Oral arguments in front of court of appeals on merits of Bloomington annexation: Aug. 19

Two months from now, arguments will be heard by an Indiana court of appeals panel on the merits of Bloomington's attempt to annex territory on the west and southwest sides of the city.

In an order from the court in late May, the date for oral arguments was set for Aug. 19, 2025 at 10:30 a.m.

Bloomington is looking for the court of appeals to reverse a decision by the trial court in the first week of August 2024, which found in favor of remonstrators, who collected enough signatures against annexation to force judicial review, but not enough to stop it outright. The arguments in front of the court of appeals will focus on issues like the concept of an urban area, density, zoning for development and other statutory standards that are supposed to factor into the mix.

Bloomington says that the trial court made a mistake by not allowing the annexation of adjacent urban areas, because the territory is highly developed and already benefits from Bloomington's services. The remonstrators say that the trial court was right in deciding that Bloomington did not satisfy the legal requirements for annexation.

Bloomington's other legal annexation case has already been reviewed by the court of appeals, which upheld the decision of the trial court—that a 2019 state law is, in fact, constitutional, contrary to Bloomington's claim. The 2019 law disallowed many of the waivers that Bloomington was relying on to disqualify the signatures of many remonstrators. In the areas affected by the second legal case, property owners collected enough remonstrance signatures to stop the annexation outright.

The trial court decision on the constitutionality of the 2019 state law came a year ago. The court of appeals decision came in mid-February 2025.

The city of Bloomington has asked the Indiana Supreme Court to review the case. In the terminology of the court, the city is requesting that the state's highest court "grant transfer" of the case. The filings have been completed to make the request to accept transfer. Now the only question is whether the court will grant or deny the request. So far this year, the court has accepted just 13 out of 255 cases, which is just a 5% acceptance rate.