A judge has ruled in favor of the Village of Howard over the annexation of 39.9 acres from the Town of Pittsfield, court records show.Brown County Circuit Judge Samantha Wagner ruled Tuesday that the annexation is valid under Wi sconsin Statute 66.0223, which allows villages and cities to annex noncontiguous land they own if it is lying near their boundaries.The Town of Pittsfield filed a lawsuit over the annexation last September, arguing the site located 1.3 miles from the Village of Howards nearest boundary was not near the village as required by law.The town also argued the annexation violated the states commonlaw rule of reason, which is meant to prevent arbitrary boundary changes, require a reasonable need for the property and guard against abuses of municipal discretion.Wagner ruled near is not specifically defined in statute and should be interpreted on a casebycase basis. In this case, she found the propertys direct highway connection and walkingdistance proximity met the requirement.The judge also concluded the rule of reason does not apply to annexations of municipally owned property under 66.0223. Even if it did, she said Howards annexation would satisfy all three conditions.In her decision, Wagner wrote:This Court sympathizes with Pittsfields sentiment that the property was bought in secret and if these annexations were to continue, the future of small towns is in question, but that is not a consideration this Court can consider when determining the plain meaning of the statute.The ruling means the property, previously in Pittsfields jurisdiction, will remain part of Howard.Editor's note: This web story was written by a human author with the assistance of artificial intelligence tools. All content has been reviewed and edited by the author for accuracy and clarity. ...read more read less