The residents of any unincorporated contiguous area (village) containing not less than 125 qualified electors may present a petition signed by a majority of the said electors to the board of commissioners of the county in which said petitioners reside, praying that they be incorporated as a city, designating the name they wish to assume and the metes and bounds of the proposed city.
Upon the petition to incorporate filed as herein provided, the board of county commissioners petitioned shall have no jurisdiction to take any action thereon or enter an order of incorporation, regardless of the number of petitioners thereon, where the boundaries of the proposed new city approach any point within one (1) mile of the boundary limits of any existing city of less than five thousand (5,000) population, within two (2) miles of the boundary limits of any existing city of five thousand (5,000) but less than ten thousand (10,000) population, within three (3) miles of the boundary limits of any existing city of ten thousand (10,000) but less than twenty thousand (20,000) population, or within four (4) miles of the boundary limits of any existing city of twenty thousand (20,000) or more population, all populations as determined by the last official or special United States census, unless there is first furnished said board of county commissioners either (a) a certified copy of a resolution of the city council of any existing city within the above applicable distances of the proposed city approving said petition for incorporation, or (b) appropriate evidence that the city council of any existing city within the above applicable distances of the proposed city, if contiguous or adjacent, has rejected and refused to annex the area of the proposed city to the existing city upon the petition made as hereinafter set out. Where the proposed new city area lies within the applicable distance of one or more cities, all cities must approve the petition of incorporation. An existing city shall be deemed to have rejected and refused to annex the contiguous or adjacent area when a petition for annexation is filed prior to 90 days before the end of any fiscal year, and the city council, within 60 days after receipt of said petition has not by appropriate action, declared that such area will be a part of such existing city, effective not later than the last day of the fiscal year in which said petition was filed. Such petition shall be signed by a majority of the inhabitants paying real estate taxes within said area requesting annexation, contain a certain metes and bounds description of the area set out in the petition and certify that the area so described falls within the distance limits herein set forth. The existing city, the petitioners, as herein provided, or the board of county commissioners is granted the power to petition the district court for a declaration of the right on any disputes arising between any of the parties so named hereunder.