ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLANT
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEES
Nicholas K. Kile
Brian J. Zaiger
Barnes & Thornburg LLP
Noblesville, Indiana
Indianapolis, Indiana
Douglas C. Haney
City of Carmel Department of Law
Carmel, Indiana
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In the
Indiana Supreme Court
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No. 29S02-0604-CV-139
CITY OF CARMEL, INDIANA,
Appellant (Defendant below),
v.
CARL MICHAEL STEELE AND
VICTORIA A. RUSSO-STEELE,
Appellees (Complainants below).
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Appeal from the Hamilton Superior Court, No. 29D01-0410-PL-918
The Honorable Steven R. Nation, Judge
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On Petition To Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals, No. 29A02-0503-CV-245
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May 2, 2007
Rucker, Justice.
When a municipality proceeds to annex territory as a result of a petition requesting it to
do so, the legal description of the territory as set forth in the annexation ordinance determines
whether the territory is contiguous to a municipality’s corporate boundaries. Here, the trial court
looked beyond the ordinance to the legal description in the petition that inspired the ordinance.
We conclude that to do so in this case was beyond the scope of trial court review.
Facts and Procedural History
This case concerns the City of Carmel’s efforts at a voluntary annexation of certain
territory. The essential facts are these. A Delaware limited liability company known as
Landmark on Spring Mill, LLC is the owner of a forty-three-acre tract of land located in
Hamilton County, referred to as the AMLI property. Containing an apartment complex, the land
is square in shape, bordered on the west by Spring Mill Road and on the south by 146th Street.
On August 11, 2004, Landmark filed a petition requesting the City of Carmel to annex AMLI.
On September 24, 2004, af