file in the corporation court of the city of Alexandria on
the first day of the term of said court next succeeding the date of
the making of the said report; and unless exceptions are filed to the
said report within ten days after the filing of the said report the
same shall stand confirmed, but should exceptions be filed the said
court shall forthwith hear the same, and the said court may confirm,
alter or revise said report, and enter such judgment thereon as it
may deem right and just, except that the said court shall not have
power to enter a personal judgment against said exceptant for the
amount of the benefits so ascertained and assessed as aforesaid, but
the said court may, in its discretion, enter judgment for the costs of
the trial of said exceptions against either party as to the court may
seem proper. Should the owner of any lot or parcel of ground
affected by said improvement be an infant or insane, the court shall
appoint a guardian ad litem for such infant or insane person, and
no report shall be confirmed or acted upon by said court until said
guardian ad litem shall have been appointed. Upon the confir-
mation of any report or upon the entering of any judgment as
hereinbefore provided the clerk of said court shall deliver to the
auditor of said city certified copies of said report and of the
judgment of the court thereon, who shall forthwith record the
same ina book to be kept for the purpose, and from and after the time
of the confirmation of any report to which exceptions have not been
filed, and from and after the time of the judgment of the said court
upon any report to which exceptions have been filed, there shall bea
lien and a prior lien upon any lot or parcel of ground affected by any
such report to all other liens and encumbrances except state taxes
or the amount so assessed and ascertained, together with interest
hereon at the rate of six per centum per annum from the date of
ny such confirmation or judgment. The auditor shall forthwith fur-
1ish to the collector of taxes of said city a list of the properties so
Bsessed, the names of the owners thereof, and the amount of such
sessment against each, who shall proceed to collect the same; and
hhould the owner of any of said property fail to pay the amount of
aid assessment and interest thereon within one year from the date
yf the delivery of said list to said collector of taxes the said collec-
or of taxes shall forthwith levy upon said lot or parcel of land, or
© much thereof as may be necessary to satisfy said assessment and
terest and cost and expenses of sale, and sell the said lot or parcel of
and at public auction for cash after ten days’ notice of the time, place
snd terms of sale by publication in some newspaper published in the
said city ; andifat such sale no bid is made in excess of the amount of
3aid assessment, interest and the cost and expenses of sale, the said
lot shall be struck off to the said city council, and it shall be a pur-
shaser thereof upon the same terms as other purchasers, and shall
hold and dispose of the same for its benefit. Any lot of ground sold
by said collector of taxes may be redeemed, and shall be held, con-
veyed or disposed of in the same manner and after the same length
of time as real estate sold by the city council for the non-payment
of taxes thereon. The city council shall also have the right to insti-
tute a suit in equity, either in the corporation or the circuit court
for the city of Alexandria, to enforce the lien aforesaid upon any lot
or parcel of ground so assessed with benefits as aforesaid for the
amount of said benefits and the interest thereon.

Whenever the city council shall deem sit advisable to establish,
build or construct sewers in the said city it shall have the power to
do the same under the same provisions and regulations and in the
same manner and by the same proceedings, and shall have a like
lien as hereinbefore specified for the improvement of streets.

The city engineer shall examine the sidewalks and gutters in the
said city and monthly report to the city council such sidewalks and
gutters as need repairing and curbing as needs resetting, and the
city council, by ordinance or joint resolution, may require the owner
or owners of the lot of ground in front of which the said sidewalk or
gutter needs repairing or curbing needs setting, to have the same
repaired or curbing reset within the time specified in said joint reso-
lution or ordinance, and if the said owner or owners fail to have such
sidewalk or gutter repaired or curbing reset within the time pre-
scribed by said ordinance or joint resolution, the city engineer shall
forthwith have the same done, and the costs thereof, together with
interest thereon at twelve per centum per annum, shall be a lien upon
the said lot of ground from the time there is filed with the auditor a
statement made out by the city engineer showing the costs thereof,
which lien shall be a prior lien to all other liens upon said property
except state taxes, and the city council shall have the same rights and
remedies for the enforcement of the said lien as are given by this sec-
tion for the collection of the assessments therein named.

And whenever it shall become necessary for the public health or
sanitary purposes to have graded, paved, or otherwise improved any
alley or court within the corporate limits, the right to which and the
use and right of way over which is for the exclusive benefit of the
owners of real estate abutting thereon, the said city council shall
have power to require the owner or owners of the real estate abutting
upon any such alley or court to have the same graded, paved, or oth-
erwise improved, and if after ten days’ notice in the manner herein-
before provided, the owner or owners of the rea] estate abutting upon
any such alley or court fail to have the said alley or court graded,
paved, or otherwise improved, as may be required by the city coun-
cil, then the said city council shall have the power to grade, pave, or
otherwise improve the said alley or court, and the costs thereof shall
constitute a lien and a prior lien against the several lots or parcels
of real estate abutting upon the said alley or court of all other liens
except state taxes, and the city council shall have the same rights
and remedies for the enforcement of the said lien as are given by
this section for the collection of the assessments therein named; but
before proceeding to enforce the said lien, the said city council shall
have commissioners appointed to assess the costs of the said im-
provement in the manner hereinbefore provided, and the same pro-
ceedings shall be had in such cases as in the cases hereinbefore pro-
vided for in this section, and the lien shall take effect in the same
manner as provided for in this section in reference to the assess-
ments therein named.

2. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby
repealed.

3. This act shall be in force from and after its passage.