Like many states, Minnesota has an automatic approval statute, or “shot clock,” to protect applicants for zoning and land use applications.  Minnesota Statutes section 15.99 requires that local land use authorities must act within 60 days of receiving a completed zoning application.  If the government fails to act within that time frame, the application is

In August 2019, the Minneapolis City Council adopted an ordinance banning new drive-through windows in the city. With the adoption of the new Minneapolis 2040 Comprehensive Plan, beginning in January of 2020, all gas stations will soon be prohibited, as well. These policy changes are part of the City’s aggressive goal of reducing greenhouse gas

In the realm of local land use there are few development proposals that have the tendency to evoke neighborhood resistance than a new group home. The response is particularly vehement when the home is intended to serve those with chemical dependency and especially controversial in a low-density neighborhood. While most people acknowledge a need for

Forgive developer Martin Harstad if he thought he was in Potterville and not Woodbury when the city told him he had to pay nearly $1.4 million in “road assessments” as a condition of approval for his “Bailey Park” residential development. Harstad sued Woodbury to challenge its authority to demand the road assessments and won

Stretching from the Cathedral of St. Paul to the Mississippi River, St. Paul’s Summit Avenue is one of the premier stretches of Victorian homes in the United States. Throughout the last four decades, the neighborhood has been the target of investment and restoration that has solidified Summit Avenue as an iconic part of Minnesota’s Capitol