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dedication. A payment in lieu is based on “the fair market value of the undeveloped land.” The fair <br />market value may be determined by a professional appraiser hired by the City Council. The <br />ordinance also allows the City to take into consideration “the open space, recreational or common <br />areas and facilities which the subdivider has provided for the exclusive use of the residents of the <br />subdivision.” While the ordinance is slightly different from the statute, it is generally consistent with <br />the law. <br /> <br /> <br />Park dedication formula <br /> <br />Section 462.358, subdivision 2b does not specify a maximum dedication requirement. The <br />percentage of land in the subdivision to be committed to the public purpose is within the <br />prerogative of the city council and will not be disturbed where reasonable. The determination of <br />what is reasonable has been left to judicial interpretation. <br /> <br />The leading case in Minnesota is Collis v. City of Bloomington, 246 N.W.2d 19 (1976), where <br />developers challenged the constitutionality of Section 462.358 and Bloomington ordinance adopted <br />pursuant to that section authorizing the city to require dedication of 10% of the undeveloped land or <br />its equivalent in cash based on the market value as determined by the city assessor.1 The Minnesota <br />Supreme Court upheld both the statute and Bloomington’s ordinance as constitutional. As a result, <br />many cities adopted ordinances that generally permit park dedication amount at or up to 10%. <br />However, it is important to understand that the Collis court did not hold that a 10% requirement is <br />always reasonable. Rather, it upheld a 10% dedication requirement only as it applied to the <br />particular circumstances of the proposed subdivision in that case. The court further noted that <br /> <br />while the city has apparently made a record in this case showing that 10 <br />percent is not unreasonable as to the property of these plaintiffs, given the <br />particular needs of Bloomington, a 10-percent requirement might be arbitrary <br />as a matter of law because it does not consider the relationship between this <br />particular subdivision and recreational need in the community. <br /> <br />Based on Collis, the reasonable dedication test in Minnesota is the existence of a reasonable <br />relationship between the approval of the subdivision and the municipality’s need for land. As the <br />Collis court pointed out: <br /> <br />This is, of necessity, a facts-and-circumstances test, but it is the only kind of <br />test that will consider the myriad of factors which may bear on a <br />municipality’s needs for certain kinds of facilities and the relationship of a <br />particular subdivision to those needs. <br /> <br />Therefore, reasonableness depends on “whether a given regulation constitutes so severe a burden <br />as to be unreasonable as applied to a particular subdivider.” <br /> <br /> <br />1 When Collis was decided, section 462.358, subd. 2 read as follows: “The subdivision regulations may require <br />that *** a reasonable portion of each proposed subdivision be dedicated to the public for public use as parks <br />and playgrounds, or that the subdivider at his option in subdivisions in excess of 30 acres, contribute an <br />equivalent amount in cash based on the undeveloped land value.” The Bloomington ordinance established that <br />a 10% dedication requirement was reasonable.