171 Ind. 250 | Ind. | 1908
After the substantial completion of an improvement of Main street in the town of Rochester, under §8959 Burns 1908, Acts 1905, p. 219, §265, appellant brought this suit to enjoin appellee from making, or attempting to make, or from collecting, any assessment against his real estate abutting on said street, where the same was improved, to pay the cost thereof.
Appellees’ demurrer for “want of facts” to the complaint was sustained, and appellant refusing to plead further judgment was rendered against him on demurrer. The only error assigned is the sustaining of said demurrer to the complaint.
Section 8959, supra, further provides that “such common council or board of trustees shall meet at the time and place set forth in such notice and shall hear any and all persons who desire to be heard in person, or by attorney, whose property may be affected by the proposed improvement; and upon such hearing such resolution may be confirmed, modified, changed, altered or rescinded, but the kind of improvement to be made shall be determined and specified before the resolution is finally adopted.”
It is alleged in the complaint: “That, after the hearing of said objections, said defendant town did not confirm, change, modify, alter or rescind said declaratory resolution by any order, resolution, ordinance or in any other manner, but, on the contrary, afterwards, to wit, on December 9, 1905, said defendant town, by its said board of trustees, by another resolution, adopted and entered of record, ordered the improvement of that part of Main street aforesaid by ‘grading and paving with vitrified shale paving block,’ and setting marginal curbs and sewer inlets, the width of paving from the south.line of Pearl street south to the first alley to be fifty feet between curbs, and thence to the south line of lot four in Jonas Goss’s addition to said town, said paving to be forty-two feet between curbs.”
It is also contended that said board had no jurisdiction to contract for said improvement or cause the same to be made, because (1) the cost of said improvement, as fixed by the contract, exceeded fifty per cent of the aggregate value of the property, as it was assessed for .taxation, exclusive of improvements, subject to be assessed to pay for said improvement; (2) the cost of that part of said improvement south of the south line of Perry street, as fixed by said contract, exceeded fifty per cent of the aggregate value of all the real estate within said limits, as the same was assessed for taxation, exclusive of improvements, subject to be assessed to pay for that part of said improvement; (3) the cost of
It is expressly provided in §8959, supra, that the improvement bf streets in incorporated towns should -be governed by said section and sections 108-120 of the act of 1905, supra. Section 107 of said act applies only to improvements in cities of the first, second or third class, and has no application whatever to the improvement of streets or alleys in towns.
It is next insisted by appellant that the board of trustees of appellee town of Rochester had no jurisdiction to order or make such improvement, or to contract therefor, and the same was void, because (1) the declaratory resolution adopted November 16, 1905, was “too indefinite as to the kind of material to be used in the proposed paving, two kinds being named;” (2) “said resolution did not state the size or kind of paving block to be used, nor the size or kind of curbing, nor the extent of excavation contemplated in grading, nor the number, size, kind or character of the sewer inlets to be constructed, and did not declare a necessity for changing the' grade of the street at any point between the termini of the proposed improvement;” (3) said board
It is alleged in the complaint that the board of trustees “adopted and caused to be entered upon the records a resolution declaring a necessity for the improvement of said Main street from the south line of Pearl street in said town to the south line of lot four in Jonas Goss’s addition to Rochester, a distance of about 3,100 feet, by grading and paving with vitrified shale or clay paving block, or other paving material, and by setting all necessary curbs and sewer inlets to the width of forty-two feet.” This was a substantial compliance with that part of §8959, supra, heretofore set out. The fact that two or more kinds of material for the improvement of said street were mentioned in said resolution does not. render it void.
The reason for requiring the adoption of detailed plans and specifications of the proposed improvement, and that the same be filed in the proper office before notice of the letting of the contract, is evident. It was required in order that persons desiring to bid on said work, as well as others interested, could ascertain and know the amount and kind of work to be done.
To comply with said provision of said section it is only necessary to adopt and file detailed plans and specifications within a reasonable time after the adoption of the final resolution, and before notice of the letting of said contract. There is no allegation in the complaint that detailed plans and specifications were not adopted before notice of the letting of the contract was given, nor are any facts alleged showing that such detailed plans and specifications were not adopted and filed in the proper office within a reasonable time after the adoption of said final resolution.
9. The provision in the contract, that the contractor might appropriate the surplus earth from said street, did not render the proceeding or contract void. The same question arose in Jenkins v. Stetler (1889), 118 Ind. 275, where the surplus earth taken from a street being improved was to be the property of the contractor. It was claimed that this made the proceeding illegal. The court said at page 277: “We do not find it necessary to inquire concerning the title to surplus earth which accumulates in the course of a street improvement. It is not disclosed that there was any in fact growing out of the improvement involved in the present case; nor that the contractors appro
It was said in the ease last cited: “It is a general rule, now fully accepted in this State, that where the owner of property subject to assessment for public improvements stands by and makes no objection to such improvements which benefit his property, he may not deny the authority by which the improvements are made, nor defeat the assessment made against his property for the benefits derived. And this is true, both where the proceedings for the improvement
Having determined all questions stated in appellant’s points (Inland Steel Co. v. Smith [1907], 168 Ind. 245, 252; Pittsburgh, etc., R. Co. v. Lightheiser [1907], 168 Ind. 438, 467; Baltimore, etc., R. Co. v. Evans [1907], 169 Ind. 410, 429), and finding no available error, the judgment is affirmed.