364                               Laws of Maryland                        [Ch. 287

struction is completed on the water supply, sewerage or drainage
systems, or in which the systems are purchased or acquired. The said
Commission for the purpose of assessing benefits shall divide all
properties binding upon a street, road, lane, alley or right-of-way,
in which a water pipe or sanitary sewer is to be laid, into four classes,
namely: Agricultural, small acreage, industrial or business, and sub-
division or residential property, and the Commission may sub-divide
each of said classes in such manner as it may deem to be in the public
interest. Whenever any water supply or sewerage project in said
district or districts shall have been completed by March 31, in any
one year, regardless of when said construction was commenced, then
the said Commission shall fix and levy a benefit charge as of the first
day of January in which the project was completed upon all property
in said sub-district abutting upon said water main or sewer, in ac-
cordance with the classification or sub-division thereof, and shall in
writing, notify all owners of said properties into which class and sub-
division their respective properties fall and the charge determined
upon, naming also in said notice a time and place, when and at which
time said owner will be heard. Such notice may be mailed to the last
known address of the owner, or served in person upon any adult oc-
cupying the premises or in case of a vacant or unimproved property
posted upon the premises. The classification of and the benefit
assessed against any property as made by the Commission shall be
final, subject only to revision at said hearing. The Commission may
change the classification of property from time to time as said proper-
ties change in the uses to which they are put. Said benefits shall be
levied for both water supply and sewerage construction and shall be
based for each class of property upon the number of front feet abut-
ting upon the street, lane, road, alley or right-of-way in which the
water pipes or sewer is placed; provided, however, that in the case
of any irregular shaped lot abutting upon a road, street, lane, alley
or right-of-way in which there is or is being constructed a water
main or sewer at any point, said lot shall be assessed for such front-
age as the Commission may determine to be reasonable and fair; and
provided further, that no lot in a sub-division property shall be
assessed on more than one side, unless said lot abuts upon two parallel
streets, that corner lots may be averaged and assessed upon such
frontage as the Commission may deem reasonable and fair, and that
all lots in this class shall be assessed even though a water main or
sewer may not extend along the full length of any boundary; and
provided further, that no land so classified as agricultural by this
Commission shall be assessed a front foot benefit when said agri-
cultural land has constructed through it or in front of it a sewer
or water main, until such time as the water or sewer connection is
made, and when so made and for every connection such land shall
become liable to a front foot assessment for such reasonable frontage
not exceeding three hundred feet, as may be determined by said Com-
mission, and shall be immediately assessed at the rate of assessment
determined by said Commission for agricultural land. Front foot
benefit charges for water supply and sewerage construction shall be
as nearly uniform as is reasonably practical for each class or sub-
class of property throughout each sub-district for any one year and
no benefit charge, once levied, shall be increased; provided, however,
that whenever the Commission acquires an existing system other
than a municipal system, the construction of which has been added
in whole or in part to the purchase price of land or lots abutting upon