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MEMORANDUM <br />TO: Mark Bernhardson, City Administrator <br />City of Orono <br />FROM: Thomas J. Barrett, City Attorney <br />RE: City of Orono - LF 3643-091 <br />Regulation of the Use of Private Property <br />DATE: July 21, 1989 <br />-------------------------------------- <br />ISSUE <br />If a private road is made public, does the City of Orono <br />have the obligation to pay for the road as improved? <br />CONCLUSION <br />There are no Minnesota cases which specifically address <br />this issue. The City of Orono probably will not be <br />required to compensate the private owners if the road is <br />opened to the general public because no taking of property <br />has occurred. <br />DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS <br />If a private road is made public, does the City of Orono <br />have the obligation to pay for the road as improved? <br />No Minnesota cases specifically address the issue of <br />whether or not the city must compensate the owner of a private <br />road if the city opens the road to use by the general public. <br />It may be argued that no compensation is due to the owner of a <br />private road since no taking has occurred. The City of Orono, <br />by opening the private road to the general public, is only <br />exercising its power to regulate all roads in its jurisdiction, <br />and acting pursuant to the easement it has been granted. <br />The courts in the State of Minnesota have not addressed <br />this specific issue. There are two cases in Minnesota which <br />provide a clue as to how the courts in the State of Minnesota <br />would likely rule upon this issue. The first case is Borchert <br />v. Villa a of North Oaks, 264 Minn. 32, 117 N.W.2d 396 19 2 . <br />In Borchert, the village of North Oaks prescribed maximum speeds <br />