2504

LAWS OF MARYLAND

Ch. 911

establishment or enlargement is feasible from an
engineering and financial standpoint, subject to the
consent of the County Commissioners of St. Mary's
County.]

[(2) Whenever twenty—five property owners,
residing in any locality in St. Mary's County, shall in
writing petition the Commission to have said locality
(the boundaries whereof shall be definitely stated in
said petition) constituted as a new sanitary district or
added to an existing sanitary district to which such
locality is contiguous, the Commission, if it approves,
shall cause to be made a preliminary engineering survey
of the project to determine the feasibility and probable
cost of providing such area with utilities, whether
water, sewer or otherwise. If the Commission disapproves
of the project or is unable or unwilling to undertake or
obtain such preliminary engineering survey, it shall so
inform the petitioners by mail giving to each of said
petitioners an estimate of the cost of making or
obtaining such a preliminary engineering survey, and no
further action shall be taken on said project unless and
until the persons signing the petition therefor cause the
estimated cost of such preliminary engineering survey to
be paid to the Commission, which shall then proceed to
make or obtain such preliminary engineering survey. Upon
any locality becoming a sanitary district or a part of an
existing sanitary district, pursuant to the provisions of
this section, the Commission shall repay from the first
funds available for such purpose, including the issuance
of bonds, any sums furnished by any of the petitioners to
defray the cost of the preliminary engineering survey.
Upon completion of the preliminary engineering survey,
the Commission shall give notice by publication in one or
more newspapers of general circulation in St. Mary's
County once a week for three (3) successive weeks, which
notice shall describe the proposed sanitary district or
enlargement, together with the time and place of a
hearing to be held, at which hearing a report shall be
made as to the then estimated approximate cost of the
facilities contemplated and the establishment of a
sanitary district. Such report shall also include an
estimate of the amount, if any, to be financed by the
issuance of bonds pursuant to the authority of Section
161 of this subtitle. If the then estimated appropriate
amount of bonds to be issued pursuant to Section 161 of
this subtitle to pay the cost of the proposed facilities
in the sanitary district (as proposed to be established
or to be enlarged), together with the unamortized balance
of the bonds issued to pay the cost of all facilities
previously installed by the Commission in the sanitary
district (as proposed to be established or to be
enlarged), is estimated to exceed twenty—five per centum
(25%) of the assessed property value as fixed for county
taxation purposes in the sanitary district (as proposed
to be established or to be enlarged), or if the project
is not feasible from an engineering or financial
standpoint or, in the judgment of the Commission, is not