City of Asbury v. Iowa City Development Board

STREIT, Justice.

When does a carrot become a stick? Competing for common ground, the City of Asbury objects to the tactics the City of Dubuque used to voluntarily annex land. After the City Development Board 1 (CDB) approved Dubuque’s annexation application, Asbury appealed to the district court arguing Dubuque’s application should have been dismissed because Du-buque coerced property owners into consenting to the annexation by offering them tax and other financial benefits conditioned on each property owner’s consent. In response, Dubuque argued the offered benefits merely encouraged property…