(a) Any 25 occupiers of land lying within the limits of the territory proposed to be organized into a district may file a petition with the Soil and Water Conservation Commission asking that a soil and water conservation district be organized to function in the territory described in the petition. Such petition shall set forth:

(1) The proposed name of said district.

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(2) That there is need, in the interest of the public health, safety, and welfare, for a soil and water conservation district to function in the territory described in the petition.

(3) A description of the territory proposed to be organized as a district, which description shall not be required to be given by metes and bounds or by legal subdivisions, but shall be deemed sufficient if generally accurate.

(4) A request that the Soil and Water Conservation Commission duly define the boundaries for such districts; that a referendum be held within the territory so defined on the question of the creation of a soil and water conservation district in such territory; and that the Commission determine that such a district be created.

Where more than one petition is filed covering parts of the same territory, the Soil and Water Conservation Commission may consolidate all or any such petitions.

Town or village lots or government-owned or controlled lands may be included within the boundaries of any district. As used in this subsection: The term “government-owned or controlled land” includes land owned or controlled by any governmental agency or subdivision, federal, State or local; and the term “town and village lots” means parcels or tracts on which no agricultural operations are conducted, or (being less than three acres in extent) whose production of agricultural products for home use or for sale during the immediately preceding calendar year was of less than two hundred and fifty dollars ($250.00) in value. This section applies to existing soil and water conservation districts as well as districts that may hereafter be formed. Insofar as it applies to existing districts it is intended to be declaratory of the present boundaries of such districts as defined by other charters.

(b) Within 30 days after such a petition has been filed with the Soil and Water Conservation Commission, it shall cause due notice to be given of a proposed hearing upon the question of the desirability and necessity, in the interest of the public health, safety, and welfare, of the creation of such districts, upon the question of the appropriate boundaries to be assigned to such district, upon the propriety of the petition and other proceedings taken under this Chapter, and upon all questions relevant to such inquiries. All occupiers of land within the limits of the territory described in the petition, and of lands within any territory considered for addition to such described territory, and all other interested parties, shall have the right to attend such hearings and to be heard. If it shall appear upon the hearing that it may be desirable to include within the proposed district territory outside the area within which due notice of the hearing has been given, the hearing shall be adjourned and due notice of further hearing shall be given throughout the entire area considered for the inclusion of the district, and such further hearing held. After such hearing, if the Commission shall determine, upon the facts presented at such hearing and upon such other relevant facts and information as may be available, that there is need, in the interest of the public health, safety and welfare, for a soil and water conservation district to function in the territory considered at the hearing, it shall make and record such determination, and shall define, by metes and bounds or by legal subdivisions, the boundaries of such district. In making such determination and in defining such boundaries, the Commission shall give due weight and consideration to the topography or the area considered and of the state and composition of soils therein, the distribution of erosion, the prevailing land-use practices, the desirability and necessity of including within the boundaries the particular lands under consideration and the benefits such lands may receive from being included within such boundaries, the relation of the proposed area to existing watersheds and agricultural regions, and to other soil and water conservation districts already organized or proposed for organization under the provisions of this Chapter, and such other physical, geographical and economic factors as are relevant, having due regard to the legislative determination set forth in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 139-2 The territory to be included within such boundaries need not be contiguous. If the Commission shall determine after such hearing after due consideration of the said relevant facts, that there is no need for a soil and water conservation district to function in the territory considered at the hearing, it shall make and record such determination and shall deny the petition. After six months shall have expired from the date of the denial of any such petition, subsequent petitions covering the same or substantially the same territory may be filed as aforesaid and new hearings held and determinations made thereon.

(c) After the Commission has made and recorded a determination that there is need, in the interest of the public health, safety and welfare for the organization of a district in a particular territory and has defined the boundaries thereof, it shall consider the question whether the operation of a district within such boundaries with the powers conferred upon soil and water conservation districts in this Chapter is administratively practicable and feasible. To assist the Commission in the determination of such administrative practicability and feasibility, it shall be the duty of the Commission, within a reasonable time after entry of the finding that there is need for the organization of the proposed district and the determination of the boundaries thereof, to hold a referendum within the proposed district upon the proposition of the creation of the district, and to cause due notice of such referendum to be given. The question shall be submitted by ballots upon which the words “For creation of a soil and water conservation district of the lands below described and lying in the county(ies) of ____, ____ and ____.” and “Against creation of a soil and water conservation district of the lands below described and lying in the county(ies) of ________ and ________.” shall appear with a square before each proposition and a direction to insert an X mark in the square before one or the other of said propositions as the voter may favor or oppose creation of such district. The ballot shall set forth the boundaries of such proposed district as determined by the Commission. All occupiers of land lying within the boundaries of the territory, as determined by the Soil and Water Conservation Commission, shall be eligible to vote in such referendum. Only such land occupiers shall be eligible to vote.

(d) The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services shall pay all expenses for the issuance of such notices and the conduct of such hearings and referenda, and shall supervise the conduct of such hearings and referenda. It shall issue appropriate regulations governing the conduct of such hearings and referenda, and providing for the registration prior to the date of the referendum of all eligible voters, or prescribing some other appropriate procedure for the determination of those eligible as voters in such referendum. No informality in the conduct of such referendum or in any matters relating thereto shall invalidate said referendum or the result thereof if notice thereof shall have been given substantially as herein provided and said referendum shall have been fairly conducted.

(e) The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services shall publish the results of such referendum and shall thereafter consider and determine whether the operation of the district within the defined boundaries is administratively practicable and feasible. If the Commission shall determine that the operation of such district is not administratively practicable and feasible, it shall record such determination and deny the petition. If the Commission shall determine that the operation of such district is administratively practicable and feasible, it shall record such in the manner hereinafter provided. In making such determination the Commission shall give due regard and weight to the attitudes of the occupiers of lands lying within the defined boundaries, the number of land occupiers eligible to vote in such referendum who shall have voted, the proportion of the votes cast in such referendum in favor of the creation of the district to the total number of votes cast, the approximate wealth and income of the land occupiers of the proposed district, the probable expense of carrying on erosion control operations within such district, and such other economic and social factors as may be relevant to such determination, having due regard to the legislative determination set forth in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 139-2: Provided, however, that the Commission shall not have authority to determine that the operations of the proposed district within the defined boundaries is administratively practicable and feasible unless at least a majority of the votes cast in the referendum upon the proposition of creation of the district shall have been cast in favor of the creation of such district.

(f) If the Commission shall determine that the operation of the proposed district within the defined boundaries is administratively practicable and feasible, it shall appoint two temporary supervisors to act as the governing body of the district, who shall serve until supervisors are elected or appointed and qualify as provided in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 139-6 and 139-7. Such district shall be a governmental subdivision of this State and a public body corporate and politic, upon the taking of the following proceedings:

The two appointed temporary supervisors shall present to the Secretary of State an application signed by them which shall set forth (and such application need contain no detail other than the mere recitals):

(1) That a petition for the creation of the district was filed with the Soil and Water Conservation Commission pursuant to the provisions of this Chapter and that the proceedings specified in this Chapter were taken pursuant to such petition; that the application is being filed in order to complete the organization of the district as a governmental subdivision and public body, corporate and politic under this Chapter; and that the Commission has appointed them as supervisors;

(2) The name and official residence of each of the temporary supervisors, together with a certified copy of the appointment evidencing their right to office;

(3) The name which is proposed for the district; and

(4) The location of the principal office of the supervisors of the district.

The application shall be subscribed and sworn to by each of the said temporary supervisors before an officer authorized by the laws of this State to take and certify oaths, who shall certify upon the application that he personally knows the temporary supervisors and knows them to be the officers as affirmed in the application, and that each has subscribed thereto in the officer’s presence. The application shall be accompanied by a statement by the Soil and Water Conservation Commission, which shall certify (and such statement need contain no detail other than the mere recitals) that a petition was filed, notice issued, and hearing held as aforesaid, that the Commission did duly determine that there is need, in the interest of the public health, safety and welfare, for a soil and water conservation district to function in the proposed territory and did define the boundaries thereof; that notice was given and a referendum held on the question of the creation of such district, and that the result of such referendum showed a majority of the votes cast in such referendum to be in favor of the creation of the district; that thereafter the Commission did duly determine that the operation of the proposed district is administratively practicable and feasible. The said statement shall set forth the boundaries of the district as they have been defined by the Commission.

The Secretary of State shall examine the application and statement and, if he finds that the name proposed for the district is not identical with that of any other soil and water conservation district of this State or so nearly similar as to lead to confusion or uncertainty, he shall receive and file them and shall record them in an appropriate book of record in his office. If the Secretary of State shall find that the name proposed for the district is identical with that of any other soil and water conservation district of this State, or so nearly similar as to lead to confusion and uncertainty, he shall certify such fact to the Soil and Water Conservation Commission, which shall thereupon submit to the Secretary of State a new name for the said district, which shall not be subject to such defects. Upon receipt of such new name, free of such defects, the Secretary of State shall record the application and statement, with the name so modified, in an appropriate book of record in his office. When the application and statement have been made, filed and recorded, as herein provided, the district shall constitute a governmental subdivision of this State and a public body corporate and politic. The Secretary of State shall make and issue to the said supervisors a certificate, under the seal of the State, of the due organization of the said district, and shall record such certificate with the application and statement. The boundaries of such district shall include the territory as determined by the Soil and Water Conservation Commission as aforesaid, but in no event shall they include any area included within the boundaries of another soil and water conservation district organized under the provisions of this Chapter.

(g) After six months shall have expired from the date of entry of a determination by the Soil and Water Conservation Commission that operation of a proposed district is not administratively practicable and feasible, and denial of a petition pursuant to such determination, subsequent petitions may be filed as aforesaid, and action taken thereon in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter.

(h) Petitions for including additional territory within an existing district may be filed with the Soil and Water Conservation Commission, and the proceedings herein provided for in the case of petitions to organize a district shall be observed in the case of petitions for such inclusions. The Commission shall prescribe the form for such petitions, which shall be as nearly as may be in the form prescribed in this Chapter for petitions to organize a district. Where the total number of land occupiers in the area proposed for inclusion shall be less than 25, the petition may be filed when signed by two thirds of the occupiers of such area, and in such case no referendum need be held. In referenda petitions for such inclusion, all occupiers of land lying within the proposed additional area shall be eligible to vote.

(i) In any suit, action or proceeding involving the validity or enforcement of, or relating to any contract, proceeding or action of the district, the district shall be deemed to have been established in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter upon proof of the issuance of the aforesaid certificate by the Secretary of State. A copy of such certificate duly certified by the Secretary of State shall be admissible in evidence in any such suit, action, or proceeding and shall be proof of the filing and contents thereof. (1937, c. 393, s. 5; 1947, c. 131, s. 4; 1959, c. 781, s. 6; 1965, c. 582, s. 3; 1973, c. 1262, s. 38; 1977, c. 771, s. 4; 1989, c. 727, s. 218(91); 1997-443, s. 11A.119(a); 2011-145, s. 13.22A(k), (l).)