three, the county or counties, jointly acting, in which the same is situated, may purchase a toll bridge constructed under the provisions of this chapter. Article III. Toll Ferries. SEC. 2892. Application for leave to erect, and notice. 2893. Duty of Board of Supervisors. 2894. Powers of Board of Supervisors. § 2892. Every applicant for authority to erect and take tolls on a public ferry must publish a notice in at least one newspaper in each county in which the ferry is or touches, or if there is no newspaper published therein, then in one published in an adjoining county, and by posting three notices in three public places in the township for four successive weeks, specifying the location and the time and place when and where the application will be made. After notice is given application must be made in writing, under oath, to the Board of Supervisors of the proper county, the landings of the proposed ferry must be described, and the names of the owners thereof given, if known; and if the applicant is not the owner of the land, that notice of the application has been served on the owner thereof at least ten days prior to the application. § 2893. At the hearing, proof of giving the notice, as required by the preceding section, must be made, and any person may appear and contest the application. If the board finds that the ferry is either a public necessity or convenience, and that the applicant is a suitable person, and by reason of ownership of the landing or failure of the owner thereof to apply is entitled thereto, authority to erect and take tolls on the ferry may be granted to him for the term of twenty years. 134 Cal. 625. § 2894. The Board of Supervisors may make all needful rules and regulations for the government of ferries and ferry-keepers, prescribing: 1. How many boats must be kept, their character, and how propelled; 2. The number of hands, boatmen, or ferrymen to be employed, and rules for their government; 3. How many trips to be made daily; 4. When and under what circumstances to make trips in the night-time; 5. Who may be ferried free of toll; 6. In what cases of danger or peril not to cross; 7. Penalties for violation of regulations; 8. In case of steamboats, the rate of speed; 9. The method of and preference in loading and crossing; and, 10. How and by whom action must be brought to recover penalties. § 2895. Penalties recovered under this article must be paid to the County Treasurer for the use of the general road fund of the county. TITLE VI. CHAPTER V. WHARVES, CHUTES, AND PIERS. SEC. 2906. Board of Supervisors to authorize construction. 2908. Petition relative to lands not owned by applicant. 2910. Board to hear proof, and may grant authority. 2911. Overflowed or tide lands granted. 2912. One hundred and fifty feet on each side of wharf, etc. 2914. Dimensions of wharves, chutes, or piers. 2915. Franchise, what to constitute. 2916. Board of Supervisors to fix rate of tolls, etc. 2917. License, and the tax for. 2918. To keep in good repair. 2919. Restrictions on granting authority. 2920. Cities and towns exempted and authorized. § 2906. The Boards of Supervisors of every county in this State may grant authority to any person or corporation to construct a wharf, chute, or pier, on any lands bordering on any navigable bay, lake, inlet, creek, slough, or arm of the sea, situate in or bounding their counties respectively, with a license to take tolls for the use of the same for the term of twenty years. 52 Cal. 386. 2907. Application therefor must be made by publishing notice as required in section twenty-eight hundred and ninety-two, and filing a petition in writing, containing: 1. The name and residence of the applicant; and if a corporation, a certified copy of the artices of incorporation; 2. A map of the waters, and the name and location thereof, and of the adjoining lands; 3. A plan of the wharf, chute, or pier proposed to be constructed, and of the land within three hundred feet thereof; 4. The names of the owners of the lands, and the quantity thereof sought to be used, and whether the right to use the same is or is to be acquired by the applicant; 5. The distance it is proposed to extend the wharf, chute, or pier into the waters; 6. The estimated cost of the construction of the wharf, chute, or pier; and, 7. The time when the application will be made. 2908. When any lands are sought to be appropriated and nsed for a wharf, chute, or pier, of which the applicant is not the owner, or the right of way and use thereof has not been obtained by agreement, these facts and the particular description of such land must be set forth in the petition of the applicant, and a copy of the notice of application must be served on the owner thereof by the Sheriff of the county, whose official return is conclusive evidence of service, at least ten days prior to the appointed day set for the hearing of the same. § 2909. When the owner of the land is a non-resident of the county, it is service of notice for the Sheriff to leave a copy with the occupant or agent of the owner; if none, then to place a copy in the postoffice addressed to the owner thirty days prior to the day set for the hearing. If the owner is a minor, insane, idiot, or decedent, notice must be served on the guardian, administrator, or other legal representative of such person. 2910. On the day named in the notice, or to which the hearing is adjourned, the Board of Supervisors must hear proof of publication and service of notice; if satisfactory, the Board must hear the allegations of the petition, and any objections to the granting of the application, and proofs in support of each. If from the proofs it appear that the public good or convenience will be promoted thereby, the Board of Supervisors may grant to the applicant the right to erect or construct a wharf, chute, or pier, as prayed for, and to take tolls for the use of the same for the term of twenty years. § 2911. The grant of authority made by the Board of Supervisors, as provided in the preceding section, conveys to the grantee or applicant the right of way and all necessary use for the purposes of the wharf, chute, or pier, of any of the overflowed, submerged, or tide lands belonging to the State, particularly describing the quantity thereof in the order, as also the right of way over any swamp, overflowed, marsh, or tide lands lying between the wharf, chute, or pier and high or dry land, fifty feet in width, for twenty years. § 2912. The grant of authority herein provided for carries with it the right to have unincumbered and unobstructed the land and water on each side of the wharf, chute, or pier, from highwater mark to navigable water, a distance of one hundred and fifty feet, for the convenience of landing, loading, and unloading vessels, but for no other purpose. § 2913. Authority to construct a wharf, chute, or pier being granted, the grantee or applicant may procure from the owner the right of way and other necessary incidental use for the wharf, chute, or pier, of any of his lands, by proceedings had under title seven, part three, of the Code of Civil Procedure. Until such use of the lands held adversely is obtained by agreement, or by the proceedings herein before mentioned, there is no authority to construct a wharf, chute, or pier, or to take tolls thereon. 57 Cal. 204. § 2914. The wharf, chute, or pier must not be of a greater width than seventy-five (75) feet, and may extend to navigable water; provided, that a wharf constructed upon any of the navigable rivers, straits, sloughs, and inlets in this State may extend along the shores for a distance not exceeding one thousand feet, but in no case shall any wharf, chute, or pier extend into the water so far as to obstruct the free navigation of the water on which the same is situated; provided, this Act shall not apply to the waterfronts of incorporated cities and towns. [Amendment approved April 16, 1880.] § 2915. The orders granting authority, and agreements, contracts, deeds, and decrees of courts granting the right of way and other use of lands, must be filed and recorded in the office of the Recorder of the county where the wharf, chute, or pier is situate and constitutes the franchise of the applicant. The fees of the Recorder, as also the fees of the Clerk, Sheriff, and other officers, for services rendered, must be paid by the applicant. § 2916. The Board of Supervisors must fix the rate of tolls or wharfage for the use of the wharf, chute, or pier annually, which must not produce an income of less than fifteen per cent per annum nor more than twenty-five per cent per annum on the fair cash value of the wharf, chute, or pier, and on the cost of repair and maintenance thereof, exclusive of the amount paid for license imposed by the next section. Such value and cost of repair and maintenance to be fixed by the Board of Supervisors when levying the rates of tolls or wharfage, by hearing evidence and examining the assessment rolls of the county. When fixed, the rates must be furnished the owner, and a printed or written copy thereof conspicuously posted on the wharf, chute, or pier. [Amendment, March 24, 1876.] § 2917. When the wharf, chute, or pier is completed and the tolls or wharfage fixed, the owner is entitled to a license to take the tolls thereon for the term of one year, to be issued by the County Auditor on the payment of such license tax as the Board of Supervisors may fix, which, except that for the first year, must not be more than ten per cent of the gross receipts for tolls or wharfage for the previous year, to be paid to the County Treasury for general road purposes. $ 2918. Any owner or keeper of a wharf, chute, or pier who takes toll or wharfage for the use of the same when not in good repair, or is unsafe or dangerous, forfeits the sum of twenty-five dollars, to be recovered by order of the Board of Supervisors granting authority to construct it, for the use of the general road fund of the county, and is liable for all damages occasioned thereby. § 2919. No authority must be granted under this chapter to interfere with vested rights, nor to interfere with or infringe grants heretofore made by State authority; nor does authority to construct a wharf, chute, or pier continue for a longer period than two years, unless the same is within that time completed. 67 Cal. 545. $ 2920. The lands of the State situate in the City and County of San Francisco, and those otherwise disposed of or situate within the limits of any incorporated town or city of this State, are excluded from the provisions of this chapter. The municipal authorities of any incorporated city or town other than San Francisco may grant authority to construct wharves, chutes, and piers, as is herein provided for the Board of Supervisors. 60 Cal. 347. |