Bloomington City Council annexation public hearing before recess to online only.
(Joe Hren, WFIU/WTIU News)
An Indiana Supreme Court decision four years ago seemed to pave the way for Bloomington to continue its quest to annex 14,000 people and 10,000 acres of Monroe County into city limits.
But since then, one of former Mayor John Hamilton’s major initiatives has hit roadblock after roadblock.
The court ruled that the Indiana legislature overstepped its legal bounds in 2017 when it barred Bloomington from annexation through 2022.
Former Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton (Joe Hren, WFIU/WTIU News)
Hamilton said he started the process because it had been 12 years since the city expanded its boundaries.
“I understand that people who are right next to a city boundary... for them this feels like why is it good for me to be in the city? I think the question really is what's good for the whole community of Bloomington,” Hamilton said.
City council adopted seven areas for annexation in September of 2021. Some residents were furious and formed grass roots efforts to block their areas from being annexed. They said they didn’t like the process and feared higher taxes.
“What I am concerned about are the individuals that are living on Social Security, or disability, or individuals that have just purchased a home and raising a family and barely have enough money to pay for a mortgage,” Van Buren Township Trustee Rita Barrow said.
Adopted Bloomington Annexation Areas (Courtesy photo)
State law allows 65 percent of residents in an area to file valid petition signatures to void annexation in that area. Five areas did so.
Two other areas, called Areas 1A and 1B, did not get that many signatures. But they did reach the 51-plus percent threshold to appeal annexation in court.
This prompted two lawsuits.
The first was over the petition signatures and involved waivers signed by property owners. These waivers prohibited them from challenging annexation in exchange for city services, such as water and sewer.
In 2019, the state passed a law that invalidates waivers more than 15 years old. The city argued the law is unconstitutional because it retroactively voids legal contracts.
Special Monroe Circuit Court Judge Nathan G. Nikirk ruled against the city stating the constitution is meant to protect contracts between private parties, not contracts with local governments; and that the city waited too long to act on the waivers.
The second lawsuit came from residents of Areas 1A and 1B, who reached the 51+ percent threshold to appeal annexation.
Nikirk also ruled against the city after a five-day bench trial in May stating the city didn’t introduce evidence of future development citing testimony the city doesn’t “need” the land, it just wanted to “right size” the boundaries. He sided with the resident’s best interests and considered city department understaffing in his ruling.
Bloomington Mayor Kerry Thomson (Joe Hren, WFIU/WTIU News)
The city is appealing both rulings to the Indiana Court of Appeals. Current Bloomington Mayor Kerry Thomson said annexation is key to economic development and prosperity as an entire region.
“What the studies and the history clearly show is that cities with zero elasticity, the entire region starts to go into economic decline,” she said.
Many county residents in the proposed areas formed a nonprofit organization “County Residents Against Annexation” and hired an attorney. Margaret Clements is president and says the judge sided with the people over politics.
“He thought the financial impact was high,” she said. “He saw no need for it, that there would be no additional services, and that the area is quite rural as it is, and that it was problematic, it served no purpose, no known purpose for the city, and that it was a hardship for the people.”
Thomson took office Jan. 1 of this year. She said she’s been reaching out to people intended for annexation.
“A lot of what I'm hearing is that people didn't feel listened to the first time, and that the message they were getting is that the city could annex because it was their right and they didn't owe them anything as residents,” she said.
She said she also heard myths about what annexation means.
“Their understanding is that they will have to pay to put sidewalks in front of their house as soon as it's annexed. This is simply not true.”
Margaret Clements, President of CRAA (Joe Hren, WFIU/WTIU News)
Clements said she’s not against a city growing. The issue for her has been how it’s growing.
“I'm highly in favor of smart growth, but I'm also not in favor of just of a unilateral vision,” she said. “The vision needs to be crafted and shaped and shared and revised, and it's an ongoing didactic process.”
Still at odds is the extension of sewer and water to areas outside city limits. City council enacted an ordinance in 2022 not to extend utilities unless the area is annexed into the city.
The city has been extending sewer service for years, which in turn led to the waiver controversy and annexation litigation.
Thomson said the city will continue to deny water and sewer service outside the city because now there is no way to annex those properties – even with voluntary annexation because it requires contiguous landmass.
“If the city's here and we have an island with water and sewer here that is not in the annexation area, the people on the other side have no way to annex in. And so that, in fact, locks up the boundaries of the city.”
Clements said the way the city was conducting annexation was going to create a divided city that would harm economic development.
“I would love to just think of all the positive results that could have happened if all of these people involved at the grassroots level, and myself, had dedicated out these hours in a positive, productive, shared vision what we could have brought to Bloomington,” she said.
Thomson said it could take until late spring for a decision on the appeals process.
