On July 12, 2001, the QVF reflected that forty registered voters resided in the annexation area. On July 10, 2001, signatures of twelve petitioners were filed with the office of defendant Oakland County Clerk.ĭefendant Oakland County Director of Elections Mary Jo Hammond testified during her deposition that she matched the names of the petition signers with names appearing on the Qualified Voter File (QVF) maintained by the Secretary of State. In at least one instance, a Harbor Company employee gave a resident a petition form, which the resident then signed in the presence of a neighbor, who then signed the petition as its circulator. Consequently, most of the petitions bear only one resident's signature as both petitioner and circulator. Most of the township residents who signed as petitioners also signed their petitions indicating that they had circulated them. Two employees of the Harbor Companies took petitions to residents of the annexation area to ascertain whether the residents would sign them. to which the portion is to be annexed, and the portion of the township which is to be annexed, with the vote in each unit. Under subsection 34(5), a successful annexation occurs on "approval by a majority of the qualified and registered electors voting on the question in the city. § 42.34(5) of the Charter Township Act, M.C.L. This number of signatures triggers an annexation election pursuant to M.C.L. The Harbor Companies set about seeking to obtain petition signatures from twenty percent of the registered electors in the area of the township for which annexation was sought. After the township refused, the Harbor Companies sought to have their property annexed to the adjoining city of Pontiac, the government of which had expressed support for the development proposed by the Harbor Companies. The Harbor Companies unsuccessfully sought the township's permission to *615 create a mixed use development on the property. (hereinafter the Harbor Companies), owned the approximately seventy-five-acre parcel of property in Bloomfield Township comprising the annexation area. The remaining intervening defendants, Harbor Telegraph 2103, L.L.C., Bloomfield Acres Acquisition Company, L.L.C., Harbor Telegraph 1881, L.L.C., Harbor Telegraph 1899, L.L.C., and Harbor Vogue Plaza, L.L.C. The circuit court refused the township's request to enjoin the annexation election and ultimately granted defendants summary disposition with respect to the several counts of the township's complaint. This appeal involves plaintiff Charter Township of Bloomfield's challenge to the petitions initiating, and the scheduling of, a September 11, 2001, election to decide whether intervening defendant city of Pontiac could annex property located in Bloomfield Township. Pirich) for Harbor Telegraph 2103, L.L.C., Bloomfield Acres Acquisition Company, L.L.C., Harbor Telegraph 1881, L.L.C., Harbor Telegraph 1899, L.L.C., and Harbor Vogue Plaza, L.L.C.īefore: GAGE, P.J., and MARK J. Friedlaender, Timothy Knowlton, and John D. Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP (by Barry L. McGinty), Pontiac, East Lansing, for the city of Pontiac. Keith Norman and McGinty, Jakubiak & Hitch, P.C. Lerminiaux) for the Oakland County Clerk. Oakland County Corporation Counsel (by Julie L. Fisher, and Janet Callahan Barnes), Farmington Hills, for Charter Township of Bloomfield. *614 Secrest, Wardle, Lynch, Hampton, Truex and Morley (by William P. Released for Publication November 26, 2002. OAKLAND COUNTY CLERK and Oakland County Director of Elections, Defendants-Appellees, andĬity of Pontiac, Harbor Telegraph 2103, L.L.C., Bloomfield Acres Acquisition Company, L.L.C., Harbor Telegraph 1881, L.L.C., Harbor Telegraph 1899, L.L.C., and Harbor Vogue Plaza, L.L.C., Intervening Defendants-Appellees. 1 CHARTER TOWNSHIP OF BLOOMFIELD, Plaintiff-Appellant,
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