Improvements. Proviso. Franchises, (g) For the use, regulation, improvement and control of the surface of its streets and of the space above and beneath them; (h) For the cost and expenses of the following improvements including the necessary lands therefor, viz: For city hall and other public buildings and offices for the use of the city officials, engine house and structure for the fire department, for water works, sewage disposal systems and plants, lighting purposes, hospitals, quarantine grounds and pest house, market house and space, cemeteries and parks, watch houses, city prisons and workhouses, and public wharves and landings upon navigable waters, levees and embankments, may be paid from the general funds of the city: Provided, however, That if the majority of the property owners along a street or a part thereof, owning a major portion of the frontage affected thereon, shall so petition the council in writing, the cost and expenses of installing a boulevard lighting system on such street may be made by said assessment upon the lands abutting thereon, when by the provisions of this act the costs and expenses of any local or public improvement may be defrayed in whole or in part by special assessment upon the lands abutting upon and adjacent to or otherwise benefited by the improvement, such assessment may be made as in this act provided; and for assessing and reassessing the costs, or any portion therefor, of any public improvement to a special district; (i) For the purchase or condemnation of the franchises, purchase of if any exist, and of the property used in the operation of companies or individuals engaged in the plank road, cemetery, hospital, almshouse, electric light, gas, heat, water and power business, and in cities having not less than twentyfive thousand inhabitants the purchase of the franchises, if any, and the property of street railway and tram railway companies. And each city may in its charter provide that it may make a contract, upon such terms, including terms of present or deferred payment, and upon such conditions and in such manner as the municipality may deem proper, to purchase, operate and maintain any existing public utility property for supplying water, heat, light, power or transportation to the city and the inhabitants thereof. No such contract shall bind the municipality unless the proposition therefor shall receive the affirmative vote of three-fifths of the electors at a regular or special election. In the event of any such purchase of a transportation utility, the charter amendment and the contract to purchase may provide for the creation of a sinking fund, into which shall be paid from time to time, from the earnings of the utility, sums sufficient to insure the payment of the purchase price and the performance of the obligations of said contract, to the end that the entire cost of such public utility shall eventually be paid from its earnings. Within a reasonable time after the acquisition of a public transportation utility the officials in Pro- Proviso. charge of the operation shall establish a system of civil tion facili (j) For owning, constructing and operating transporta- Transportation facilities within its limits, and its adjacent and adjoin- ties. ing suburbs within a distance of ten miles from any portion of its city limits, if according to the next preceding United States census, or local census taken by authority of a resolution of the legislative body of such city, it had a population not less than twenty-five thousand inhabitants; of pri vate prop (k) For the purchase and condemnation of private prop- Condemnaerty for any public use or purpose within the scope of its tion powers; also for the acquirement, ownership, establishment, erty. construction and operation, either within or without its corporate limits, of public utilities for supplying water, light, heat, power and transportation to the municipality and the inhabitants thereof, for domestic, commercial and municipal purposes; and for the sale and delivery of water, heat, power and light without its corporate limits to an amount not to exceed twenty-five per centum of that furnished by it within its corporate limits for like purposes; and for the operation of transportation lines without the municipality and within ten miles from its corporate limits: Provided, Proviso. That the right to own or operate such transportation facilities shall not extend to any city of less than twenty-five thou sand inhabitants according to the last preceding United States census, or local census taken by authority of a resolution of the legislative body of such city. The acquirement of any such utility together with all properties, franchises and rights necessary for its establishment, ownership, construction, operation, improvement, extension and maintenance, whether such properties, franchises and rights are situated within or without the corporate limits of such city, may be either by purchase or condemnation. If by condemnation, the provisions of act number one hundred forty-nine of the public acts of Michigan, approved March twenty-five, nineteen hundred eleven, entitled "An act to provide for the condemnation by state agencies and public corporations of Proviso. private property for the use or benefit of the public and to define the terms 'public corporations', 'state agencies', and 'private property', as used herein" or such other appropriate provisions therefor as exist, or shall be made by law, may be adopted and used for the purpose of instituting and prosecuting such condemnation proceedings: Provided, however, That no such public utility shall be so acquired unless the proposition to do so shall have first received the affirmative vote of three-fifths of the electors of such city voting thereon, at a regular or special municipal election; (1) For the use, by others than the owner, of property located in streets, alleys and public places and used in the operation of a public utility, upon the payment of a reasonable compensation to the owners thereof; (m) For the initiative and referendum on all matters within the scope of its powers and for the recall of all its officials; (n) For a plan of streets and alleys within and for a distance of not more than three miles beyond its limits; (0) For the use, control and regulation of streams, waters and water courses within its boundaries, but not so as to conflict with the law or action thereunder, where a navigable stream is bridged or dammed; or with riparian or littoral rights without their corporate limits; (p) For altering, amending or repealing any special act affecting any municipal concerns or existing municipal department, but the department in control of the public schools shall not be construed to be a municipal department; (q) For the enforcement of all such local, police, sanitary and other regulations as are not in conflict with the general laws; (r) For a system of civil service; (s) For the nomination and election of all municipal officers, nominations may be made by a partisan or nonpartisan primary, by petition or by convention, and elections may be by a partisan, non-partisan or preferential ballot or any other legal method of voting in such manner as the charter of any city may now or shall hereafter prescribe; (t) For the exercise of all municipal powers in the management and control of municipal property and in the administration of the municipal government, whether such powers be expressly enumerated or not; for any act to advance the interests of the city, the good government and prosperity of the municipality and its inhabitants and through its regularly constituted authority to pass all laws and ordinances relating to its municipal concerns subject to the constitution and general laws of this state; (u) For the issuance of bonds of said city for the purpose of providing first cost of installation and connection of sewers and water works on and to property in said cities used solely for dwelling house purposes, when such installa tion and connection shall be ordered by the proper health authorities; and to provide a lien on such property, for, and manner of payment of, moneys so used; (v) For the issuance of bonds of said city for the purpose of providing first cost of installation and connection of conduits for the service of municipally owned and operated electric lighting plants in such cities of this state as have or may have such municipally owned and operated plants; (w) For the acquisition by gift, purchase, condemnation or otherwise, of private property for park, penal farm or institutional purposes without its corporate limits, and within the county in which such city is located. If by condemnation, the provisions of act number one hundred forty-nine of the public acts of Michigan, approved March twenty-five, nineteen hundred eleven, entitled "An act to provide for the condemnation by state agencies and public corporations of private property for the use or benefit of the public and to define the terms 'public corporations,' 'state agencies' and 'private property,' as used herein," or such other appropriate provisions therefor as exist or shall be made by law, may be adopted and used for the purpose of instituting and prosecuting such condemnation proceedings; (x) For the establishment of districts or zones within Zones, etc. which the use of land and structures, the height, the area, the size and location of buildings and required open spaces for light and ventilation of such buildings and the density of population may be regulated by ordinance: Provided, Proviso. That such regulations in one or more districts may differ from those in other districts; transit. (y) For the acquisition by construction, condemnation Rapid or purchase and for the ownership, equipment, possession, leasing, operation and maintenance of a rapid transit system consisting of a tunnel, subway, surface or elevated system or any combination and qualification of these, in and through said city, and for a distance of not more than ten miles beyond its limits, for the purpose of furnishing transportation facilities to the municipality and to the people thereof; for the preparation and publication of plans for such construction, equipment and maintenance in accordance with charter provisions adopted hereunder; for the operation of such facilities independently or in connection with other transportation facilities, or transportation system, owned, operated or controlled by such city or existing therein, or in the territory in which any such rapid transit system is established; for the appropriate designation of such facilities; for the taking of the fee of or easement or right of way on, under, above and through any property for the purposes thereof, by gift, grant and purchase, and by condemnation proceedings in accordance with any law of the state of Michigan providing therefor; and for the management of such facilities, for the purposes for which the same are or may be acquired or constructed. Provision may also be made for Financing. the execution of contracts incidental to the carrying out of the purposes hereby contemplated. In the event that property is taken by condemnation under any statute pertaining thereto, the actual benefits accruing to or received by a remainder of any such parcel on account of the construction of the improvement shall be taken into account in determining the damages to be awarded by way of compensation to the owner or owners of such property. The charter shall also provide for the proper financing of the acquisition and construction of any such system and facilities, by direct taxation, special assessments on the basis of benefits actually and exclusively received by property affected by any such improvement, or by borrowing money and issuing bonds or other evidence of indebtedness therefor, or by a combination of such methods; and for the defraying of the cost of maintenance, operation and management of such facilities and for payment of interest on and a sinking fund to retire any bonds issued under this subsection, from the revenues received as a result of the operation thereof by the city. Bonds executed and sold for the purpose of raising money to cover the cost of such acquisition and construction may be issued on the faith and credit of the city, or same may be secured by mortgage on the property and revenues of the utility established pursuant hereto. The aggregate amount of bonds issued on the faith and credit of the city under this subsection shall not exceed two per cent. of the assessed valuation of the taxable property within said city for the preceding fiscal year; and in computing the total indebtedness of the city for the purpose of determining whether any other limitation prescribed by law has been exceeded, such bonds shall not be included. Except as is in this subsection otherwise specifically provided, all bonds issued by a city for the purposes hereby contemplated shall be subject to the restrictions and conditions prescribed in subdivision (b) of this section. In case provision is made in the charter for raising money by direct taxation for the purposes hereof, the amount of such tax levied and assessed in any year shall not exceed onesixth of one per cent. of the assessed valuation of the city for such year; and the amount of any such tax shall not be subject to any other limitations prescribed by law, or considered in determining whether any such limitation has been exceeded. In no case shall more than sixty per cent. of the total estimated cost of acquiring or constructing any such rapid transit system or portion or extension thereof, be raised by direct taxation, and by the issuance of bonds on the faith and credit of the city. As incidental to the authority hereby granted, provision may be made in any city charter for the exercise of powers incidental to the accomplishment of the purposes hereof, and reasonably calculated and designed to facilitate the furnishing of adequate transportation facilities by the means aforesaid to the municipality and the people thereof. No charter amendment or amendments, contemplating and providing for the exercise of the powers |