In re the Annexation Proposed by Ordinance No. X-01-95

774 N.E.2d 58, 2002 Ind. App. LEXIS 1107, 2002 WL 1472065
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 10, 2002
DocketNo. 02A03-0111-CV-375
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 774 N.E.2d 58 (In re the Annexation Proposed by Ordinance No. X-01-95) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re the Annexation Proposed by Ordinance No. X-01-95, 774 N.E.2d 58, 2002 Ind. App. LEXIS 1107, 2002 WL 1472065 (Ind. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

OPINION

BAKER, Judge.

Appellants-Plaintiffs-Remonstrators (the Remonstrators)1 appeal the trial court’s order granting summary judgment in favor of appellee-defendant the City of Fort Wayne (Fort Wayne) and denying their cross-motion for summary judgment. Finding that: (1) the trial court properly granted Fort Wayne’s motion for summary judgment on the basis of the admissible portions of the designated affidavits and the city’s fiscal plan; (2) any confusion over assignment of the annexation area to a particular councilmanic district was not grounds for invalidating the ordinance; (3) claims regarding defective notice and Fort Wayne’s failure to include a cost estimate of its indebtedness in its fiscal plan are based on non-compliance with statutes that do not deal specifically with remonstrances and, therefore, are not subject to judicial review; and (4) Fort Wayne was not required to address the specific delivery of services to the split parcels in its fiscal plan, we affirm.

FACTS

The undisputed facts are that on January 10, 1995, the Fort Wayne City Council passed Annexation Ordinance No. X-01-95 (the Ordinance) and approved a fiscal Plan (the Fiscal Plan) for annexation as required by Indiana Code section 36-4-3-13(d). The Mayor of Fort Wayne signed the Ordinance into law on January 13, 1995. The annexation area, known as the Moeller Road Annexation, consists of approximately 371 acres of land with a population of twenty-three people.

Notice of Fort Wayne’s adoption of the Ordinance was published in the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel and the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette on January 18, 1995, and January 25, 1995. The notice published in the Journal-Gazette on January 18,1995, was spread over two columns, but was interrupted at the bottom of the first column by an unrelated public auction notice. Appellants’ App. p. 187. As a result, the annexation notice was bifurcated by the public auction notice between Sections 3 and 4 of the Ordinance. Appellants’ App. p. 187.

Indiana Code section 36-4-3-4(f) (now codified at § 36-M-3-4(g)) requires the annexing city to assign the annexation area to a councilmanic district. The Fiscal Plan and the title of the Ordinance both state that the annexation area will be assigned to Councilmanic District No. 1, which is contiguous to the annexation area. Appellants’ App. p. 16, 42. However, Section 4 of the Ordinance states that the annexation area will be assigned to Councilmanic District No. 4. Councilmanic District 4 is not contiguous to the annexation area.

After annexation, Fort Wayne will become liable for a pro rata share of the outstanding debt of Adams Township. App. p. 205-06. Fort Wayne’s Fiscal Plan [62]*62does not include any estimate for its share of this indebtedness.

The boundaries of the annexation area bisect certain property lines, and Fort Wayne’s Fiscal Plan does not specifically address its service responsibilities to the divided tracts. However, in 1999, during the pendency of this litigation, the portions of the split parcels outside the annexation area became part of Fort Wayne as the result of another annexation.

On March 21, 1995, the Remonstrators filed a statutory remonstrance challenging the legality of the annexation and also sought declaratory relief. Specifically, the Remonstrators asserted that Fort Wayne had not satisfied the statutory conditions for annexation. On August 31, 1995, Fort Wayne filed a motion for summary judgment, asserting, among other things, that it was entitled to judgment in its favor because the proposed annexation satisfied all statutory requirements. Fort Wayne designated the affidavits of several municipal service providers together with a detailed Fiscal Plan in support of its motion.

In response, on October 31, 1995, the Remonstrators filed a motion to strike the designated affidavits because they allegedly contained conclusory testimony. The remonstrators also filed a cross-motion for summary judgment. In their motion, the Remonstrators argued that disputed issues of fact existed regarding the legality of the annexation that precluded summary judgment in Fort Wayne’s favor. Specifically, the Remonstrators’ alleged that the ordinance was invalid because, among other things: (1) the annexation notice was ineffective and confusing; (2) the annexation area was assigned to an illegal councilmanic district; (3) the Fiscal Plan failed to include a cost estimate for Fort Wayne’s share of Adams Township’s indebtedness; and (4) the Fiscal Plan did not address Fort Wayne’s service responsibilities to property bisected by the annexation area’s boundary lines. In addition, the Remon-strators claimed that they were entitled to summary judgment because the common boundary of the legislative districts created by the annexation ordinance unlawfully crossed precinct and census block lines. Appellants’ App. p. 103-04.

The trial court held a hearing on the parties’ motions on May 9, 1996. Thereafter, on June 5, 1996, the trial court denied the Remonstrators’ motion to strike after concluding that the challenged portions of the affidavit, even if conclusory, are merely “cumulative of the designated [Fiscal P]lan.” Appellants’ App. p. 219. The trial court also granted the parties’ motions for summary judgment in part and denied them in part. Specifically, the trial court determined that: (1) a reasonable person could have understood the challenged notice of annexation; (2) although the Fiscal Plan assigned the annexation area to one illegitimate councilmanic district, the logical alternative interpretation was that the area was properly assigned to the other legitimate councilmanic district mentioned in the plan; and (3) there is no statutory requirement that the Fiscal Plan mention any specific sum of indebtedness to Adams Township. The trial court also ruled that because questions remained regarding Fort Wayne’s service obligations to the divided tracts and any impact this may have on a separate annexation claim by New Haven, summary judgment was inappropriate and further proceedings were required. Finally, the trial court determined that “no patent boundary illegality exists.” Appellants’ App. p. 221.

On August 23, 2001, Fort Wayne filed its second motion for summary judgment. In its motion, Fort Wayne asserted that there would no longer be any divided tracts should the proposed annexation take place because those tracts had merged into Fort [63]*63Wayne as the result of another annexation that came into effect in 1999. Fort Wayne also asserted that it had met the statutory requirements for annexation. On September 27, 2001, the Remonstrators filed a renewed cross-motion for summary judgment and a renewed motion to strike, incorporating their previous summary judgment filing. On October 16, 2001, the trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Fort Wayne and denied the Remon-strators’ cross-motion for summary judgment. In so doing, the trial court affirmed its prior findings and conclusions of law dated June 5, 1996. It also found that all issues regarding service delivery to the split parcels had abated as a result of the 1999 annexation merging the parcels into Fort Wayne. The Remonstrators now appeal.

DISCUSSION AND DECISION

I. Standard of Review

Annexation remonstrances “may be subject to summary judgment motions.” Deaton v. City of Greenwood, 582 N.E.2d 882, 884 (Ind.Ct.App.1991).

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Bluebook (online)
774 N.E.2d 58, 2002 Ind. App. LEXIS 1107, 2002 WL 1472065, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-annexation-proposed-by-ordinance-no-x-01-95-indctapp-2002.