09/26/1994 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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CITY COUNCIL MEETING SEPTEMBER 26, 1994 them. The rezoning procedure shall not be invalidated. Ms. Walseth said that there was a significant difference between sending out notifications in the first place and the residence receiving them. This particular clause was written to protect cities should they mail out ten (10) notifications and for some unknown reason such as the letter was lost in the mail or the post office was unable to forward the letter appropriately and two (2) of the ten (10) letters were not received by the affected property owners, these two (2) property owners cannot come back to the City saying they were not notified and the rezoning should be invalidated. In this example, the city had attempted to notify everyone as required and it is not the city's fault that these two (2) property owners did not receive their notice. Lino Lakes was required at the beginning of the proceedings to notify all affected property owners by registered mail as was stated in the City Zoning Ordinance. According to the State Attorney Generals office, the City of Lino Lakes cannot choose to follow the state statutes exclusively because it is less restrictive than the City Zoning Ordinance. The provisions of the Lino Lakes Zoning Ordinance take precedence over state statutes. These individuals support that the City Zoning Ordinance should have been fully followed in the original rezoning from Rural to Single Family Residential (R-1). Both persons at the State Attorney General's office said that the only way to resolve the issue is to take the City to court for not notifying affected property owners by registered letter. One person at the State Attorney General's office researched a couple of documented legal cases briefly. In one case a city did not believe that it had to mail out notifications to residents. The residents won this case because believing it did not have to mail out notifications was not a bona fide attempt. Ms. Walseth said that it is her opinion that the City of Lino Lakes refuses to acknowledge her neighborhoods rezoning and notification concerns because both ordinances would change both sides of Holly Drive from Rural to Residential involve City wide zoning maps. If the City had to reverse its decision, there would be a domino effect, as all pre 1992 Rural properties, many of which now have homes built on them, would be incorrectly zoned and the City would be in an enormous mess. Mayor Reinert asked Ms. Walseth for the names of the persons she spoke with at the State Attorney General's office. She named Terry Nuebe and Ken Raschke. Mayor Reinert asked for a copy of Ms. Walseth's comments to give to Mr. Hawkins for his review. Mr. Hawkins explained that he had given his opinion in writing to Ms. Walseth's attorney and did not have anything further to expand on. He noted that he had reviewed all the facts in the City files and in the ordinances and procedures followed by the City. Mr. Hawkins said he was not aware of what was expressed by PAGE 3 1 1 1