(1) (a) The owner in fee of any lands constituting a portion of any district, regardless of the valuation for assessment of such district, or, if the valuation for assessment of an existing district is less than three hundred million dollars, not less than fifteen owners of land in an overlapping area as described in section 37-45-109 (3)(d) who are petitioners for the formation of a new district proposed to be organized under the provisions of this article which includes lands within such existing district, may file with the board a petition praying that such lands be excluded and taken from said district. Petitions shall describe the lands which the petitioners desire to have excluded. Such petition must be acknowledged in the same manner and form as required in case of a conveyance of land and be accompanied by a deposit of money sufficient to pay all costs of the exclusion proceedings. (b) The secretary of the board shall cause a notice of filing of such petition to be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which said lands, or the major portion thereof, are located, the final publication to be made not less than ten days prior to the date set for the hearing thereon. If such petition has been filed by the proponents of a new district, individual notice shall also be given to those landowners of the existing district whose lands are included in the request for exclusion, by mailing a copy of such notice by registered or certified mail not less than ten days prior to the date set for the hearing thereon to each such landowner at his last-known address, as shown by the records of the treasurer of the county in which the lands are located. The notice shall state the filing of such petition, the names of petitioners, and, if applicable, the name of the proposed new district, descriptions of lands mentioned in said petition, and the prayer of said petitioners, and it shall notify all persons interested to appear at the office of said board at the time named in said notice, showing cause in writing why said petition should not be granted. (c) The board at the time and place mentioned in the notice, or at the time to which the hearing of said petition may be adjourned, shall proceed to hear the petition and all objections thereto, presented in writing, by any person showing cause why the prayer of the petition should not be granted. The filing of such petition shall be deemed an assent by each such petitioner to the exclusion from the district of his lands mentioned in the petition or any part thereof. (d) If the board deems it not for the best interest of the district that the lands mentioned in the petition or some portion thereof are excluded from the district, the board shall order that said petition be denied; but, if the board deems it for the best interest of the district that the lands mentioned in the petition, or some portion thereof, be excluded from the district and, if there are no outstanding bonds of the district, the board may order the lands mentioned in the petition, or some portion thereof, to be excluded from the district. If such exclusion is granted at the request of a proposed new district, it shall be conditioned to take effect only upon the legal creation of the proposed new district. (e) In case contract has been made between the district and the United States or any agency thereof, no change shall be made in the boundaries of the district unless the secretary of the interior assents thereto in writing and such assent is filed with the board. Upon such assent, any lands excluded from the district upon order of the court shall be discharged from all liens in favor of the United States under the contract with the United States or under bonds deposited with its agents. (f) Upon allowance of such petition, the board shall file a certified copy of the order of the board making such change with the clerk of the court, and, upon order of the court, said lands shall be excluded from the district. (2) Following organization of a district under this article at any time prior to authorization for the incurring of bonded or other indebtedness under the election procedures set forth in sections 37-45-139 to 37-45-142 and prior to the execution of a contract with the United States or any of its agencies, the governing body of any city, city and county, or town, regardless of its population, originally included in the district without consent given in the manner provided in section 37-45-109, and over an express objection made in writing to the court in which the petition for organization has been filed at any time prior to the date upon which the court declares the district organized, may pass an ordinance declaring all property, real and personal, within the limits of said public corporation, to be lands and property excluded from the district. Upon service by registered or certified mail of a certified copy of said ordinance upon the division of local government in the department of local affairs, the board of directors of the district, the court organizing said district, the assessor or treasurer, and the county clerk and recorder of the county in which that public corporation is located, said city, city and county, or town, and all lands and property within its limits, shall forthwith be automatically excluded from the district, and said property and lands within the limits of said public corporation shall thereafter be free of any tax levied by the district; except that, if such exclusion occurs after March 15 of any year, said lands and property, and the owners thereof, shall be liable for any existing levy made under section 37-45-122, only for the taxable year of the exclusion, said liability in no event to exceed one-half mill on the dollar of valuation of the property, real and personal, within the limits of said public corporation. (3) Nothing in this section shall be construed to interfere or conflict with or amend any proceeding now pending in any district court in the state of Colorado.
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