State ex rel. Village of Fridley v. City of Columbia Heights

• Decision Date: 06 June 1952
• Docket Number: No. 35638,35638
• Citation: 53 N.W.2d 831,237 Minn. 124
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE ex rel. VILLAGE OF FRIDLEY v. CITY OF COLUMBIA HEIGHTS.

Page 831

53 N.W.2d 831

237 Minn. 124

STATE ex rel. VILLAGE OF FRIDLEY v. CITY OF COLUMBIA HEIGHTS.

No. 35638.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

June 6, 1952.

Syllabus by the Court.

1. Courts are guided by the presumption, M.S.A. § 645.17(1) that the legislature did not intend by its enactments to bring about results which would be absurd or unreasonable. Power of a municipality to annex territory of another municipal corporation is not necessarily implied from or incident to a power expressly granted 'to annex adjacent or contiguous platted territory.'

2. State ex rel. Hilton v. City of Brookside, 161 Minn. 171, 201 N.W. 139, is authority for the rule that if the legislature intended to grant power to a newly organized municipal corporation to annex Part of an adjacent organized village or borough it would have used language directly expressing such authority.

3. M.S.A. § 413.14, authorizing a city of the fourth class to annex property abutting upon it (a) which has been platted into lots and blocks or outlots when a majority of the Owners thereof so petition, or (b) which is an unplatted tract, piece, or parcel of land when the Owner thereof so petitions, Held not to confer authority upon such a city to annex unplatted tracts of land belonging to several owners wholly within the limits of an organized village, only two of which tracts abut for a short distance each upon the limits of the city.

4. This construction of § 413.14 is in harmony with the construction given similar statutes by courts of other states. See, Village of North Fargo v. City of Fargo, 49 N.D. 597, 192 N.W. 977; City of Wauwatosa v. City of Milwaukee, 180 Wis. 310, 192 N.W. 982.

5. Respondent's contention that § 413.14 empowers the city of Columbia Heights to annex several unplatted tracts belonging to different owners within the village of Fridley, only two of which abut upon Columbia Heights, which would leave in the village a number of 'islands' separated from each other by portions of Columbia Heights and Minneapolis and disconnected from the public institutions of the village, would require a construction of § 413.14 leading to unjust and unreasonable results not intended by the legislature.

6. The described annexation proceedings taken under § 413.14, as well as ordinance No. 277 of the city of Columbia Heights and all actions taken thereunder, Held to be invalid and without force or effect, and that the city of Columbia Heights and its elected officials be and they are hereby ousted from exercising jurisdiction over any tracts, pieces, or parcels of land wholly or partly within the corporate limits of the village of Fridley.

Hall, Smith & Hedlund, Wyman Smith, Snyder, Gale, Hoke, Richards & Janes and Edmund T. Montgomery, Minneapolis, for relator.

Joseph E. Wargo, City Atty., Columbia Heights, Hugh H. Barber, Minneapolis, for respondents.

Leavitt Barker, Sheffield West, Minneapolis, amici curiae.

THOMAS GALLAGHER, Justice.

Quo warranto proceedings instituted here by the village of Fridley against the city of Columbia Heights to determine the validity of certain annexation proceedings whereby an irregularly shaped area of land lying entirely within the village of Fridley is sought to be annexed to the city of Columbia Heights, and requiring the city of Columbia Heights and its elected officials to show why they should not be ousted from exercising jurisdiction over territory wholly within the corporate limits of the village of Fridley.

The village of Fridley was incorporated June 9, 1949. Its status as a village was affirmed here March 30, 1951. See, State ex rel. Northern Pump Co. v. So-called Village of Fridley, 233 Minn. 442, 47 N.W.2d 204. It has a population of approximately 3,800 inhabitants. Columbia Heights is a city of the fourth class with a population of approximately 8,200 inhabitants, organized and existing under a home rule charter adopted June 9, 1921.

This court appointed the Honorable William C. Christianson, judge of the district court, first judicial district, as referee to hear the evidence and report his findings and conclusions. His report was filed here December 28, 1951. Therein he reported his conclusion that the proposed annexation was invalid and unauthorized; that the actions of the city of Columbia Heights taken in connection therewith were null and void; and that the village of Fridley was entitled to a writ of ouster ousting the city of Columbia Heights and its elected officials from exercising any jurisdiction over territory within the village of Fridley sought to be annexed to Columbia Heights under the latter's ordinance No. 277. This report, as well as respondent's exceptions and objections thereto, are now before us so that the issues presented by these proceedings may be determined.

The facts stipulated by the parties and found by the referee in substance are as follows:

On March 27, 1951, a number of freeholders within the village of Fridley, hereinafter referred to as the village, submitted a petition to the city of Columbia Heights, hereinafter referred to as Columbia Heights, requesting that certain tracts entirely within the village owned by petitioners be incorporated in and made a part of Columbia Heights.

One of such tracts owned by Minnesota Linseed Oil Company abuts on a small part of the west limits of Columbia Heights for a distance of 660 feet from south to north between Forty-fourth and Forty-fifth avenues northeast. Another tract owned by Northern Pacific Railway Company abuts on a small portion of the west limits of Columbia Heights a distance of only 1,980 feet from south to north between Thirty-seventh and Fortieth avenues northeast. Between these two small abutments and separating them from each other is a tract left within the village which still abuts on the west limits of Columbia Heights. At no other point does the territory which is sought to be annexed adjoin the limits of Columbia Heights, although tracts of several petitioners extend northerly and some distance west of such limits a distance of approximately 2,000 feet beyond the Minnesota Linseed Oil Company abutment, which terminates at Forty-fifth avenue northeast. In consequence, portions of the village will completely separate most of the tracts sought to be annexed to Columbia Heights from the latter, except by way of the two small abutments above described.

If the proposed annexation becomes effective, one of the results thereof will be to leave within the village four areas or 'islands' of land completely cut off from the village and cut off from each other, as follows:

(a) An area lying on the southerly border of the village adjacent to Minneapolis, comprised of vacant land surrounded on three sides by Columbia Heights and on one side by Minneapolis.

(b) An area at the extreme southwest corner of the village bordered by Minneapolis on the south, by the Mississippi River on the west, and by Columbia Heights on the remaining boundaries thereof. This tract is occupied by the homes of 10 families, a building owned by Petroleum Carriers used as a garage and office at the intersection of Marshall street northeast and Thirty-seventh avenue northeast; a lot owned by the Fridley Oil Company and used as a gas station, and a trailer camp; and a number of lots owned by Minneapolis utilized as a water works and sanitary plant.

(c) An area owned by the United States government containing industrial buildings owned by the government and leased to Northern Ordnance Incorporated, a subsidiary of Northern Pump Company.

(d) An area south of the property owned by Minnesota Linseed Oil Company bounded on the east, north, and west by the city of Columbia Heights and on the south by Minneapolis. It contains residence, a grocery store, and a small porcelain plating plant.

The annexation would remove from the village the following: An industrial plant of Minnesota Linseed Oil Company, consisting of 12 large elevators, railroad trackage and highway, employing approximately 150 people; land owned by the Standard Oil Company abutting on railroad trackage; land belonging to the Northern Pacific Railway Company and the Great Northern Railway Company with numerous railroad tracks, switches, and shops thereon; land owned by the Northern Pump Company, including industrial buildings, parking areas for vehicles, wells, water mains, and like items; land owned by the Minneapolis, Anoka and Cayuna Range Railway Company, consisting of railroad trackage extending from Minneapolis across the tract of land owned by the Northern Pump Company; land originally owned by Mike Evenoff, consisting of a house and farm buildings used for market gardening and conveyed subsequent to the commencement of these proceedings to the Northern Pump Company.

With the exception of two blocks and a portion of another, no part of the land included in the petition was platted. It is described in metes and bounds or by lot numbers in Auditor's Subdivisions.

The village provides the following municipal benefits: One full-time police officer; one part-time police officer; two constables; one village-owned police car equipped with two-way radio with the sheriffs of Hennepin and Anoka counties; one new water-carrying fire truck, fully equipped and endeavoring to meet class 9, underwriter's specifications; one used tanker truck carrying 1,000 gallons of water. At present it has no municipal water, sewage, or other sanitation facilities.

Columbia Heights maintains the following: A municipal water system; municipal sanitary and storm sewers; a full-time police force of seven men with a squad car with a two-way radio; and a police station. It provides fire protection by means of paid firemen on duty 24 hours a day, supplemented by an organized volunteer fire department, operating three fully-equipped fire trucks. It has a centralized business district, including banking services.

The owners of the territory included in the petition for annexation are...