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II. Good Value is Entitled to Approval of its Plat for the Apple Riidge <br /> Subdivision Because Zoning Ordinances Must Operate Uniformly on Those <br /> Similarly Situated. <br /> <br /> Since the City of Ramsey's Comprehensive Plan was first approved in 1980, <br />the City has treated all residential parcels previously zoned as R-1R (Rural) as R-1U <br />(Urban) when the MUSA line was extended to encompass them. On several <br />occasions subdivisions were formally approved by the City Council on this basis. <br />Seven of those plats, approved between ~une 1992 and July 1996, were for the <br />Chestnut Hills and Chestnut Ridge subdivisions developed by Good Value. (See <br />Attached Exhibit "A"). To refuse Good Value's plat for the Apple Ridge subdivision <br />would violate established principles under Minnesota law regarding uniform <br />enforcement of zoning ordinances on those similarly situated. <br /> <br /> A Minnesota Supreme Court case involving development in suburban <br />Ramsey County explains how and why a zoning ordinance must operate uniformly <br />on all similar property. In Northwestern College v. City of Arden II:ills, 281 N.W. 2d <br />865 (Minn. 1979), the city of Arden Hills action treating development projects for <br />two small private colleges differently was overturned by the Minnesota Supreme <br />Court. Both colleges, Northwestern College, located on the shores of Lake ~ohanna, <br />and Bethel College, located on Lake Valentine, were located in neighborhoods <br />zoned as residential. At a July 1976 meeting of the city's planning commission, <br />Northwestern College applied for a special-use permit to construct a fine arts center <br />and Bethel applied for a building permit to expand its fine arts center. The city <br />granted Bethel's building permit, but denied Northwestern's special-use permit on <br /> <br /> <br />