## Facts

- Racine Properties, Inc. owned approximately 145 acres in the Town of Mt. Pleasant, largely agricultural, and sought annexation to the City of Racine.
- A notice of intention to circulate an annexation petition was executed on January 9, 1963 and published on January 11, 1963.
- An attorney for the owner mailed a copy of the notice to the town clerk; the clerk received it on January 17, 1963.
- A petition for direct annexation was filed with the city clerk on February 1, 1963.
- The City’s planning commission reported in favor of annexation; the common council did not reject the petition and later passed an annexation ordinance, approved by the mayor on March 7, 1963.
- The annexed area touched the City only via a narrow corridor approximately 1,705 feet long and 306–152 feet wide.
- The Town sued for declaratory relief to void the annexation; the circuit court upheld the annexation on stipulated facts, and the Town appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether alleged defects in the statutory notice of intention to circulate an annexation petition (including who transmitted notice to the town clerk and timing/formalities) invalidated the annexation.
2. Whether “contiguity” for annexation is satisfied when the annexed territory connects to the municipality only by a narrow corridor.

## Decision

- The Wisconsin Supreme Court affirmed the judgment upholding the annexation.
- The Court held the notice provisions were sufficiently complied with because the Town received timely, adequate notice before the petition was filed.
- The Court held the annexed territory was contiguous because it physically touched the City boundary, notwithstanding the corridor’s narrowness.
- A dissent would have required a more substantive showing of meaningful contiguity and would have treated the corridor configuration as an abuse of annexation authority.

## Legal Principles

- Annexation notice requirements are construed to effectuate their purpose of providing timely, adequate notice; technical objections that do not defeat actual notice will not necessarily void annexation.
- Statutory “contiguity” is satisfied by a common boundary (physical touching), even if the connection is achieved through a narrow corridor.
- Courts will not impose extra-statutory requirements (such as compactness or boundary regularity) absent legislative direction prohibiting corridor or irregularly shaped annexations.

## Conclusion

The court upheld the City’s annexation because the Town received timely notice consistent with the statute’s purpose and because the annexed area’s corridor contact with the City satisfied the statutory contiguity requirement, leaving policy objections about corridor annexations to the legislature.


Town of Mt. Pleasant v. City of Racine, 127 N.W.2d 757 (Wis. 1964)