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Ramsey Charter Commission <br />Page 2 <br />August 6, 1997 <br /> <br />invalid. Presumably, a Charter Amendment creating such <br />a conflict would also be invalid. Any property within <br />the MUSA boundary which is denied urban lot status would <br />be affected by the Amendment, since the City's Compre- <br />hensive Plan contemplates urban size lots within the <br />MUSA. <br /> <br />Pursuant to MS §473.585, Subd. 1 the City also is not <br />allowed to adopt official controls (Zoning Amendments) ". <br />· . which permit activity in conflict with metropolitan <br />system plans. " The Metropolitan Council's Regional <br />Blueprint contemplates increased density within the MUSA <br />area. Again, adoption of the Amendment may very well <br />conflict with this State statute requirement. <br /> <br />Both Article I, Section 10 of the United States Consti- <br />tution and Article I, Section 11, of the Minnesota <br />Constitution prohibit impairment of contract by providing <br />the state shall not pass any law impairing the obli- <br />gation of contracts. The retroactive application of the <br />Amendment to January 1, 1997 may very well be an impair- <br />ment of contract and therefore unconstitutional as <br />applied to specific development contracts the city has <br />entered into with developers prior to the effective date <br />of the Amendment, assuming it does become law. <br /> <br />The Amendment text is ambiguous and therefore perhaps <br />unenforceable because the text requires the subject <br />property (new plat) to conform in density to the density <br />of existing residential lots where there is a common <br />border. However, no provision is made in the case of a <br />new plat which has more than one common border with <br />existing residential lots of varying density. No di- <br />rection in the text is given as to which density the new <br />plat is to conform with. <br /> <br />The following Amendment text interpretation problems <br />exist: <br /> <br />The Amendment text, read literally requires that <br />the density of a new plat shall be the least <br />density of (i) the existing property immediately <br />adjoining the subject property, or (ii) one platted <br />lot per acre. In the event the new plat is <br />adjacent to existing residential lots which are <br />larger than one acre in size, the lesser density <br />requirement would dictate the largest lot size. It <br /> <br /> <br />