(1) PROCEDURE. When land used for agricultural purposes of an area of 200 acres or more contiguous to the boundary of any city, whether of one or more farms, which shall have been within the corporate limits of such city for 20 years or more, and during all of said time shall have been used exclusively for agricultural purposes, the circuit court of the county in which such land is situated shall enter judgment detaching such land from such city and annexing it to an adjoining town or towns, if the provisions of this section shall have been complied with. Such detachment and annexation thereof shall become effective for all purposes on the first day of January next thereafter, and the procedure therefor shall be substantially as provided in subs. (3) and (4). There shall be no adjustment, assignment and transfer of assets and liabilities under s. 66.0235, but the detached territory shall continue to pay its proportional share, based on assessed valuation, of the bonded indebtedness of the city at the time of detachment. (2) LAND ELIGIBLE; “OWNER” DEFINED. No owner shall be eligible to sign a petition for the detachment of any such territory unless that owner is the owner of a parcel of land comprising at least 20 acres. No such land shall be detached from any city unless the remaining territory of said city shall be left reasonably compact and the boundaries thereof left substantially regular; provided, that such determination shall be made without regard to the existence of railroad rights-of-way, public utility easements or public or private highways traversing any part of such lands and remaining within such city. No lands shall be eligible for detachment where any public improvements have been extended to or installed for the benefit of such lands. As used in this section, “owner” means the holder of record of an estate in possession in fee simple, or for life, in land or real property, or a vendee of record under a land contract for the sale of an estate in possession in fee simple or for life but does not include the vendor under a land contract. A tenant in common or joint tenant shall be considered such owner to the extent of that person’s interest. (3) HEARING; NOTICE. When the owner or owners of all of the said lands of any such area file a verified petition in the office of the clerk of said court, setting forth the facts in accordance with subs. (1) and (2), the court shall make an order fixing the time of hearing thereof, which shall not be less than 60 nor more than 90 days thereafter, and at least 40 days prior to said time fixed, notice of hearing of such petition shall be served on such city, town or towns and all owners found in this state of any land in such area, in the manner prescribed in s. 801.12 for the service of a summons. Said notice shall be in substantially the following form: Notice is hereby given that the petition of .... will be heard by the circuit court of .... County, at the court house, in the city of ...., Wisconsin, on the .... day of ...., .... (year), at .... M., or as soon thereafter as counsel can be heard. That said petition prays for the detachment of the following area of land from the city of .... and annexation to the town of ...., in accordance with section 62.075 of the Wisconsin statutes, which area of land is described as follows: Dated .... .... (Petitioner’s attorney) .... P.O. Address .... (4) OBJECTIONS; DECISIONS. The city, town or towns, owners of land in the vicinity, or owners of any interest therein, if opposed to the proceedings, shall, at least 15 days before the time of hearing fixed by the order, file in the office of the clerk of circuit court and serve on the petitioners their verified objections to the granting of the prayer of the petition, specifying the grounds of objections thereto. The proceedings may be adjourned or continued for cause. The issue raised by the petition shall be tried by the circuit court upon the evidence submitted by the petitioners and objectors; and witnesses shall be compelled to appear and testify as in other cases in circuit court and the rules of evidence, practice and procedure shall be the same. The circuit court may render judgment under subs. (1) and (2), detaching from the city and annexing to the town or towns the area, if the facts required by the subsections are proved by a preponderance of the evidence. If the facts are not so proved, the petition shall be dismissed. In the event of a contest, costs may be awarded to the successful party. (5) NOTICE OF ENTRY OF JUDGMENT; UPON WHOM SERVED. A certified copy of every such order shall be filed with the town and city clerk and with the county clerk and 4 copies with the secretary of administration. The secretary of administration shall forward 2 copies to the department of transportation and one copy to the department of revenue. (7) PLATTED LANDS. No land which has been platted may be detached, and any land detached pursuant to this section shall not be eligible for platting pursuant to ch. 236 unless re-annexed to the city.
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