The five-day annexation bench trial of areas on Bloomington’s southwest side begins Monday.
Special Judge Nathan G. Nikirk of Lawrence Circuit Court will hear arguments from annexation of areas 1A and 1B.
Those are the two proposed annexed areas that had more than 51 percent of remonstrance signatures, but less than the 65 percent needed to overturn annexation.
County Residents Against Annexation president Margaret Clements says it’s hypocritical for a progressive community to work against a super majority of people who don’t want to be annexed.
“The longer this goes on, the more divisive it has become. And that's not because of efforts by us. It's just a unilateral by definition, an involuntary annexation.”
Read more: Pushing City Limits: Bloomington Annexation Coverage
In 2021, former mayor John Hamilton called the annexation historic steps to right-size the city after 17 years. Mayor Kerry Thomson says further action from her administration may need to wait until the lawsuits are resolved.
The other five areas reached the more than 65 percent threshold to void annexation. But those areas are being challenged by the city in a separate case claiming a 2019 state law about remonstrance validity is unconstitutional.
The trial begins at 9 a.m. Monday at the Monroe County Justice Building.
