Summary
The Eleventh District Court of Appeals considered a petition for a writ of mandamus seeking to compel the Ashtabula County Board of Commissioners to approve an expedited type-2 annexation petition. The court held that the statutory requirement concerning municipal services did not require the municipality to agree to provide services where its resolution specified that no services would be provided. The court dismissed two counts and granted the writ on the remaining count, directing the Board to approve the annexation.
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Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the court could grant mandamus based on the Village's allegedly untimely or improper objection to the annexation petition.
- Whether Ohio Revised Code 709.023(E)(6) requires a municipal corporation to agree to provide services before an expedited type-2 annexation petition may be granted.
- Whether the Youngs had a clear legal right to approval of the annexation petition and the Board had a clear legal duty to grant it.
Holdings
- The court could not grant mandamus solely to review whether the Village's objection was timely or based on proper grounds; the relevant inquiry was whether the annexation petition satisfied all statutory requirements and whether the Board had a clear legal duty to approve it.
- Ohio Revised Code 709.023(E)(6) does not require a municipal corporation to agree to provide services as a prerequisite to granting an expedited type-2 annexation petition when the municipal corporation's division (C) resolution specifies that no services will be provided.
- The Youngs established a clear legal right to approval of their expedited type-2 annexation petition, and the Board had a clear legal duty to grant it; the court therefore issued a writ of mandamus directing the Board to enter a resolution granting the petition.
Key quotations
“We conclude that R.C. 709.023(E)(6) does not require a board of county commissioners to deny an expedited type-2 annexation petition when a municipal corporation has resolved that it does not intend to provide services to the territory proposed to be annexed.” (¶ 46)
“As to the expedited type-2 annexation petition, the board’s discretion has been entirely eliminated.” (¶ 49)
“The Youngs have demonstrated that they have a clear legal right to approval of the Annexation Petition. Therefore, we grant the Youngs’ petition for writ of mandamus.” (¶ 52)
Factual background
D. Michael Young and Carol Young jointly owned an approximately 1.25-acre parcel in Orwell Township and sought its annexation into the contiguous Village of Orwell through Ohio's expedited type-2 annexation procedure. The Village adopted a resolution stating that no services were intended to be provided and another resolution objecting to the annexation and declining to provide services. The Ashtabula County Board of Commissioners denied the petition based on the alleged failure to satisfy Ohio Revised Code 709.023(E)(6).
Procedural history
The Youngs filed an expedited type-2 annexation petition seeking to annex their property from Orwell Township into the Village of Orwell. The Ashtabula County Board of Commissioners denied the petition because the Village had not agreed to provide services under Ohio Revised Code 709.023(E)(6). The Youngs then filed an original mandamus action in the Eleventh District. The court dismissed Counts One and Two sua sponte, granted summary judgment to the Youngs on Count Three, and issued a writ directing the Board to grant the annexation petition.
Remand instructions
The Board must enter upon its journal a resolution granting the Youngs' annexation petition. The clerk must then process and transmit the annexation record as provided by R.C. 709.023(G) and R.C. 709.033(C)(1).