The city of Lebanon has filed a motion to dismiss a complaint aimed at overturning its annexation of roughly 5,000 acres of land in Boone County.
The city is calling the complaint “a baseless lawsuit meant as a delay tactic.”
The initial complaint, filed by a handful of Boone County residents, argued that Lebanon’s annexation was illegal in part because it extended beyond what had been laid out in the city’s comprehensive plan.
The city’s annexation is part of a plan to create a massive industrial park in Lebanon, backed by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation.
In their motion to dismiss the complaint, attorneys for the city argued that Boone County residents didn’t have standing to bring the lawsuit and that the annexation was perfectly legal.
“Plaintiffs advance a novel legal argument with the sole purpose of delaying any development actions on the part of the city for as long as possible,” city attorneys wrote. “Unfortunately for Plaintiffs, Indiana law, common sense, and good public policy bar Plaintiffs’ unjust and meritless attempt to deprive their neighbors of the benefits they have requested.”
Specifically, attorneys said that if cities had to amend their comprehensive plans before every annexation, it would create a “costly and time-consuming process” – and further, that Plaintiffs “fail to cite any authority for this interpretation” of the law.
An attorney representing the Boone County residents who filed the complaint did not respond to our request for comment before publication.
