(a) Any person, firm, or corporation aggrieved by the finding of any council of any city or town upon any petition named in this subchapter shall have the right to appeal to the circuit court of the county in which the city or town is located, upon the filing of a good and sufficient bond for all costs of the appeal and an affidavit setting forth that the appeal is not taken for delay but that justice may be done the party appealing. The bond and affidavit shall be filed within ten (10) days after the hearing provided for in § 14-301-402, and not thereafter, but the appeal shall not operate to delay the construction of any building of any public school, hospital, orphanage, or church unless the parties taking the appeal shall enter into bond for the diligent prosecution of the appeal and guaranteeing the payment of all damages that may result from the delay in the construction of the buildings during the time the appeal shall be pending. The bond is to be filed with the city clerk or recorder of the city or town council from the finding of which the appeal shall be taken.

(b) Upon all appeals, the case shall be heard de novo by the circuit judge sitting as a jury. If the court shall find that the lands embraced in the alley or any part of the alley described in the petition are needed for the construction of any of the buildings described in § 14-301-401, that the petition is signed by ten (10) or more owners of real property in the city or town where the alley lies, and that the petition is also signed by a majority of the owners of real property abutting the alley, it shall be the duty of the court to dismiss the appeal; otherwise, the court shall declare the ordinance passed by the city or town council to be void and of no effect and shall enter an order accordingly.