The chronological timeline of both Prairie Ridge, the first failed annexation attempt and the ongoing second annexation attempt, are critical to the complaint submitted to the Porter County court system.
Prairie Ridge History
Planning and Development
On June 9th, 2003, Mr. Rick Hornat, member and owner of Valpo-Sturdy Road, LLC, petitioned the Porter County Plan Commission to rezone the 30 acre parcel now known as Prairie Ridge to R1 – Low Density Single-Family Residential. This plan permitted approximately 22 to 23 lots using septic and well service. This request was granted by the Porter County Commissioners on August 5th, 2003. However, this was not the final platting for Prairie Ridge.
Conversations took place between Mr. Hornat and Dr. Pithadi who, at the time, owned the farm land along Division Road. These two individuals cooperated together and approached the City of Valparaiso for access to water and sewer service which was extended down to the Aldi Distribution Center already. In April 2004 Valpo-Sturdy Road LLC purchased the 30 acres from Iva Jarnecke (Porter Co. Recorder Doc 2004-016792).
On December 8th, 2004, after negotiations with the City of Valparaiso Utilities department, Valpo-Sturdy Road LLC, the owner of all 30 acres that comprises Prairie Ridge, and the then and now current Mayor Jon Costas entered into a binding agreement. Rick Hornat, acting as the sole Member of Valpo-Sturdy Roard LLC, executed the “Waiver of Objection and Consent to Annexation” document, commonly known as the “Hornat Waiver”. This waiver covered all 30 acres of Prairie Ridge and is “a covenant running with the land.” This document gave the City of Valparaiso the right to annex Prairie Ridge at any time they legally chose to, and the property owner(s) would not have any ability to remonstrate. This waiver was granted to the City in exchange for them agreeing to allow Prairie Ridge to connect to the City’s water and sewer service system. All engineering and construction costs were the responsibility of Valpo Sturdy Road LLC.
On January 27th, 2005 Mr. John Hardwick, Utilities Director for the City of Valparaiso, issued a letter addressed to Mr. Bob Thompson, the County Planner on the Porter County Plan Commission, stating there was capacity to accept, and therefore accepted, the Prairie Ridge system for water and sewer for 73 additional connections. 3 of these lots would be converted into green space for use by residents of Prairie Ridge, now known as the Prairie Ridge HOA Green Space. This approval allowed Valpo-Sturdy Road LLC to submit for their secondary platting 70 individual lots with 3 lots designated as green space, plus a retention pond. This is the current configuration of Prairie Ridge today. The Plan Commission, during their September 14th, 2005 meeting, noted multiple times that there was obviously some deal that was created between the City, Valpo-Sturdy Road LLC, and Dr. Pithadi to allow these areas to be more densely developed by switching to water and sewer service instead of septic and well. Despite the “bad taste”, the Plan Commission granted the platting request.
On February 12th, 2007 David Pilz, the Engineering Director for the City of Valparaiso, wrote in a letter addressed to the City Utilities department, care of Mr. John Hardwick, that the construction plans and project for Prairie Ridge was reviewed and recommended that the Board approve the request. On February 12th, 2008 the Prairie Ridge sanitary sewer system construction was reviewed and passed all required testing in a statement to Mr. Hardwick by the Valparaiso Water Reclamation Department Sewer Inspection Team.
Between 2008 and 2016 all 70 homes of Prairie Ridge were constructed. The City Utilities department appears to have been unaware that the “Hornat Waiver” existed because as each home was constructed the City Utilities department erroneously had whomever came in to the department sign another Waiver of Objection and Consent to Annexation document. However, this is not permitted by Indiana nor Valparaiso Code. Waiver documents can only be executed as an exchange for service that includes engineering and service documentation. Further, many of these waivers were not signed by the owner (Valpo-Sturdy Road LLC in a majority of the cases), and that owner had already signed a waiver in 2004 which was still in effect. The purpose of these “secondary waivers” is contested in our complaint, specifically because City Planner Beth Shrader stated publically and in writing multiple times that there is no reason for a second waiver to ever be obtained since they “run with the land.” We are unclear why the City is still even referencing these “Secondary Waivers” since they have publicly stated they are unnecessary.
Indiana General Assembly Voids Annexation Waivers
In 2019 the Indiana General Assembly passed House Bill 1427 which voids waivers executed after June 30, 2003 15 years after the date the waiver was executed. This meant that the “Hornat Waiver”, having been executed on December 8th, 2004, would be valid until December 8th, 2019.
Annexation Proceedings
First Annexation Attempt: Super Voluntary
In August 2020 the City of Valparaiso’s Planning Department issued a notice to all Prairie Ridge property owners that they would begin the process of conducting a “Super Voluntary” annexation, stating they had individual waivers for each property in Prairie Ridge. However, a Super Voluntary annexation requires that the property owners start an annexation request, and that all 100% of the property owners within an Annexation Territory are requesting annexation. Given that the HOA owned the retention pond and three undeveloped lots, and that now “individual waiver” existed for those parcels, the City did not have the 100% required to even consider a Super Voluntary annexation. Further, Ms. Beth Shrader, who initiated the request, was not a property owner. The City scheduled to vote on Ordinance No. 6, 2021 to annex Prairie Ridge in via Super Voluntary processes during their meeting on April 12th, 2021. However, the morning of that meeting the HOA was notified by Attorney Patrick Lyp for the City of Valparaiso that they were removing the annexation from the agenda.
The City quietly removed Ordinance Number 6, 2021 from it’s existence.
Second Annexation Attempt: Involuntary
In May 2021 the City then followed up with an Involuntary Annexation, stating that they had contiguity and would like to bring the property into the City limits. They further stated that the “secondary waivers” existed and therefore the property owners would not be allowed to remonstrate. On October 25th, 2021 the City of Valparaiso adopted Ordinance No. 14, 2021, involuntarily annexing all 30 acres of Prairie Ridge into the City of Valparaiso.
Remonstrance Petition Collected
Pursuant to Indiana Code, the Prairie Ridge HOA collected an official Remonstrance Petition against the annexation during November and December 2021. This was submitted to the Porter County Auditor January 4th, 2022.
Petition Review and Determination
The Porter County Auditor is tasked with reviewing the signatures on the Remonstrance Petition and verifying the person that signed it was a valid property owner at the time. They are then required to request any valid Waivers against that property address. Indiana Code requires that the Auditor determine that the signature and the waiver are valid documents. However, the Porter County Auditor’s office confirmed via email that they simply received a list of Waivers the City of Valparaiso said are valid and removed all signatures that matched the City’s list. The Auditor’s office did not validate any Waiver purported by the City to be Valid, but did validate each property owner signature. The Auditor issued her “final determination” that all signatures were invalidated on February 28th, 2022.
Legal Proceedings
Prairie Ridge files lawsuit
On March 18th, 2022, due to the invalid process handling, Prairie Ridge HOA, on behalf of it’s members, filed a complaint (case number 64D01-2203-PL-002328) against the City of Valparaiso and the Porter County Auditor. The basis of the complaint was that the City of Valparaiso only had one legally binding waiver — the Hornat Waiver — and that expired by operation of law on December 8th, 2019. In the alternative, should the City be allowed to collect “secondary waivers” without new consideration of services, those secondary waivers were not effective due to illegal signatures and other factors.
City deflects case and attempts to dismiss it
On May 20th, 2022 the City of Valparaiso filed a Motion to Dismiss. This motion went through a hearing and on October 20th, 2022 Judge Fish of the Porter County Superior Court granted the motion. The City stated that the County Auditor’s judgement is “final” and that remonstrators have no ability to challenge the validity of her findings.
Prairie Ridge Successfully Appeals Dismissal in unanimous remanding
On November 23rd , 2022 the Prairie Ridge HOA filed an appeal (22A-PL-02781) against the motion to dismiss being granted. After all briefs were submitted, the case was transmitted to the courts on April 6th, 2023.
On May 3rd, 2023, less than 30 days from the date the case was submitted to the Appellate Court, the Court issued a scathing and unanimous opinion reversing and remanding of the dismissal, stating this case should be heard for it’s merits.
City of Valparaiso Requests Supreme Court Intervention
On June 16th, 2023 the City of Valparaiso requested the appeal be transferred to the Supreme Court.
On September 7th, 2023 the Supreme Court unanimously denied the City’s request to transfer the case and ordered the case be heard.
Change of Revenue Requests; Denied
Prairie Ridge residents requested a change of venue and judge due to the nature of this case in September 2023. However, Judge Fish denied this request.
Motion for Default Judgment against the Porter County Auditor
On December 11th, 2023 the Prairie Ridge residents filed for default judgment against the County Auditor. For this entire duration the County Auditor and their counsel failed to appear when summoned by the judge. Prairie Ridge residents pointed out that the Auditor was responsible for validating the waivers the City provided and did not do so. Therefore, her decision to grant a certificate to the City should be overturned.
On March 6, 2024, Judge Fish agreed that the Auditor did not appear and therefore we were entitled to judgement against the Auditor’s office. However, the Judge further decided that the City should have the right to defend their waivers and therefore would allow the case to proceed.
Discovery and Depositions
On June 28th, 2024 the Prairie Ridge team submitted to the City of Valparaiso multiple discovery requests. The City, as of the date of this writing (September 26th, 2024) has not supplied the requested documents.
On August 26th, 2024, Judge Fish set a deadline for all discovery work to be completed by December 31st, 2024. He further set a hearing for March 3, 2025 for case management.
Heading to Trial
As of this writing (September 26th, 2024) the case is pending discovery work to complete and the case management hearing scheduled for March 3, 2025.