Section 16967 - Improvement on order of common pleas(a)Court ordered improvements.--If contracts or agreements under section 16963 (relating to center line highway boundary between city or borough and township) are impossible to enter into or if either the city or borough and the township or the county in which the township is situated, refuses to enter into the contract or agreement, either a municipal corporation or the county may present a petition to the court of common pleas of either county setting forth the facts and circumstances, including: (1) the condition of the road from which the necessity and desirability for the grading, curbing, macadamizing or paving of the roadway appears;(2) the estimated cost; and(3) that the terms of the contract cannot be agreed upon by the municipal corporations or the county or that the municipal corporations or the county refuses to enter into a contract.(b) Petition and service.--The petition under subsection (a) may request that the court, after hearing all the parties concerned, make the court's order or decree defining the nature and character of the improvement reasonably necessary or desirable to be made and requiring the parties to enter into a contract for the making and constructing of the improvement. A copy of the petition, duly certified, shall be served upon the municipal corporations or county concerned, other than the petitioner, with notice of the day fixed by the court for the hearing. Any of the parties served with notice shall be entitled, on or before the date, to file in the court the party's answer to the petition setting forth the party's version of the facts or other matters as may be deemed necessary or proper.(c) Hearing or referral.--The court, upon the date fixed or other time as the court may appoint, shall hear the evidence of the parties or may refer the matter to a master who shall hear the testimony of the parties and report findings, in the same manner and under the same procedure as provided by the rules in equity in similar cases, to the court, which may reject, confirm or modify the findings, and may issue a decree or order directing the making of any alterations or improvements to the roadway as may be deemed reasonably necessary or desirable and provide for the sharing of the cost of the improvements one-half by the municipal corporation and one-half by the county and township, in equal portions.(d) Additional findings.--The following apply: (1) The order or decree under subsection (c) may further provide that the repairs to alterations and improvements subsequently required shall be borne as follows:(i) one-half by the municipal corporation, either borough or city; and(ii) one-half by the county or township in equal portions or other proportions as the court may find to be legal and proper.(2) Upon the finding by the court, the grading, curbing, macadamizing or paving of the roadway shall proceed in accordance with the decree or order of the court in the same manner as if the contract or agreement had been entered into and duly executed.Added by P.L. (number not assigned at time of publication) 2024 No. 14,§ 4, eff. 7/8/2024.