02-14-1990 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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Land Use Control 3. The council holds a public hearing on 10 days' published notice; 4. The council adopts the map by ordinance; and 5. The city files the ordinance and map with the register of deeds. 49 Filing of Zoning and Subdivision Documents As of January 1, 1983, cities must file with the county recorder certified copies of all conditional use permits and variances, as well as all zoning and subdivision ordinances, amendments, maps, and regulations. 50 Any document or order the law requires cities to file must contain a legal descrip- tion of the property to which it applies. The intent of the legislation is to provide prospective buyers with notice of existing land -use restrictions on a particular parcel of property. The requirement, however, was burdensome to administer and raised several legal questions about the validity of unfiled documents. In 1983, the legislature passed a law with the in- tent to remove the filing requirement for zoning documents while retaining the requirement for subdivision regulations. The law also stated that failure to file any land -use document would not af- fect its validity. Due to passage of another con- tradictory bill, the final statutory requirements for filing land -use documents are difficult to inter- pret. 51 Because of this, cities should file with the county all zoning and subdivision documents until such time as the legislature clarifies this area. The provision allowing enforcement of unfiled docu- ments will apply regardless of the interpretation of the filing requirements. B. Acquisition, Sale, and Other Disposal of Real Estate The law permitting the conveyance of tax - forfeited land to a city 52 may be a method a city could use to acquire land as part of its community development program. 53 In addition to the law permitting cities to acquire tax - forfeited land, statutory cities may acquire, either within or without their corporate limits, such real and personal property by purchase, gift, devise, condemnation, lease, or otherwise. it may hold, manage, control, sell, convey, lease, or other- wise dispose of such property as its interests re- quire. 54 This is ample authority for the city to dispose of land it does not hold in trust for a specified public use. 55 Home rule charters usually contain similar provisions. Any county, town, city, or other public corpora- tion may convey its lands for nominal fee or with- out consideration to any governmental subdivision, another public corporation, or to the Minnesota state armory building commission for public use when its governing body authorizes it . S6 Special problems arise in conveying park property or property the city holds in trust for some particular public purpose. Usually a statute or charter is necessary to enable a city to alienate lands it holds in trust and uses for a specific pur- pose. if a city has dedicated land for a public park or square, for example, the city corporation holds the property in trust for the public and has no power to divert the land from the uses and pur- poses of its original dedication. 57 If a city acquires a park or public square by dedication on a plat, by condemnation, or by deed, it may hold only an easement in the property, not absolute fee simple title. Consequently, it has no interest to convey. Perhaps the city can eliminate the limitation to use an area as a public park or square through formal vacation in the same way it would vacate a street. S8 If a city has acquired park property by a deed containing no restrictions on its use, authority to sell it for other purposes is uncertain. Most cases have held that if a public entity acquired land with- out restriction as to use, it may sell it for other purposes. 59 This is true even though the public entity improved and used the land for a certain period, such as a park. There is some authority, however, for the stricter view that where a city pur- chases land for a park and uses it uninterruptedly as such for a long period, the use, itself amounts to a dedication, and the city cannot sell or lease it for other purposes, even though the deed of pur- chase does not limit the use to park purposes. 60 If the deed restricts the purpose, the city must examine the specific language to determine whether the deed created a trust. If so, the city cannot sell the property, or the "fee simple deter- Page 232 Handbook for Minnesota Cities Page 93