37/ “GIVE THE DOWNWARD DOG ANOTHER HEARING”: Mr. Beat Krummenacher did not like his neighbor Joanne Liebeler. He had the money, the lawyer, and three years to invest in getting a sixth hearing to keep her from adding a room to her garage on her 2.4 acres in Minnetonka where she could practice yoga and pursue her arts and crafts.
Ms. Liebeler won a variance to fix her leaky garage roof and add a studio room at a City planning commission hearing. Mr. Krummenacher complained that the craft and yoga room could obscure his view across Ms. Liebeler’s acres. He lost at the planning hearing, at a hearing by the full City Council, at the district court, and before the Court of Appeals.
At a fifth hearing before the Supreme Court, he persuaded the panel in 2010 to grant him a sixth hearing. The City Council was directed to apply the correct standards in determining whether to grant Ms. Liebeler a variance due to “extreme hardship” which “meant her land cannot be put to reasonable use if used under conditions allowed by the official controls,” as required by state law.
Chief Justice Gildea wrote for the unanimous Supreme Court in urging the Legislature to adopt new language that would give municipalities more flexibility in granting variances in minor changes on property uses which did not conform to zoning restrictions, “A remand is particularly appropriate in this case because a property owner seeking to utilize her property should not be penalized due to the City’s application of the wrong legal standard.”
READ THE FULL CASE DECISION:
June 24, 2010 A08-1988 2010-xxx
READ THE FULL CASE DECISION:
June 24, 2010 A08-1988 2010-xxx
https://mn.gov/law-library-stat/archive/supct/1006/OPA081988-0624.pdf
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