Are Township Trustees Who Opposed Land Annexation a ‘Party’ Eligible to Challenge Approval in Lawsuit?
State of Ohio ex rel. Butler Township Board of Trustees v. Montgomery County Board of County Commissioners et al., Case no. 2009-0186 2nd District Court of Appeals (Montgomery County) ISSUE: Under a state law prescribing procedures for the “expedited” annexation of property in a township into an adjoining municipality, do township trustees who exercise their statutory right to file objections to a particular annexation petition thereby become a “party” to that proceeding, with legal standing to file a subsequent mandamus action challenging the county commissioners’ approval of the annexation? BACKGROUND: In October 2007, Waterwheel Farms Inc. filed a petition with the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners seeking to have 78.489 acres of its property located within Butler Township annexed into the adjacent city of Union. The petition specified that annexation was sought under R.C. 709.023 as an “Expedited Type II Annexation” in which the property owner and the municipality had mutual
