(A) The research undertaken in the formal development of annexation policies for the City of Peru has clearly demonstrated that the city has engaged in extensive efforts to prepare for controlled, methodical, organized growth of the city over the very long term.
(B) The city has invested and re-invested in comprehensive planning, zoning and development standards which control the development within the Plan Commission jurisdiction, including both the incorporated and unincorporated areas surrounding Peru. These planning efforts set forth the parameters for the development of the unincorporated areas in a manner that would have been impossible without the active direction of the city, and this planning and development control has led to orderly growth and high-quality development in the areas under the municipal planning jurisdiction.
(C) The city has also invested extensively in utility service capacity, especially in sewer and water utilities, to serve these unincorporated areas, as another method of assuring high-quality new development and growth around the existing municipal boundaries. The Peru sewage treatment facility is currently designed to handle more sewage than is generated by the incorporated community, which is a clear indication of the financial support and municipal investment which the city has demonstrated for new and high-quality growth in the service area.
(D) Since virtually 100% of the land within the incorporated boundaries of Peru is already developed, it is irrefutable that the incorporated city has no need for additional sewage treatment or water service capacity. Therefore, the reserve utility capacity was constructed purely for the benefit of providing services to serve the growth of the community. This is especially true with regard to the northwest sewer and water interceptor corridor. The municipality is entitled to reap the benefits of this speculative investment through growth and annexation.
(E) The city is also initiating the implementation of a requirement that developers seeking development approvals in the unincorporated areas provide the city with an annexation agreement (or an agreement not to remonstrate) that prohibits future property owners within their developments from opposing future annexation actions by the city. These "annexation agreements" are to be formally recorded with the County Recorder, and will clearly demonstrate the intent of both the city and the developer to annex these new developments as the city grows. It is important to note, however, that often times, the purchasers of homes and businesses in these unincorporated areas become comfortable in receiving the city's utility and other municipal services without the municipal property tax burden which comes with annexation. They enjoy having the cost of their services effectively subsidized by the municipal taxpayers and they sometimes attempt to legally sidestep their previous agreements with regard to annexation. Therefore, it is imperative that the municipality categorically state that it is the intent of the municipality to grow and that annexation will be pursued, especially for those areas in which annexation agreements have been signed with the developers.
(F) However, the city has made a far more concrete investment in the long term growth of the municipality which becomes an indisputable fact in any annexation question. During the 2000-2002 period, Peru Utilities planned, designed and constructed major new interceptor sewer and water facilities to serve the unincorporated areas northwest of the incorporated city, as far as the intersection of US31 and US24 (and potentially beyond). These investments are not disputable in any fashion. The capital investment in new facilities was made for the purpose of generating growth, and that growth will become a part of the incorporated municipality on a long term basis. When expensive public services such as these are subsidized by municipal taxpayers, it must be understood that the failure to annex such territories and the new development which is generated, can have no other outcome than to cause excessively high taxes or excessively high utility rates inside the municipal boundaries.
(G) The combined impact of these actions is indisputable. The city has been planning for a growing community, with the intent of providing a high quality environment for its residents. From the beginning, the area considered for Peru's long term growth included the entirety of the jurisdiction of the Plan Commission, including its (unincorporated) fringe areas, as well as the utility service area of Peru Utilities. Those plans were initiated under a set of annexation and growth statutes which have since been changed, however, those statutory changes do not alter the original and continuous intent of the City of Peru with respect to defining and implementing a bright future - and lower taxes - for its citizens by providing uniform municipal services (and uniform tax rates to pay for those services) throughout the township. Therefore, this preamble stands as a means of summarizing the evidentiary nature of these previous actions.
(Ord. 24-2002, passed 8-5-02)