ELWOOD — After a few weeks of gathering feedback, the Elwood City Council decided to trim back its proposed annexation areas, eliminating most of the farmland included in the original proposals.
Nicholas Kile, attorney for Barnes & Thornburg, the law firm handling the annexation, said he had spoken to a few of the City Council members about what they were hearing from affected property owners. Based on those conversations, Kile drew up new maps significantly reducing the amount of land that would be brought in by the proposed annexations.
Kile said the new proposed areas focus specifically on state road corridors and developed land.
"These proposals are significantly smaller than what it was before," Kile said. "We cut out most of the agricultural land."
Councilman Eric Reese asked Kile what the reasoning behind the reductions were. Kile said there didn't seem to be a need for the city to annex farmland and there wasn't much desire on the part of the landowners to be annexed into Elwood.
Of the four proposed annexations, only Annexation 1 and Annexation 2 were modified. Annexation 1, which is located southeast of the city, was cut by about two-thirds down to just 375 acres. This new proposed map, which was approved by the council, would form a triangle with the current city boundaries making the northern line, Indiana 13 creating the western line and Indiana 37 connecting the two.
Annexation 2, northeast of the city limits, saw an even larger reduction. Originally the city was looking to take in land north and south of Indiana 28 as it ran east. Kile said a closer look at the county maps showed Elwood already owned the land surrounding Ind. 28, making an annexation on both sides of the road impossible. The council decided to move forward with the annexation of the more heavily developed land south of Ind. 28, which is about 80 acres.
Kile said if the Council wanted to, it could start a separate ordinance to annex the land north of Ind. 28; the city simply can't annex land that isn't touching and owning Ind. 28 cuts the original annex in half.
"The emphasis now is on the state roads and developed lands," Kile said.
Kile said with the Council's approval of the new maps, he will have finalized maps for the residents to view prior to the public hearing on May 26.
Elwood Clerk/Treasurer Allison Atwood said most of the complaints she was hearing on the annexation was how being in the town limits would affect residents' ability to have livestock. People currently in the county limits don't have as extensive of laws as city residents.
Kile advised the Council it could make a few exceptions but wanted to wait until the public meeting to see if the concerned residents were still in the redrawn maps.