City of Pipestone v. Halbersma, 49584.

• Citation: 294 NW 2d 271
• Decision Date: 18 April 1980
• Docket Number: No. 49584.,49584.
• Parties: CITY OF PIPESTONE, by Warren Spannaus, Attorney General of the State of Minnesota, Appellant, v. John HALBERSMA et al., Respondents, Edward Halbersma et al., Defendants.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

294 N.W.2d 271 (1980)

CITY OF PIPESTONE, by Warren Spannaus, Attorney General of the State of Minnesota, Appellant, v. John HALBERSMA et al., Respondents, Edward Halbersma et al., Defendants.

No. 49584.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

April 18, 1980.

Warren Spannaus, Atty. Gen., Gilbert S. Buffington, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., St. Paul, James H. Schaefer, Pipestone City Atty., Pipestone, for appellant.

Coulter, Nelson, Sullivan & Frevert, V. Owen Nelson, Mark Sullivan, and Wells H. Anderson, Minneapolis, for respondents.

Heard, considered and decided by the court en banc.

KELLY, Justice.

The City of Pipestone appeals from the district court's denial of its petition to condemn 91.4 acres of land in Gray Township, Pipestone County, Minnesota. The city seeks to exercise its power of eminent domain for the purpose of expanding its municipal airport. The district court, pursuant to a stipulated remand,¹ held that although the city established that the taking was for a public purpose, it failed to establish a public necessity for the taking. We reverse.

The facts may be briefly stated. In 1971 the Pipestone City Council commenced its airport planning process because of a perceived need for airport improvements. This perceived need for improvements, including a longer runway, arose from the council's review of the Pipestone Airport Commission's and the Pipestone Area Development Corporation's findings that better transportation facilities would attract industry to the city's existing industrial park. According to these findings, better transportation facilities included an airport adequate to support aircraft used by industry. Therefore, the city hired a consulting engineering and planning firm to draft a master airport plan in 1971. After careful consideration the city adopted the airport master plan in 1975. This plan was offered as evidence at trial. An engineer from the consulting firm that drafted the plan, Richard Beckman, testified that although the Pipestone Airport is classified as a "Basic Utility II" airport by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), its existing north-south runway is only 3100 feet in length rather than the required 3700 feet. He testified that, in addition to this 600 foot extension, an extra 900 feet of runway is needed because the northern end of the runway is too close to existing structures to comply with state standards on aircraft approach "clear zones." Thus, moving the runway another 900 feet south would put the buildings beyond the northern "clear zone." He testified that the remaining 1600 feet to be acquired through this taking were to serve as "clear zones" to the south of the runway. Part of the 1600 feet would later be used for another extension of the runway, the clear zones for such an extension already having been purchased by an "easement to the ground" from the landowners south of the respondent landowners in this case. The engineer testified that six of the twelve airplanes based at Pipestone's airport at the time of the hearing required at least 3700 feet of runway.

The city called additional witnesses who supported the need for an airport expansion. Dr. Wilber Shliefer, president of the Pipestone Airport Commission, testified that after extensive research on the subject the Commission concluded that the existing 3100 foot runway was insufficient for modern high performance twin engine aircraft both in terms of safety and utilization of full load-carrying capabilities.

Assistant Commissioner Lawrence McCabe, Aeronautics Division, Minnesota Department of Transportation, discussed airport needs. He stated that modern aircraft need longer runways than the older, smaller aircraft models and that the use of airplanes is increasing at a rate of 5 to 6 percent in Minnesota.

The city also introduced into evidence the Pipestone City Council's resolution of January 5, 1978 in which the council formally found that acquisition of the 91.4 acres was necessary to effectuate a public purpose, the airport improvement project.

In the course of cross examining the engineer, the landowners established that an ideal runway at Pipestone would be constructed in a northwest-southeast direction. Instead the city proposes an extension to its existing north-south runway. The landowners called one witness, Gary Kottke. He testified that he was an experienced pilot and that he flew into the Pipestone airport once in 1973 or 1974. He opined that there would be nothing dangerous about flying any of the airplanes presently based at Pipestone from the existing 3100 foot runway.

The city may exercise the power of eminent domain for the purpose of enlarging its airport. Minn.Stat. § 360.032 (subd. 2) (1978) provides in pertinent part:

"Property needed by a municipality for an airport * * * or for its enlargement * * * or for other airport purposes, may be acquired by * * * condemnation in the manner provided by law * * *."

Minn.Stat. § 360.033 (subd. 1) (1978) provides:

The acquisition of any lands for the purpose of establishing airports or other air navigation facilities; the acquisition of airport protection privileges; the acquisition, establishment, construction, enlargement, improvement, maintenance, equipment, and operation of airports and other air navigation facilities, and the exercise of any other powers herein granted to the state or to municipalities are hereby declared to be public, governmental, and municipal functions, exercised for a public purpose, and matters of public necessity, and such lands and other property, easements, and privileges acquired and used by the state and such municipalities in the manner and for the purposes enumerated in sections 360.011 to 360.076, shall and are hereby declared to be acquired and used for public, governmental, and municipal purposes and as a matter of public necessity.

The standard of review of determinations of public use and necessity by condemning authorities was thoroughly discussed by this court in Housing and Redevelopment Authority v. Minneapolis Metropolitan Co., 259 Minn. 1, 104 N.W.2d 864 (1960).

Great weight must be given to the determination of the condemning authority, and the scope of review is narrowly limited. If it appears that the record contains some evidence, however informal, that the taking serves a public purpose,

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