(a) Upon the filing of a project petition, the court in which the petition is filed shall set a day for the hearing and direct that publication be made as to all landowners, lienholders, encumbrancers, mortgagees, occupants, or other persons interested in any way in the lands to be affected by the proposed improvement in some newspaper of general circulation published in each county in which are located lands affected by the proposed project, the publications to be run once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks, the last of which shall be at least ten (10) days before the date set for the hearing.
Lands: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights thereto and interests therein, equitable as well as legal. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
Person: means any person, firm, partnership, association or corporation. See Tennessee Code 69-6-102
Publication: means the publication in a newspaper or newspapers admitted to the United States mail as second-class matter, of general circulation within the watershed district. See Tennessee Code 69-6-102
State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(b) Such publication shall:
(1) Notify the interested persons and landowners of the general nature and scope of the proposed project, the estimated cost of the project, the proposed method for the payment of the cost and the time and place of the hearing, and shall notify them to appear and show cause why such project should not be approved and performed and the cost provided or apportioned in accordance with the prayer of the petition; and(2) Set forth the names of the owners of the lands in the area affected by the proposed project to the best of the information and belief of the board, but such publication need not set forth the names of the persons concerned other than as owners of the lands affected.(c) The notice of publication shall have the same force and effect upon concerned non-landowners as landowners whether they are specifically named or not, and whether they are residents or nonresidents of the state of Tennessee, for all purposes of the proceedings as process would have, if such process were issued from a court and served personally upon the defendants, named or unnamed, by a qualified officer of the law.(d) The landowners or other interested persons shall make their appearance in person or by attorney on or before the time set for such hearing and file in writing any objections that they may have to such proposed project or the proposed method of financing such project.
