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MINUTES OF THE <br />SPECIAL ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING <br />Monday, January 6, 2014 <br />7:00 o’clock p.m. <br />_____________________________________________________________________________________ <br />  <br />    Page 6 of 27   <br />(1. #13-3638 and #13-3639 SOURCE LAND CAPITAL, LLC (PAT HILLER) O/B/O GRANT <br /> WENKSTERN (LAKEVIEW GOLF), 405 NORTH ARM DRIVE – COMPREHENSIVE <br /> PLAN AMENDMENT AND SKETCH PLAN REVIEW, Continued) <br /> <br />Tom Radio, Attorney-at-Law with Best & Flannigan, stated he has been practicing land use and <br />municipal law for approximately 30 years and that he has served as a city attorney to the Cities of <br />Minnetrista, Afton, and Orono. <br /> <br />Radio stated he is here tonight because the group has asked him to comment on the Comprehensive Plan <br />process, the importance of the Comprehensive Plan, and the legal tests involved with amending it. Radio <br />indicated he has provided a legal analysis to the City Attorney but that he wants to emphasize three key <br />points. <br /> <br />Radio stated the first point is that the City has broad discretion, authority and responsibility to preserve <br />and protect the Comprehensive Plan. The courts will defer to the legislative determination of the City in <br />drafting and amending the Comprehensive Plan as long as there is a rational basis for that decision. <br />Radio noted he analyzed two key cases in his letter dealing with golf courses. In those cases, the <br />Minnesota Supreme Court was very deferential to the City Council and to its determination of what was <br />appropriate and what was in the Comprehensive Plan. <br /> <br />Radio stated comprehensive plans, particularly since the 1995 Comprehensive Planning Act, are <br />considered to be a fundamental planning document that reflects the goals and objectives, the dreams and <br />the long-term history and legacy of every community in Minnesota. Radio stated the Comprehensive <br />Plan is an important document to protect because it captures for a long-term basis the hopes and <br />aspirations of a community as they move through development, redevelopment, providing facilities and <br />recreational activities, as well as protection of property rights. Radio stated it is a fundamental, <br />constitutional document for the planning of any city. <br /> <br />Radio stated in this particular instance, and in every instance where there is a change to the <br />Comprehensive Plan, a careful analysis is required of the many factors involved, not only in this <br />application, but to any plan that may be adopted in the future. Radio indicated he would agree with the <br />City Attorney on the question of the conflicts between the Comprehensive Plan and zoning ordinances <br />and that it is largely a non-issue. The courts have basically said under the 1995 Act that the <br />Comprehensive Plan is the pre-eminent zoning document, and if there is a conflict, they need to be <br />brought into accordance with each other. <br /> <br />Radio noted in the Mendota Golf case, the Supreme Court stated if there is a discrepancy between the two <br />documents; the zoning regulations do not trump the Comprehensive Plan. Radio indicated that was the <br />law when he first started practicing law before 1995 but that there was a change by the Minnesota <br />Legislature in that regard. Radio stated to the extent there is a conflict here between the Comprehensive <br />Plan and the zoning ordinances, it really is a non-conflict and can be resolved through an amendment of <br />the Comprehensive Plan or an amendment to the zoning ordinances, but it does not provide a basis for <br />changing the Comprehensive Plan. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />