Chap. 698.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 88 of an act entitled “an
act to amend 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 the
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 3, 1896.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That section
thirty-three of an act entitled “an act to amend the charter of the
city of Alexandria, approved February twentieth, eighteen hundred
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, eighteen hun-
dred and eighty-eight, and by an act approved February twenty-fifth,
eighteen hundred and ninety-two, and by an act approved March
eight, 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 ; toimprove, repair, pave and repave sidewalks,
pavements, and gutters ; to set and reset curbs; to cause sewers and
drains to be built, and public squares and parks to be opened, regu-
lated, ornamented and perfected in the manner hereinafter provided,
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
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 char-
acter of the improvements proposed, and direct the city engineer to
survey the street, lane, avenue or public alley, which it is proposed
to improve, 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 in-
terested 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 published; and the said
notice shall also designate with convenient certainty the property to
be affected and the district to be improved; and the said auditor,
after the expiration of the said fifteen 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 specifi-
cations, with the objections filed thereto, and making such altera-
tions 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, graveled, macadamized,
regraded, repaved, or otherwise 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 manner specified in said ordinance; and when the said im-
provements have been completed the city council shall, after giving
ten days’ notice thereof by advertisement in some newspaper pub-
lished 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 shall thereupon appoint three commissioners, who shall con-
stitute a board to ascertain the property benefited by such improve-
ments and the amount each piece of property is peculiarly bene-
fited 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 employed in the perform-
ance of their duties, to be paid by the city council. Before acting
hereunder each of said commissioners shal] take an oath in writing,
before some officer authorized to administer oaths, to faithfully 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 own-
ers of the property, or to the agent, guardian or committee of such
owner, affected by the said improvement, 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 improve-
ment, proceed to ascertain the property benefited, and the amount
each lot or parcel of land is peculiarly benefited more than the pub-
lic generally by such improvements; and if when the said commis-
sioners shall have ascertained all the property benefited, and the
amount each lot or parcel of land is peculiarly benefited as afore-
said, 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 as-
sessed against the several lots or parcels of land in the district where
such assessment is made in proportion to their respective amounts.
When the said commissioners shal] 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 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 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 im-
provement 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 confirmation 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 shal! forthwith
record the same in a 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 be alien and a prior lien upon any lot or parcel of ground
affected by any such report, to all other liens and incumbrances
except state taxes, for the amount so assessed and ascertained,
together with interest thereon at the rate of six per centum per
annum from the date of any such confirmation or judgment. The
auditor shall forthwith furnish to the collector of taxes of said city
a list of the properties so assessed, the names of the owners thereof,
and the amount of such assessment against each, who shall proceed
to collect the same; and should the owner of any of said property
fail to pay the amount of said assessment and interest thereon
within one year from the date of the delivery of said list to said col-
lector of taxes, the said collector of taxes shall forthwith levy upon
said lot or parcel of land, or so much thereof as may be necessary to
satisfy said assessment and interest and cost and expenses of sale,
and sell the said lot or parcel of land at public auction for cash,
after ten days’ notice of the time, place and terms of sale, by publi-
cation in some newspaper published in the said city; and if at such
sale no bid is made in excess of the amount of said assessment, in-
terest and the costs and expenses of sale, the said lot shall be struck
off to the said city council, and it shall be a purchaser thereof
upon the same terma as other purchasers, and shal! 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, conveyed 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 institute a suit in
equity, either in the corporation or circuit court for the city of Alex-
andria, to enforce the lien aforesaid upon any lot or parcel of ground
so assessed with benefits as aforesaid, for the amount of said bene-
fits and the interest thereon.

Whenever the city council shall deem it advisable to establish,
build or construct sewers in the said city, it shall have power to do
the same under the same provisions and regulations, and in the same
manner and by the same proceedings, and shall have 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 re-
solution or ordinance; and if the said owner or owners fail to have
such sidewalk or gutter repaired or curbing reset, within the time
prescribed 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 contum 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 liens 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 section 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 realestate abutting upon
any such alley or court to have the same graded, paved, or otherwise
improved ; and if after ten days’ notice in the manner hereinbefore pro-
vided the owner or owners of the real 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 council, 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 to all other liens except
state taxes; and the city council shall have the same rights and
romedies for the enforcement of the said lien as are given by this
section for the collection of the assessments therein named; but
bafore proceeding to enforce the said lien the said city council shall
have commissioners appointed to assess the costsof the said improve-
nent in the manner hereinbefore provided, and the same proceedings
hall be had in such cases as in the cases hereinbefore provided for
n this section, and the lien shall take effect in the same manner as
provided for in this section in reference to the assessments therein
1amed.

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

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