Bloomington mayor proposes adding nearly 10,000 acres to city limits

Should the council agree, it would be the first time in more than a decade that the city has pursued annexation, a process for bringing what are known as "unincorporated" areas of a county into a city or town's borders.

On Friday morning, Hamilton asked council members to begin the process to consider annexing seven areas totaling 9,848 acres. The areas include parcels that surround the city's current borders, but also include three areas of unincorporated land on the west side that are surrounded completely by the city.

"Despite the ongoing growth in those urbanized areas of the county since the last minor annexation in 2004, appropriate adoption of those areas into the city has not been pursued until now," Hamilton said during a Friday morning news conference. "I am proposing today a long-considered annexation plan that will allow all those households and businesses in the community to be a part of the same future of Bloomington."

City of Bloomington Corporation Counsel Philippa Guthrie added it's a move that makes sense, given the way the proposed areas have developed.