to vacating vacate, discontinue or abolish any street, alley or public ground, Action in regard or any part thereof, it shall by resolution so declare, and in streets, etc. the same resolution shall appoint a time not less than four weeks thereafter when it will meet and hear objections thereto. Notice of such meeting with a copy of said resolution shall be published for not less than four weeks before the time appointed for such meeting, in one of the newspapers of said city; objections to such proposed action of the common council may be filed with the recorder in writing, and if any such shall be filed, the street, Concurring vote alley or public ground, or any part thereof shall not be vacated or necessary. discontinued, except by a concurring vote of two-thirds of the aldermen elect. etc. SEC. 5. The common council may cause all public streets, surveys of alleys and public grounds to be surveyed, and it may determine Record of and establish the boundaries thereof, and cause the surveys and boundaries, etc. description thereof to be recorded in the office of the recorder in a book of street records, and it shall cause surveys and descriptions of all streets, alleys and public grounds opened, laid out, altered, extended or accepted and confirmed by the common council to be recorded in like manner, and such record shall be prima facie evidence of the existence of such streets, alleys or public grounds as in the records described; every resolution or ordinance Record of discontinuing or vacating any street, alley, or public ground shall vacations, etc. also be recorded in said book of street records, and the record shall be prima facie evidence of all the matter therein set forth. SEC. 6. The common council shall have authority to deter- Grades. mine and establish the grades of all streets, avenues, alleys, and public grounds within the city, and to require improvements and buildings adjacent to or abutting upon such streets, alleys, or grounds to be made and constructed in conformity with such grade, and the common council may change or alter the grade of any street, alley, or public ground, or of any part thereof, whenever in its opinion the public convenience will be promoted thereby. Whenever a grade shall be established or altered, a record and diagram thereof shall be made in the book of street records in the office of the recorder. after pavement SEC. 7. Whenever any street, alley, or public highway shall Change of grade have been graded, or pavement shall have been constructed, in is constructed. conformity to grades established by authority of the city, and the expenses thereof shall have been assessed upon lots or lands bounded by or abutting upon such street, alley, or public highway, the owner or owners of such lots or lands shall not be subject to any special assessment occasioned by any subsequent change of grade in such pavement, street, alley, or public highway, unless such change be asked for by the owners of a majority of such lots or lands, but the expense of all improvements occasioned by such change of grade shall be chargeable to and paid by said city. SEC. 8. If any damage shall result to any owner by change of Damage by the established grade of any street, alley, sidewalk, wharf, or landing, the common council may, in its discretion, levy and col change of grade, how paid. Council to prescribe width of streets, etc. Approval to be endorsed on plat. Changes to be prescribed by council. lect the amount thereof by special assessment upon the lots or premises benefited thereby, and therewith pay the same, but the city shall incur no liability by reason of anything in this section contained. SEC. 9. The common council shall have power and it shall be its duty to prescribe by resolution the width, direction and location of all streets, alleys and public grounds, of any proposed plat or subdivision of land within the city of Muskegon, and to that end Plats to be filed. any proprietor of land intending to lay out, divide and plat the same into lots, blocks, public grounds, streets and alleys, or otherwise, shall file with the recorder a correct survey, plan and map of such land, showing all the subdivisions thereof, and all streets, alleys and public grounds intended to be dedicated to the public, and also the relative position and location of such lots, blocks, streets, alleys and public grounds, with respect to the adjacent premises and streets of said city. If such proposed plan and map meet the approval of the common council, in regard to the streets, alleys and public grounds thereof, as aforesaid, such approval shall be declared by resolution, which shall be indorsed thereon by the recorder under the corporate seal of the city. If such plan and map be not satisfactory to and approved by the common council in regard to the matters aforesaid, it shall within sixty days after such filing with the recorder prescribe by resolution the width, direction and location of such streets, alleys, and public grounds, or any of them, and the proprietor of such proposed plat shall cause such plan and map to conform to such resolution and determination, whereupon such plan and map shall be approved by the common council and indorsed as aforesaid. If the common council fail approve any plan and map so filed, or to prescribe any changes therein in manner aforesaid, for the space of sixty days after the same has been filed with the recorder as aforesaid, such failure shall be deemed and taken as an approval thereof in all respects, and the recorder shall indorse such fact thereon, which shall have all the force and effect of a regular approval by the common council. No such plat and dedication shall be valid or be recorded in the office of the register of deeds for the county of Muskegon, until it shall have been indorsed by the recorder in Failure to approve for 60 days, to be taken as an approval. Plat to be endorsed by recorder. to Copy to be filed manner aforesaid. Such proprietor shall, within twenty days with recorder. after such plan and map shall be deemed approved, as aforesaid, file a certified copy thereof with the recorder for the use and benefit of the city. But the city shall not, by reason of such approval, be responsible for the improvement, care and repairs of When city to be such streets, public grounds and alleys; nor shall the city be improvements, responsible for the improvement, care and repair of any streets responsible for etc. or alleys of any existing plat of said city, or of any addition or subdivision therein, except in so far as said city may have already assumed such responsibility, until it shall have accepted the same, or until said streets have been opened to and used by the public for the term of three years. SEC. 10. The city shall not be liable to any person for injuries received by him or his property, in consequence of any sidewalk Liabilities of in said city not being kept clear of snow and ice; nor shall the city for injuries, city be liable to any person for injuries received by him or his property, in consequence of any defect in or upon any sidewalk, crosswalk or street, unless it shall be shown that the defect occasioning the injury had existed ten days prior to the receipt of said injury, or unless some member of the board of public works, the street commissioner, sidewalk commissioner, or some member of the police force, had had actual notice of the existence of the defect forty-eight hours prior to the receipt of the injury occasioned thereby. GRADING, PAVING, ETC. power to grade, SEC. 11. The common council shall have power to grade, pave, Council to have plank, gravel, curb and otherwise improve and repair the high-etc. ways, streets, avenues, lanes and alleys of said city, and for that purpose and for defraying the expenses thereof may divide the city into street districts. The term "paving" shall be deemed to "Paving" include the construction of crosswalks, gutters and curbing. defined. SEC. 12. Such part of the expenses of improving any street, Expenses of, lane or alley by grading, paving, planking, graveling, curbing how paid. or otherwise and of repairing the same as the common council shall determine, may be paid from the general highway fund or from the street district fund of the proper street district, or in part from each, or the whole or such part of the expense of such improvement as the common council shall determine, may be defrayed by special assessments upon lots and premises included in a special assessment district, to be constituted of the lots fronting on or adjoining that part of the street or alley so improved or proposed so to be, or constituted of lands fronting upon such improvement and such other lands as in the opinion of the common council may be benefited by the improvement. be paid SEC. 13. The expense of making any public improvement in certain imthe interior 'square or space formed by the intersection of streets provements to or alleys, and also the expense of making any such public improve- general highment in front of any property belonging to the city, shall be way fund. paid out of the general highway fund of the city. frontage. SEC. 14. When such assessment is to be made upon lots in Assessments in proportion to their frontage upon the improvement, if from the proportion to shape or size of any lot an assessment thereon in proportion to its frontage would be unjust and disproportionate to the assessment upon other lots, the board of assessors making the assessment shall nevertheless assess such lot at its actual frontage, and the common council may remit such part of the tax thereon as will be just and equitable, and may cause the part so remitted to be paid out of the general highway fund. STREET REGULATIONS. SEC. 15. The common council shall have power to prohibit obstructions, and prevent obstructions and incumbrances in and encroachments etc., of streets. 362 LOCAL ACTS, 1887. -No. 415. Planting shade upon the public highways, streets and alleys of said city, and to remove the same and to punish those who shall obstruct, encumber, encroach or maintain any encroachments upon or in any such highway, street or alley, and to require all such persons to remove every such obstruction, encumbrance or encroachment. SEC. 16. The common council may provide for and regulate treets and light the planting of shade and ornamental trees in the public high Openings in streets. Use of streets, Stands for vehicles. Wood and hay markets, etc. Signs, etc. Immoderate ways, streets and avenues of said city and for the protection thereof, and may light the streets and public places and may regulate the location of lights thereon and therein and protect the same. SEC. 17 The common council may regulate the making of all openings in and removals of the soil of public streets, for the laying or repair of sewers, drains, tunnels, gas-pipes or other pipes or for any other purpose, and may prohibit or prevent all such openings or removals of the soil, except by the express permission of the common council, and at such times and upon such terms and regulations as may be prescribed. SEC. 18. The common council may regulate the use of the public highways, streets, avenues and alleys of said city, subject to the right of travel and passage thereon. It shall have authority to prescribe the stands for all vehicles kept for hire or used for the transportation of persons or property for hire; to designate the places where loads of wood, coal, hay or other articles may stand for sale; to regulate traffic and sales in the streets and upon the sidewalks; to regulate or prohibit the use, display or placing signs, advertisements and banners, awning posts and telegraph poles in or over the streets; to prohibit immoderate riding and driving, sports, driving on the streets or over bridges; to regulate or prohibit all such sports, amusements, proceedings and gathering of crowds in the streets as may interfere with the lawful use thereof or render travel or passage therein inconvenient or unsafe; to prohibit and prevent the running at large of horses, cattle, swine, dogs, geese and other domestic animals or fowls in the streets or elsewhere in the city, and to impose penalties upon the owners or keepers thereof permitting the same, and to require and authorize the destruction of dogs found at large contrary to the ordinances of Running at large of, animals, etc. Dogs. authority over streets, etc Nuisances, etc. the city; to cleanse and purify the streets and to prohibit, prevent, remove and abate all nuisances therein, and to require the authors and maintainers thereof to remove the same and to punish them, General police and generally to prescribe and enforce all such police regulations over and in respect to the public streets as may be necessary to secure the good order and safety of persons and property in the lawful use thereof and to promote the general welfare. And in addition to all the powers herein granted, the common council shall have the same authority and powers over and in respect to the public streets of the city as are conferred by law upon highway commissioners in townships. TITLE XVI. SIDEWALKS. council to have SECTION 1. The common council shall have control, except common as in this act otherwise provided, of all of the sidewalks in the pub- control of. lic streets and alleys of said city, and may prescribe the width and grade thereof and change the same when deemed necessary. It shall have power to construct and maintain sidewalks and Power of, to crosswalks in the public streets and alleys, and charge the expense construct, etc. thereof upon the lots and premises adjacent to and abutting upon such walks. SEC. 2. The common council shall also have authority to Idem. require the owners and occupants of lots and premises to construct sidewalks in the public streets adjacent to and abutting upon such lots and premises, and to keep them in repair at all times, and to construct and lay the same upon such lines and grades, of such width and materials and manner of construction, and within such time as the common council shall by ordinance or resolution prescribe. snow, etc. SEC. 3. The common council shall also have power to cause Power to cause and require the owners and occupants of any lot or premises to removal of remove all snow and ice from the sidewalks in front of or adjacent to such lot and premises, and to keep the same free from obstructions, encroachments, incumbrances, filth, and other nuisances. SEC. 4. If the owner or occupant of any lot or premises shall Proceedings in case of neglect. fail to construct or maintain any particular sidewalk as mentioned and prescribed in the last two sections, or shall fail to keep the same in repair, or to remove the snow, ice, and filth therefrom, or to remove and keep the same free from obstructions, encroachments, incumbrances, or other nuisances, or shall fail to perform any other duty required by the common council in respect to such sidewalks within such time and in such manner as the common council shall require, the common council may cause the same to be done, and such sidewalk to be constructed or repaired at the expense of such owner or occupant, and the amount of all Expense, a tax expenses incurred by the common council thereby shall be levied on property. as a special assessment upon the lot or premises adjacent to and abutting upon such sidewalk, and such expenses shall constitute a lien upon the lot or premises of such owner or occupant from the time the expense is so incurred, and may be assessed against How collected. said lot or premises at the next general assessment of property in said city, and the certificate of the recorder to the assessor that such amount remains a lien upon said lot or premises, for the purposes aforesaid, shall be the authority of the assessor to spread upon the general assessment roll against said lot or premises the amount due from the owner or occupant thereof, which said amount shall be assessed in the same manner as other special assessments on the general assessment roll of said city. |