On August 4, 2009, the county lost a court of appeals case regarding a rezoning request, but on the recommendation of the Minnesota Counties Insurance Trust (MCIT) and attorneys consulted by Cook County, the county board voted August 11 to allow the case to go to the Minnesota Supreme Court.
On September 11, 2001, as planes were flying into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, a request from Lance Johnson to rezone a parcel of land he owned fronting Highway 61 on the east side of Lutsen was denied in a public hearing at which Johnson was present.
On September 11, 2001, according to Judge Louise Dovre Bjorkman of the Minnesota Court of Appeals, the county board heard from citizens attending the meeting and from Planning and Zoning Administrator Tim Nelson. They considered written comments from the community as well as the Planning Commission’s recommendation that the request be denied. They did not, however, hand Johnson a written statement within 60 days of its reasons for denying his request as required by Minnesota statute.
Johnson initiated action against the county in May 2006 and lost in district court. In the appeal decision, Judge Bjorkman and the two other judges presiding with her disagreed with the county’s contention that the board meeting minutes from September 11, 2001 satisfied the written-reasons requirement. The judges also disagreed with the county’s contention that Johnson was not entitled to approval of his request because of the delay in asserting his claim.
In an August 7, 2009 county board meeting, County Attorney Tim Scannell stated that the written notice rule was not part of Johnson’s original case. Judge Bjorkman’s decision also states that in the appeal process Johnson asserted for the first time that the county cannot deny his rezoning request because it has never told him that he could not continue to use his property for commercial purposes as he has done since before 2001.
Because of the appeals court decision, the parcel is now zoned commercial, a designation that according to Tim Nelson is not consistent with either the county’s comprehensive use plan or Lutsen’s sub-area zoning plan. The town of Lutsen had decided not to expand its commercial zone any further along Highway 61. The case was not lost on its merits, Nelson said, but on a technicality.
“The decision that was made has statewide ramification,” Nelson said.
“People are going to use this the wrong way,” Scannell said.
Nelson spoke to county commissioners again August 11, saying that MCIT and outside legal counsel’s recommendation to forward a petition to the Minnesota Supreme Court would cause no threat of damages and no additional cost to the county. MCIT has handled the case so far and will carry it to the MN Supreme Court. Nelson maintained that the county has legislative authority to follow its comprehensive land use plan and to zone accordingly.
The county board voted to initiate the process of rezoning the parcel back to residential status and to go forward on appeal. A hearing will be held after the Planning Commission’s next meeting on September 9.
A form is now completed and handed to applicants at the end of meetings in which zoning decisions are made.
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