a. Report. The City Engineer shall prepare a report for each proposed area of benefit for which a fee under this section is to be imposed, and shall file it with the City Clerk. The Clerk shall fix a time, date, and place for Town Council hearing thereon and for filing objections or protests thereto.
b. Contents. The report shall contain preliminary information related to the boundaries of the area of benefit, the estimated costs, and the method(s) of fee apportionment. It must be based on a development program for the area adopted by the Town Council.
c. Method of Fee Apportionment. The City Engineer shall compute and apportion the fee by any formula(s), or method(s) which fairly distributes the fee among all subject parcels in proportion to the estimated benefits they will receive from the proposed improvement.
d. Apportionment; Major Thoroughfares. In the case of major thoroughfares, the method of fee apportionment shall not provide for higher fees on land which abuts the proposed improvement, except where the abutting property is provided direct usable access to the major thoroughfare.
e. Fee Applicable to All Property. Such apportioned fees shall apply to all property within the area of benefit.
f. Exempted Property. Where the area of benefit includes property not subject to the payment of fees pursuant to this section, the Council shall provide for payment of the share of improvement costs apportioned to such property from other sources.
g. Notice of Hearing. The City Engineer shall mail notice of the hearing, in accordance with the provisions of Government Code Section 65905, at least ten (10) days beforehand, to the owners of each parcel of land, or portion thereof, situated within the area of benefit.
h. Protest. At any time not later than the hour set for hearing, any owner of property situated within the area of benefit may protest the proposed area of benefit, method of apportioning the fee, or the improvement, or all of them. Such protest must be in writing and must contain a description of the property in which each signer of the protest is interested, sufficient to identify it, and, if the signers are not shown on the last equalized assessment roll as the owners of such property, must contain or be accompanied by written evidence that such signers are the owners of such property. All such protests shall be delivered to the City Clerk, and no other protests or objections shall be considered.
i. Withdrawal of Protest. Any protest may be withdrawn in writing by the owner making it, at any time before the conclusion of a public hearing held under the provisions of this section.
j. Majority Protest. If, within the same time when protests may be filed under the provisions of paragraph h., there is filed a written protest by the owners of more than one-half (1/2) of the area of the property to be benefited by the improvement, and sufficient protests are not withdrawn so as to reduce the area represented to one-half (1/2) of that to be benefited, or less, then the proposed proceedings shall be abandoned, and for one (1) year from the filing of that protest the Town Council shall not commence or carry on any proceedings for the same improvement or acquisition under the provisions of this section. Nothing in this section shall preclude the processing and recordation of maps in accordance with other provisions of this chapter if proceedings are abandoned.
k. Partial Protest. If any majority protest is directed against only a portion of the improvement, all further proceedings under the provisions of this section to construct that portion of the improvement so protested against shall be barred for a period of one (1) year, but the Council may begin new proceedings not including any part of the improvement or acquisition so protested against. The Council, within such one (1) year period, may commence and carry on new proceedings for the construction of a portion of the improvement so protested against if it finds, by the affirmative vote of four-fifths (4/5) of its members, that the owners of more than one-half (1/2) of the area of the property to be benefited are in favor of going forward with such portion of the improvement or acquisition.
l. Hearing. The Town Council shall hear the matter as scheduled, or as postponed or continued for good cause, and consider any objections or protests. At such hearing, the Council may then adopt, revise, reduce or increase any portion of the report. The Council, by resolution, shall establish the boundaries of the area of benefit, the costs, whether actual or estimated, and a fair method of allocation of costs to the area of benefit and fee apportionment, and the Council must find that the road and/or bridge improvements are necessary and desirable within the area of benefit.
m. Recording Resolution. The City Clerk shall promptly file a certified copy of this resolution with the County Recorder.