No grant for the construction of a street railway under section 723.38 of the Revised Code shall be made, except to the corporation or individual that agrees to carry passengers upon such proposed railway at the lowest rates of fare, and has previously obtained the written consent of a majority of the property holders upon each street or part thereof, on the line of the proposed railway, as represented by the foot frontage of the property abutting on the several streets along which such railway is proposed to be constructed. When, within the year preceding, a street railway has been operated upon such street or part thereof under a grant or renewal of a grant which has expired or will expire within two years, it shall not be necessary to obtain the consent of the property holders abutting thereon if the number of tracks on the street, public way, or part thereof, is not increased beyond the number for which consent was originally obtained.