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land Use and Zoning - legal Review Planning Commission Meeting May 13, 2003 Page 3 g) Plan Updates. County plans outside the metropolitan area are required to be updated at least every 10 years. Minn. Stat. ~394.232, subd. 6. The comprehensive plans of all jurisdictions within the metropolitan area are also required to be reviewed and updated every 10 years. Minn. Stat. ~473.864, subd 2. 4. Legal Impacts from the Adoption of a Comprehensive Plan. a) Consistency of Zoning Ordinance and Other Official Controls. Pursuant to Minn. Stat. ~4 73.858, subd. 1, within the Twin Cities metropolitan area, if an adopted comprehensive plan is in conflict with an existing zoning ordinance, the zoning ordinance must be brought into conformance with the comprehensive plan. This section also prohibits local government from adopting any fiscal device or other official control which is in conflict with its comprehensive plan. Minnesota Statutes do not specifically mandate comprehensive plan and zoning ordinance consistency outside of the metropolitan area, and there are no cases holding that a zoning ordinance in a city outside the metropolitan area must be in conformance with an adopted comprehensive plan. However, comprehensive plan consistency, or the lack thereof, is a legitimate issue with respect to any land use approval. A community which has brought its zoning ordinance and other official controls into conformance with its comprehensive plan will have the strongest case for supporting its land use decisions in the courts. b) In addition, once a comprehensive plan has been adopted, all acquisitions and disposition of real estate and any capital improvements proposed within a city must be reviewed by the planning commission to consider the consistency of the proposed action with the comprehensive plan. The planning commission has 45 days in which to make such determination or the proposed acquisition, disposition or capital expense will be deemed approved. Minn. Stat. ~462.356. c) Standard for Judicial Review. Municipalities and counties act in their legislative capacity when adopting and amending comprehensive plans, and have the broadest discretion in doing so. Provided that the procedural requirements of the relevant statutes are met, courts will not interfere in decisions related to comprehensive plans unless they are shown to be arbitrary, confiscatory or discriminatory. Amcon Corp. v. City of Eagan, 348 N.W.2d 66 (Minn., 1984). Olsen v. City of Hopkins, 276 Minn. 163, 149 N.W.2d 394 (1967).