6.0. SR 05-13-1996 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Of local interest, a legal challenge won by the City of Woodbury, MN established that a temporary moratorium does not constitute a taking, and this decision has been cited in court decisions in at least fifteen other states. B. Procedure. Procedure, on the other hand, is the basis for an increasing number of lawsuits, and there is no doubt that this trend will continue in the future. One reason is that the judgments include the payment of the winning attorneys' fees, and attorneys can be very creative in submitting their bills. Most of the legal action is based on a civil rights law passed in the last century (42 USC 1983) which guarantees the right to a fair hearing. (Rodney King's successful Federal prosecution was based on this law.) Procedure includes several elements. 1. ExPane Contacts. This is the legal term for all contacts outside the official hearing on an application. States vary considerably in the treatment of these contacts. A number of states absolutely prohibit all ex pane contacts, period. Other states recognize that in small communities, it is very difficult to avoid conversations about upcoming issues. Most states require that any contacts, and the conversations, be disclosed at the planning commission meeting. Some commissions have a regular item on the agenda for disclosing contacts. In a State of Washington court decision, it was determined that an ex pane contact violated the civil rights of an applicant, and so the number of contacts in that state has decreased dramatically. According to one speaker at the conference, this will be an increasingly sensitive issue over the next five years in land use decisions, and will probably also affect elected officials who have a perceived duty to listen to constituents. For the Elk River Planning Commission, it may be important to have a section on ex pane contacts in our Rules and Procedures. I would suggest that when these contacts are made, it is extremely important that no opinion on the part of the commissioner be expressed, either verbally or non-verbally, that the contact be invited to give his or her testimony at a public hearing, either orally or in writing, where all the commissioners can receive the same information, and that the contact be disclosed at the planning commission meeting. 2. Notice. It was recommended that at each meeting, we have a Certificate of Notice from the staff, certifying that all the proper procedures for notice were carried out, and that this be approved. Our minutes usually begin with "Pursuant to due call and notice thereof..." and the minutes are approved at the following meeting. This may be similar to approving a Certificate of Notice, but then there is a question about the role of minutes.