Fishers Town Council Pulls Geist Annexation Bid, For Now

In a special session of the Fishers Town Council this evening, board members voted to withdraw the four ordinances that would have forcibly annexed over 2,000 properties on Geist Reservoir.

That’s right, they called a ‘cease fire’ on Geist.

Fishers Town Council President Scott Faultless said “the Town wants to work with our neighbors in the Geist area to reach an amicable and fair resolution, voluntarily.”

“We have been fighting against involuntary annexations from the very beginning,” said Pete Peterson, President of the Geist United Opposition. “We strongly support the Fishers Town Council’s decision to withdraw their forced annexation bid for Geist.”

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While the decision to withdraw may be reason to cheer now, the residents of Geist have another battle looming on the horizon: voluntary annexation negotiations. Fishers intends on pursuing voluntary annexations amongst the neighborhoods via homeowners association and neighborhood meetings. These are the same types of meetings that the City of Carmel held with Southwest Clay residents that signed the NOAX referendum, negating their ability to remonstrate.

Put simply, if Fishers can get 36% of all the residents that were previously under the forced annexation crosshairs to sign a referendum or tax abatement deal, they can eliminate the Geist residents’ ability to remonstrate against a forced annexation. Why? Because in order to have your case heard by a judge in Hamilton County, residents must have 65% of the property owners sign a petition against the forced annexation. If Fishers gets 36% or more to sign in favor of a referendum, Geist can not reach that 65%.

As for the cease-fire called tonight, both sides can declare victory. Fishers residents avoid a long and costly legal battle which will inevitably end up in another Indiana Supreme Courtroom. The City of Carmel spent over $1 million on their Southwest Clay case alone. Geist residents have the cloud of forced annexation, four separate lawsuits, legal bills, and petition drives lifted at least temporarily. With the recent property tax hike that all Geist area residents were hit with, forcing another 20% increase on residents would have stirred an already angry hornet’s nest.

As for the Geist United Opposition the group plans to remain intact and continue to serve the residents of Geist.

“Until forced annexation is no longer a threat to our residents, we will continue to fight the fight,” said Peterson.

Geist United Opposition has worked diligently over the last 12 months trying to change the Indiana State statutes regarding forced annexation. Until the state laws are changed to disallow forced annexations or until Geist is incorporated into its own municipality, forced annexation will always be a viable threat.

Look for Fishers to promote the fact that they have three subdivisions (or 10% of the residents) in Geist that have already agreed to be voluntarily annexed. In each of these cases; however, sewers were the driving factor. Country Lane Estates, Forest Knoll, and Carefree were all built on septic systems that are starting to fail. Having a smelly swamp in your backyard will force you to do things you normally wouldn’t entertain. I’ll be anxious to see what they offer other neighborhoods in the area.

What will happen from here is anyone’s guess. I foresee stepped up incorporation activity by the unincorporated residents of Geist. They clearly see that one way or the other, Geist will be incorporated whether it is through voluntary annexation, forced annexation, or incorporation. Hopefully, the residents of Geist will come up with an alternative proposal to Fisher’s voluntary annexation proposal in the near future.

While Fishers may have temporarily denounced involuntary annexation, look for a new annexation tactic to be introduced: Coerced annexation.

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