Agenda - Council - 05/09/1995 - Laserfiche WebLink

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$~H ~4 '95 00:~ R~HD~LL DEHHGOODRICH MEMORANDUM ! ! TO: FROM RE: DATE an Schroeder, Ramsey City Administrator omas H. Pertler, Assistant City Attorney indemere Woods anna. fy 19, 1995 It is my u~erstanding the City has requested an opinion regarding what, if ~ny, obligation the city would have in enforcing an ,'informati~nal handout" provided by the developer to potential homeownersJ I will not address the issue of a municipality's I obligation ~o private restrictions or covenants because as . enforce you know, ~_his is not a City's legal requirement. Also, I have reviewed t~e development agreement between the City of Ramsey and · the Windemgre Woods developer and do not find any development '· agreement ~hat has been breached with the exception of those requiremen~.s deal lng with curb, gutter and/or driveway , requirements. In revlewln~ the attached "informational handout" it obviously does not meet ~he legal' requirements for a recorded, restrictive , ~ covenant e~forceable as against all lot purchasers and subsequent home-owner~. Of course, individual purchase agreements may have requirement~ that survive closing but the purchase agreements are i . not available for review. Apparently, i some homeowners in the Windemere Woods Development have taken the ~osition that the "informational handout" created some Itype of restriction on the lots in Blocks I through 4 of Windemere Woods. Th~. alleged restriction would require each house to have certain mir~imum aesthetic and structural requirements. Of those · requirementS, there is a requirement that each house have either: (1) a thre~ car garage, or (2) some brick on the front of the house. ThiS requirement is purportedly the one that homeowners in the development are concerned about for the existing home at Lot I 3, Block 3.- ! ! Initially ~ is important to note that the alleged restriction referred to, on the "informational handout" is not recorded with the Anoka COunty Recorder's Office. In this regard, Minn. Stat. §507.34 sta~es: "Everyrconveyance of real estates hall be recorded in the office~of the county recorder of the county where such real e~tate is situated; and every such conveyance not so rec$~rded shall be void as against any $~bsequent purchaser in good faith and for a valuable consideration of th~ same real estate, or any part thereof, whose conveyance is first duly recorded, . . ."