Burnett

The City of Del Mar brought this action to determine the validity of assessment proceedings for a proposed sewerage improvement district. (See Sts. & Hy. Code, § 5265; Code Civ. Proc., §§860-870.) The defendants challenged the proceedings upon the ground (1) that a valid protest by affected property owners had not been overruled as required by law; and (2) that, in ordering the proposed improvement, the city council acted arbitrarily, unreasonably exercised its power, and abused its discretion in the premises.

Pursuant to statutory requirements, the city engineer filed a report showing each parcel of land to be assessed for the proposed improvement and the amount of assessment against such (Sts. & Hy. Code, §§ 2824, 2825); the city council noticed a hearing on this report, at which protests might be considered (Sts. & Hy. Code, §§ 2851 et seq.); and the hearing was conducted accordingly.

Prior to this hearing protests had been filed by the owners of over one-half of the area to be assessed. This constituted a majority protest under the governing statute. (Sts. & Hy. Code, § 2930.) However, the engineer’s report did not disclose the area of each of the parcels subject to…