Blanch v. Suburban Hennepin Regional Park Dist.
| Decision Date | 15 December 1989 |
| Docket Number | No. C2-89-643,C2-89-643 |
| Citation | 449 N.W.2d 150 |
| Parties | Edgar W. BLANCH, et al., Appellants, v. The SUBURBAN HENNEPIN REGIONAL PARK DISTRICT, et al., Respondents. |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court
District court's rejection of the challenge to the constitutionality of Laws of Minn.1988, ch. 686, art. 1, § 26 is affirmed.
Eric J. Magnuson, William J. Egan, Rider, Bennett, Egan & Arundel, Minneapolis, for appellants.
Jeffrey A. Brauchle, Lucinda E. Jesson, Oppenheimer, Wolff & Donnelly, Minneapolis, for Suburban Hennepin Regional Park Dist., et al.
Peter Ackerberg, Asst. Atty. Gen., St. Paul, for State of Minn.
Jay M. Heffern, Lynn M. Belgea, St. Paul, for Metropolitan Council.
Heard, considered, and decided by the court en banc.
The City of Minnetrista and five individual owners of land within that city challenge a 1988 law authorizing The Suburban Hennepin Regional Park District to acquire property for a regional park on Lake Minnetonka without local consent or approval by any affected municipality or other local governmental unit. The challenge to the validity of Act of April 28, 1988, ch. 686, art. 1, § 26, 1988 Minn.Laws 2805-06, (hereinafter called "the park bill") is two-pronged: (1) that the park bill, to which the City of Minnetrista objects, is a special law subject to the consent requirements of Minn. Const. art. 12, § 2; and (2) that the park bill contains more than one subject in violation of Minn. Const. art. 4, § 17. On appeal from summary judgment in favor of the defendants, this court accepted accelerated review. We affirm.
The park bill is one of the more recent developments in the saga of executive and legislative concern with public access to Lake Minnetonka. In 1979 the Metropolitan Water Access Task Force--formed in 1978 at the behest of the Legislative Commission on Minnesota Resources and composed of representatives from the Department of Natural Resources ("DNR"), the Metropolitan Council, and the agency now known as the Minnesota Department of Energy and Economic Development--issued its report identifying Lake Minnetonka as a priority site among lakes in the metropolitan area for the acquisition of land for public access.
In 1981 the DNR, which had for more than 10 years sought an access site on Lake Minnetonka, identified a suitable parcel of land within the City of Minnetrista. Although the landowner then indicated a willingness to sell, Minnetrista opposed the acquisition, and Governor Quie intervened. Instructing the DNR to discontinue its effort to acquire the land, the governor established the Lake Minnetonka Task Force to study the issue and to make recommendations to the governor and the legislature.
In the spring of 1983 the governor's task force reported its findings of both need and demand for additional access and parking facilities on the south and west shores of Lake Minnetonka and recommended that land for additional access be sought in an area which includes the City of Minnetrista. The report was endorsed by the DNR and the Lake Minnetonka Conservation District as well as other governmental agencies. At about the same time, a revised edition of the Metropolitan Council's Metropolitan Water Access Task Force report, entitled "A Cooperative Program for Providing Public Access Sites on Metropolitan Area Lakes", rated 95 metropolitan area lakes according to three characteristics--size/shape, type of fish, and water clarity. Lake Minnetonka was one of the six lakes given a high rating on all three characteristics, and it was also identified as having inadequate public access.
The DNR then renewed its efforts to obtain an access site, and in 1985 the City of Minnetrista requested Governor Perpich to intervene. The State Executive Council asked the Metropolitan Council to undertake a comprehensive review of the issues involved in public access to Lake Minnetonka. In April of 1986, the Metropolitan Council's new task force on Lake Minnetonka issued its detailed report stating that little had been done to implement the recommendations of the 1983 governor's task force and that there was still a shortage of public access to Lake Minnetonka. The principal recommendation of the council's 1985 task force was that The Suburban Hennepin Regional Park District be directed to prepare a master plan and to acquire, develop and operate a regional park on Lake Minnetonka. The Metropolitan Council adopted the recommendation, and a year later, after holding eight public meetings, the Regional Park District issued its "Feasibility Report for a Regional Park on Lake Minnetonka and Acquisition Master Plan". The feasibility report specifically identified 292 acres fronting on Smithtown and Halsted's Bays as a potential acquisition site. The report described the land, all of which lay within the City of Minnetrista, as "the last remaining large tracts of open land on Lake Minnetonka that have the potential to meet the standards for a regional park." The feasibility report stated that the landowners had indicated a willingness to discuss a sale to the park district and that "the major issue confronting the establishment of a regional park on Lake Minnetonka is the position of the City of Minnetrista."
As soon as the park district announced its intention to pursue acquisition of the 292 acres identified in its report, Minnetrista proposed the development of a 50-acre park within the city. When this proposal was rejected, the city proposed the development of a 125-acre site within its borders on Smithtown Bay. When the park district failed to evince any interest in its second proposal, the city proposed a 306-acre park which would include island holdings in addition to the 125 acres on Smithtown Bay. At no time has the park district manifested any interest in altering its master plan.
The Metropolitan Council had approved the park district's master plan on April 11, 1987, and the legislature promptly appropriated $6 million for the "acquisition and betterment of land on Lake Minnetonka for a regional park." At the request of the park district and the Metropolitan Council, the legislature enacted the 1988 park bill, Act of April 28, 1988, ch. 686, art. 1, § 26, 1988 Minn.Laws 1199-1200. By resolution 69-88, adopted on June 20, 1988, the City of Minnetrista formally disapproved the park bill. The City of Minnetrista and five individual owners of land lying within the boundaries of the regional park described in the park district's master plan brought this action against the park district, the Minnesota Attorney General, and the State of Minnesota. The Metropolitan Council intervened. 1
Minnetrista contends that the park bill, set out below in its entirety, is a constitutionally unsound special law:
Sec. 26. [REGIONAL PARK ACQUISITION.]
Subd. 1. [LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS.] The legislature finds that there is a need for a regional park on Lake Minnetonka to serve the recreation open space needs of the citizens of the entire metropolitan area and that it is in the public interest to authorize acquisition of land for such a park in accordance with the master plan approved by the metropolitan council.
Subd. 2. [ACQUISITION.] Notwithstanding any contrary provision of law, the suburban Hennepin regional park district may acquire real property for a Lake Minnetonka regional park by purchase, gift, or eminent domain pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, chapter 117, without local consent or approval by any affected municipality or other local governmental unit.
Subd. 3. [METROPOLITAN COUNCIL APPROVAL.] Before any acquisition of real property by eminent domain pursuant to subdivision 1, the metropolitan council must find, following public hearing, that:
(1) acquisition of the property is in the public interest;
(2) negotiations for acquisition of the property have not resulted in acquisition of land by purchase;
(3) the proposed acquisition is consistent with the approved master plan maintained by the metropolitan council; and
(4) the district is able to carry out the plan and operate the regional park.
The findings required by this subdivision may have been made before or may be made on or after the effective date of this act.
Subd. 4. [SMALL HOMESTEAD LIFE ESTATE.] The park district may not acquire the fee title to a homestead of less than 20 acres by eminent domain without the written consent of the owner, but the district may acquire all title to the property except for a life estate in the person or persons residing on the homestead.
Subd. 5. [EXPIRATION.] Authority to acquire real property through eminent domain as provided in subdivisions 2 and 3 expires on December 31, 1989, except that an acquisition approved by the metropolitan council before January 1, 1990, may continue.
Subd. 6. [APPLICATION.] This section applies in the counties of Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, and Washington.
Act of April 28, 1988, ch. 686, art. 1, § 26, 1988 Minn.Laws 1199-1200.
As a general rule the Minnesota Constitution prohibits special legislation. 2 When a general law can be made applicable, a special law can be enacted only if it meets the requirements of article 12, section 2:
Every law which upon its effective date applies to a single local government unit or to a group of such units in a single county or a number of contiguous counties is a special law and shall name the unit or, in the latter case, the counties to which it applies. The legislature may enact special laws relating to local government units, but a special law, unless otherwise provided by general law, shall become effective only after its approval by the affected unit expressed through the voters or the governing body and by such majority as the legislature may direct.
Although the park district contends that the park bill meets the requirements of the three-part test adopted in In re Tveten, 402 N.W.2d 551, 558-59 (Minn.1987), and is, therefore, a general law which is not subject to the...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
City of Brookfield v. Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage Dist.
...requirement is intended to prevent the combination in one act of several and distinct incongruous subjects); Blanch v. Suburban Hennepin Reg. Park Dist., 449 N.W.2d 150 (Minn.1989) (all matters should fall under some one general idea, be so connected with or related to one another either lo......
-
Van Bergen v. State of Minn.
...This rule requires "merely, that all matters treated of should fall under some one general idea...." Blanch v. Suburban Hennepin Reg. Park D., 449 N.W.2d 150, 154-55 (Minn.1989) (quoting Wass v. Anderson, 312 Minn. 394, 252 N.W.2d 131, 137 (1977)). The clause functions to provide notice of ......
-
ASSOCIATED BLDRS. AND CONTR. v. Ventura
...public, or the courts generally. Id. at 785. A similar note of alarm was sounded three years later in Blanch v. Suburban Hennepin Regional Park District, 449 N.W.2d 150, 154 (Minn.1989), where a law was challenged under Section 17 that authorized a metropolitan park district to acquire land......
-
Bhgdn, LLC v. Minnesota
...relating to the broad subject of the operation of state government satisfy the "mere filament" rule. See Blanch v. Suburban Hennepin Reg'l Park Dist., 449 N.W.2d 150, 154-55 (Minn.1989). Therefore, the 2008 amendment was germane to the bill's subject matter and did not violate the single su......