Trisko v. City of Waite Park

• Court: Minnesota Court of Appeals
• Writing for the Court: HAROLD W. SCHULTZ
• Citation: Trisko v. City of Waite Park, 566 N.W.2d 349 (Minn. App. 1997)
• Decision Date: 15 July 1997
• Docket Number: No. C0-97-86,C0-97-86
• Parties: Robert TRISKO, et al., Plaintiffs, v. CITY OF WAITE PARK, Respondent, Meridian Aggregates Company, a Montana corporation, Appellant. MERIDIAN AGGREGATES COMPANY, a Montana corporation, Appellant, v. CITY OF WAITE PARK, Respondent.

Page 349

566 N.W.2d 349

Robert TRISKO, et al., Plaintiffs, v. CITY OF WAITE PARK, Respondent, Meridian Aggregates Company, a Montana corporation, Appellant.

MERIDIAN AGGREGATES COMPANY, a Montana corporation, Appellant, v. CITY OF WAITE PARK, Respondent.

No. C0-97-86.

Court of Appeals of Minnesota.

July 15, 1997.

Review Denied Sept. 25, 1997.

Syllabus by the Court

A city's denial of a conditional use permit is unreasonable, arbitrary, and capricious when the city ignores the controlling land use plan and zoning ordinances that authorize such use, rejects without a proper basis the applicant's business judgment regarding its need for the permit, and relies on the unsubstantiated concerns of neighbors over expert evidence to the contrary.

Gordon H. Hansmeier, Rajkowski Hansmeier Ltd., St. Cloud, for Respondent.

Gary A. Van Cleve, Larkin, Hoffman, Daly & Lindgren, Ltd., Bloomington, for Appellant.

Considered and decided by HUSPENI, P.J., and WILLIS and SCHULTZ ^*, JJ.

OPINION

HAROLD W. SCHULTZ, Judge.

Appellant Meridian Aggregates Company challenges the trial court's summary judgment for respondent City of Waite Park denying Meridian's application for a conditional use permit to operate a rock quarry. Because we conclude that the city's denial of the permit was unreasonable, arbitrary, and capricious, we reverse and order the issuance of the appropriate conditional use permit.

FACTS

Appellant operates a 98-acre rock quarry on a 250-acre site and owns an adjacent 142-acre parcel of property that it purchased in 1992 from another mining company on which it plans to develop a 52.25-acre quarry. Trunk Highway 23 separates a portion of the existing quarry from the proposed quarry site. Both properties were located in the Town of St. Cloud (the town) until December 30, 1995, when the City of Waite Park (the city) annexed appellant's property as part of a merger agreement with the town.

In July 1995, appellant petitioned the town for a conditional use permit to develop and operate the proposed quarry. Although the town had zoned the property for heavy industrial use, it required a permit for mining activities. Following the preparation of an Environmental Assessment Worksheet, the town solicited comments from several governmental agencies and interested citizens. On December 14, 1995, despite citizen protests, the town planning commission recommended the approval of the permit with 22 conditions. On December 18, due to the pending annexation of the proposed quarry site by the City of Waite Park, the town board voted to defer a final decision and to transfer the review process to the city.

Pursuant to the merger agreement, the city adopted the town's then-existing zoning standards governing the annexed property. The city council first considered appellant's proposal on January 9, 1996, and heard some discussion from interested parties. On March 13, the city council held a public hearing on appellant's permit application. Appellant submitted reports and testimony addressing groundwater, dust, noise, blasting, property values, and land use issues as well as a proposed permit. The council also received substantial public comment from interested citizens and representatives from neighboring businesses. On March 19, the city council voted four to one to deny appellant's permit application and issued the following findings A. The granting of the conditional use permit will impede the normal and orderly development and improvement of surrounding vacant property for predominant uses in the area. The property for which this use is proposed lies in the center of the newly aligned City of Waite Park.

B. That adequate utilities, drainage and other necessary facilities are not provided for a proposal such as this in the middle of the City.

C. That adequate measures to prevent or control fumes, dust, noise, vibrations or concussions from explosions cannot be adequately controlled so these problems would constitute a nuisance to the development in the area.

D. There has been no demonstrated need for the proposed use.

E. The proposed use of this property will be inconsistent with the type of existing and future development in this area.

F. Denial of this conditional use permit preserves and protects the land use policies of the newly annexed portions of the City of Waite Park. The annexation of this property from the Township together with surrounding property will result in increased population, development and traffic because of the expansion and new availability of public sewer and water services.

Appellant commenced a declaratory judgment action against the city challenging the city's denial of the permit. After all parties moved for summary judgment, the trial court granted summary judgment for the city. ¹ Although the trial court rejected the findings on the adequacy of utilities and drainage and on the protection of land use policies, it found that the record supported the city's findings regarding the project's potential adverse impact on present and future development, the lack of demonstrated need for the new quarry, and inadequate measures to control dust and vibrations.

ISSUE

Was the city's denial of appellant's conditional use permit application unreasonable, arbitrary, or capricious where the denial is based on its findings that the proposed quarry posed serious development and land use concerns, that the proposed quarry lacked a demonstrated need, and that appellant proposed inadequate measures to control dust and vibrations?

ANALYSIS

In reviewing actions by a governmental body, the appellate court focuses on the proceedings before the decision-making body, not the findings of the trial court. Carl Bolander & Sons Co. v. City of Minneapolis, 502 N.W.2d 203, 207 (Minn.1993). On appeal from a trial court's decision affirming a city council's denial of a conditional use permit, the appellate court independently reviews "the record which was before the trial court together with the city's decision without affording any special deference to the trial court's review." Scott County Lumber Co. v. City of Shakopee, 417 N.W.2d 721, 726 (Minn.App.1988), review denied (Minn. Mar. 23, 1988).

We review a municipal body's land use decision to determine whether it was unreasonable, arbitrary, or capricious. Swanson v. City of Bloomington, 421 N.W.2d 307, 313 (Minn.1988). When a city council states its reasons for denying the permit, we limit our review to the legal sufficiency and the factual bases for those reasons. Scott County Lumber, 417 N.W.2d at 727. "Not all reasons" for the denial of a conditional use permit "need be legally sufficient and supported by facts in the record." Hubbard Broad., Inc. v. City of Afton, 323 N.W.2d 757, 765 n. 4 (Minn.1982). Thus, a city's denial of a land use request is not arbitrary when at least one of the reasons given for the denial satisfies the rational basis test. St. Croix Dev., Inc. v. City of Apple Valley, 446 N.W.2d 392, 398 (Minn.App.1989), review denied (Minn. Dec. 1, 1989).

1. Development and Land Use

Addressing the city's findings that the proposed quarry would impede present and future development, appellant asserts that the city's reasons are legally insufficient because they are not based on the controlling land use plan and zoning standards and that they lack any factual basis because the record establishes that no development of the proposed quarry site is economically feasible until the granite is removed. The trial court concluded that the city properly determined that the proposed quarry threatened the expected expansion of commercial and residential development in the surrounding area.

After reviewing the entire record, we conclude that the city's findings regarding the effect on present and future development are legally insufficient. The city based its findings on a provision in the town's ordinance providing that it may deny a conditional use permit if the use will impede the "normal and orderly development and improvement of surrounding vacant property for predominant uses in the area" and on sections of the town's land use plan that generally require the "orderly" development of commercial and industrial uses that "are in minimum conflict with surrounding land uses" through "sound" planning. A municipality may not base the denial of a conditional use permit on land use standards that are "unreasonably vague" or "unreasonably subjective." C.R. Invs., Inc. v. Village of Shoreview, 304 N.W.2d 320, 327-28 (Minn.1981) (reversing denial of conditional use permit for 19 quad homes because the plan standards, which required the applicant to demonstrate that "the proposal constitutes an 'improvement' on the plan and is consistent with the plan's general intent and purpose" and that the proposed use "is equal to or better than, single-family usage," were "unreasonably vague" and "unreasonably subjective"). The "normal and orderly development" language on which the city relied, absent stronger and more specific language, creates an "unreasonably vague" and "unreasonably subjective" land use standard that should not defeat the town's more specific allowances for mining.

The town's zoning ordinances and comprehensive land use plan expressly contemplated the expansion of mining to the proposed quarry site. The ordinance zoned the proposed quarry site for heavy industrial uses, which expressly permits mineral extraction, and provides general and specific conditions for mining. Moreover, regarding the location of both quarry sites, the town's land use plan states:

There are presently existing several industrial areas which should be allowed to continue and expand as necessary.

* * * * * *

The geology of the area is such that granite outcropping and granite close to the surface would require a tremendous public investment in terms of utilities to support development.

* * * * * *

All development shall be carefully reviewed and controlled with respect to the geology...