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RELEVANT LINKS: Minn. Stat. § 462.3595. LMC information memo, Land Use Conditional Use Permils. Leam more about land use issues in the land use section of the League's website. If a city finds it is issuing many variances to a particular standard, then the city may wish to consider the possibility of amending the ordinance to change the standard. In other words, if a city is consistently allowing landowners to break a particular rule, perhaps the need for the rule should be revisited. It could appear that the properties' plight was not particularly unique, or even that there is not an underlying reasonable basis for the rule. City councils have broad legislative authority when writing the rules, but when evaluating a variance application cities are limited to the quasi-judicial role of applying the state practical difficulties standards to the facts before them. III. Conditional and interim use permits Conditional use permits are authorized under state law. Whether to grant or deny a conditional use permit application is another zoning decision that is quasi-judicial in nature. A conditional use is a use that is generally compatible with a particular zoning district but because of hazards inherent in the use itself or because of special problems that its proposed location may present, the use is allowed by permit only if the special concerns are addressed as set forth in the zoning ordinance. The zoning ordinance typically details both the general standards that apply to all conditional uses, and the specific conditions that apply to a particular conditional use in a given zoning district. The conditions must be reasonable and practical. Unlike a permitted use, which a landowner is generally entitled to as a matter of right, a conditional use is allowed only after a statutorily required public hearing. Reasonable conditions may be attached to a conditional use permit based upon factual evidence contained in public record. City councils sometimes misunderstand the level and the nature of discretion they have when reviewing applications for conditional use permits. If a proposed conditional use satisfies the conditional use standards set forth in the zoning ordinance, then generally the landowner is entitled to the conditional use permit. The city made the legislative decision about the appropriateness of a kind of use in a zoning district when the council adopted the ordinance providing for the use as conditional. When considering a conditional use permit application, the city is tasked with the more limited quasi-judicial role of considering whether the facts of a particular application satisfy the standards set forth in the ordinance. If the belief is that a kind of use is unacceptable in a given zoning district, then consider not listing the use as a conditional one in the district in the first instance. League of Minnesota Cities Information Memo: 6/1/2011 Zoning Decisions Page 4