Michigan Compiled Laws

Mich. Comp. Laws § 280.71 (2026)

Petition to establish drain districts; filing, signers, certificate of county treasurer; municipality-signed petition.

✓ current as of July 2026

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THE DRAIN CODE OF 1956

Act 40 of 1956

280.71 Petition to establish drain districts; filing, signers, certificate of county treasurer; municipality-signed petition.

Sec. 71.

After a drainage district has been established and the order therefor filed with the county drain commissioner, a petition to locate, establish and construct a drain may be filed with the commissioner having jurisdiction of the lands designated in such order as constituting the drainage district. Such petition shall ask for the location, establishment and construction of the drain or drains, or any part thereof, as described in said order. The petition shall be signed by a number of freeholders in said drainage district whose lands would be liable to an assessment for benefits, equal to 1/2 the number of freeholders whose lands would be traversed by the drain or drains applied for or abut on any highway or street along the side of which such drain extends, between the point where such drain enters such highway and the point where it leaves such highway and which lands are within the drainage district. Such petition shall be accompanied by a description of the land in said district owned by each signer and by a certificate of the county treasurer as to payment of taxes and special assessments against such lands. Such certificate shall be in substantially the following form:

I hereby certify that there are no taxes or special assessments unpaid against any of the lands described in the annexed list according to the records of the county treasurer's office for the past 3 years, except as follows:

Description	Year	Tax or assessment	Amount
.............	...........	......................	.........

The name of any signer as to whose land such certificate shows taxes or assessments unpaid for 3 years shall not be counted. The eligibility of the signers to such petition shall be determined by the commissioner according to their interest of record in the office of the register of deeds in the probate court or the circuit court of the county in which such lands are situated at the time such petition is filed. In determining the number of owners whose lands are traversed by such drain, or abut thereon as hereinbefore prescribed, the drain commissioner shall investigate the records of the register of deeds, of the probate court and of the circuit court of the county, and shall make diligent inquiry in the community, including inquiry of anyone in possession of all of such lands so traversed or so abutting as to the ownership thereof. In lieu of a petition signed by freeholders as aforesaid, the petition may be signed solely by a city, village or township when duly authorized by its governing body, or by any combination of such municipalities, if such petitioning municipality or municipalities will be liable to assessments at large for at least a percentage of the total amount to be assessed for the cost of the proposed drain. In the event of such a municipally signed petition, then the foregoing provisions of this section, other than the first 2 sentences thereof, shall not be applicable.

History: 1956, Act 40, Imd. Eff. Mar. 28, 1956 ;-- Am. 1967, Act 214, Imd. Eff. July 10, 1967

PopularName Notes:

Act 40

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 7 cases, 1978–2015 · leading case: Wiggins v. City of Burton, 805 N.W.2d 517 (Mich. Ct. App. 2011).

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Wiggins v. City of Burton, 805 N.W.2d 517 (Mich. Ct. App. 2011). · cites it 2× “and damages for which have been neglected or refused; (3) it shall not be necessary to set forth in said application to the probate court the names of the several owners nor the description of the several tracts or parcels of land liable to an assessment for benefits, in case…”

Knauff v. Oscoda Cnty. Drain Comm'r, 618 N.W.2d 1 (Mich. Ct. App. 2000). “1 The Drain Code, MCL 280.71; MSA 11.1071, provides in pertinent part: After a drainage district has been established and the order therefore filed with the county drain commissioner, a petition to locate, establish, and construct a drain may be filed with the commissioner…”

Jackson Cnty. Drain Comm'r v. Vill. of Stockbridge, 717 N.W.2d 391 (Mich. Ct. App. 2006). “433 is for the purpose of providing drainage service to lands. There is no indication in the instant case that the village intended to drain any lands.”

Toth v. Waterford Twp., 274 N.W.2d 7 (Mich. Ct. App. 1978). “…case the Township of Waterford is apparently relying on its statutory authority to invoke drain code procedures. MCL 280.71; MSA 11.1071.”

John Buchanan v. Oakland Cnty. (Mich. Ct. App. 2015). · cites it 6× “Judge Nichols noted the property owners’ argument “that the drain has not been duly established pursuant to MCL 280.71 and that the designation and establishment of the drain system is being challenged.”

Bridgeport Charter Twp. v. Saginaw Cnty. Drain Comm'r, 324 N.W.2d 618 (Mich. Ct. App. 1982). “The trial court did not have jurisdiction to decide the issue since an attack on a special assessment arising under property tax laws can be lodged only in the Michigan Tax Tribunal.”

Arath II, Inc. v. Heukels Cnty. Drain Dist., 288 Mich. App. 324 (Mich. Ct. App. 2010). “If the project includes a tiled relief drain, or the tiling of an existing open drain or any portion thereof, with a conduit a part of which has an inside diameter in excess of 36 inches or the retiling of an existing drain with a conduit, a part of which has an inside diameter…”

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