A broad coalition of both urban and rural environmental and rural stewardship groups has sent a letter of opposition to bills in the Minnesota House and Senate that would limit the powers of local government units to impose interim ordinances.
Interim ordinances--sometimes called moratoriums--give local governments time to draft zoning and land use policies.
The Senate bill will be heard at 2:00 p.m. in the State and Local Government Committee. According to the Minnesota Senate's Media Schedule, the hearing will not be live streamed. After the hearing, audio will be accessible to the general public.
CURE's assessment
One of the groups [Disclosure: Bluestem's Editor is a member, but has not been involved in the group's campaign on this bill] outlined its opposition in an email to its members:
Corporate interests are pushing bills to weaken the rights of cities and townships to effectively respond to unwanted and potentially harmful developments. This in turn weakens our ability as citizens to work through our local government to protect our community.
- House File 2585: Reps. Jim Nash (R-Waconia), Mark Uglem (R-Champlin), Mike Nelson (DFL-Brooklyn Park), Leon Lillie (DFL-North St. Paul), Josh Heintzeman (R-Baxter), Jerry Hertaus (R-Greenfield), Linda Runbeck (R- Circle Pines)
- Senate File 2694: Sen. Melisa Franzen (DFL-Edina)
The bills weaken the interim ordinance powers of townships and cities. Interim ordinances allow cities or townships to quickly put a temporary moratorium on major development. This is an emergency power that is essential when the community is caught off-guard by unanticipated and potentially harmful proposals, especially those from outside corporate interests. The interim ordinance freezes the status quo and gives the community time to review or create the appropriate zoning ordinances. Corporate interests have long pushed to weaken these rights because citizens have used them effectively to stop unwanted developments like factory farms. . . .We are making progress. Because of grassroots opposition, two co-authors took their name off the bill. Rep Paul Thissen in the House and Sen. Karin Housley in the Senate removed their names from the bill. That leaves only one author in the Senate and this is a clear signal to others that this bill is controversial and not liked.
Franzen family interest in local zoning?
We're curious about the bill's impact on local governments being able to impose interim ordinances on solar garden projects. In January 2015, Tim Hennagir of the Monticello Times reported in Solar energy project developers express interest in Monticello area:
Last November, the city adopted an interim ordinance, basically establishing a moratorium on large-scale solar energy generation, giving city staff more time to study its zoning regulations to create and craft better language that reflects the city’s intent in this area, Grittman told commissioners.
Under the planning laws in Minnesota, the city of Monticello has 12 months to study the solar issue and consider changes to its development regulations.
“That is really the issue that is driving this discussion,” he added. “We need to look at the two ways that solar development can affect land use.”
The prospect of solar farm installations of 5 acres or more has raised an issue for the city in how it regulates solar installations generally, and particularly, in the treatment of solar energy production as a potential principal use of property, Grittman explained.
The moratorium was prompted Minnetonka-based Sunrise Energy Ventures, LLC, but the article notes that there's additional interest in siting solar projects in Wright County:
Geronimo Energy is working on a multi-site distributed solar energy development which includes at least one site in Wright County, among several others around the state. Geronimo expects to seek county and/or township approvals for those installations, Grittman reported.
“The staff recommendation is we continue to approach solar energy generation as an accessory use,” Grittman said. “We [still] have code issues to clean up.”
Franzen's husband, Nathan Franzen, is employed by Geronimo Energy. Midwest Energy News' Frank Jossi reported in Small communities and counties struggle to zone big solar:
"Every county, and many cities, should have an ordinance to direct solar development specifically to where they want it to go and where they don't want it to go," said Brian Ross, senior program director at the Great Plains Institute and author of a model solar ordinance developed for the Commerce Department. . . .
In looking at solar ordinances Lindahl suggests that "after having one large facility come through I would say other communities may want to consider some sort of standard for size in their ordinance, a geographical or wattage size."
The state also has been well aware of the issues new solar installations can create. The Commerce Department appointed a working group that studied solar zoning issues it an issued a report suggesting, among other proposals, that the state permit any projects 10MW or larger.
Geronimo's Nathan Franzen said his company to tweaked power outputs and made site modifications to reach a consensus with different governmental jurisdictions during the planning of the Aurora project.
Having a model ordinance that communities could adopt and modify "worked pretty smoothly once we started," Franzen said. "Having an ordinance made our job all that much easier."
For those communities that had not drafted ordinances--for solar or other types of development--the interim ordinance is a helpful tool. This bill would restrict communities' ability to respond in the best interest of citizens.
While Mr. Franzen's involvement in local zoning issues may not be a conflict of interest as they are legally defined, it does suggest that there's a family interest in the Franzen household.
We're supportive of solar power, but believe that local control shouldn't be steamrolled. Sometimes projects need to be put on hold while the details are worked out.
The MEP Letter
Here's the letter from the Minnesota Environmental Partnership:
RE: Opposition to Senate File 2694 (Franzen) and House File F 2585 (Nash)
Dear Members of the Minnesota Legislature:
We want to express our opposition to Senate File 2694 (Franzen) and House File 2585 (Nash). These bills weaken township and community rights which are a part of Minnesota’s bedrock environmental policy that the Minnesota Environmental Partnership is committed to defending.
Citizens in Minnesota must be able to work through their local units of government to protect their community from unanticipated and potentially harmful proposed development. Key to this is the power of cities and townships to enact an interim ordinance. This emergency power allows the local government to quickly put a temporary freeze on specified types of major development. This right is essential when the community is caught off-guard by potentially harmful proposals not anticipated by the zoning ordinance. An interim ordinance freezes the status quo and gives the community time to study the issue, review their existing authority and, if necessary, create the appropriate zoning ordinances.
This bill substantially weakens the ability of townships and cities to use the interim ordinance power. Specifically:
- The bill requires a two-thirds super majority to enact an interim ordinance. Currently, an interim ordinance can be enacted by a simple majority — that’s how democratic rights should work. This proposed change makes protecting the community and the planning process difficult and less responsive to the public will.
- The bill delays implementation of an interim ordinance for so long that often it may be ineffective. The bill as introduced requires that before an interim ordinance can be adopted that affects “activities relating to housing” there be a 30-day public notice and public hearing. The House bill has been amended to 10-days. Public notice is good when it is applied fairly. That is not the case here where the advance notice is only being required of the city or township. Proposers of “activities related to housing” are not being required to give any advance notice to citizens of their proposals. Citizens are forced to take action at the last minute because that is when they learn about the proposal. For townships and small cities this requirement is particularly tough. They usually meet only once a month and public notice is often published in a weekly paper. Because of this, the public notice process could take two months or more. By this time the project could be permitted and the township would have lost its right to have a say. An interim ordinance is an emergency power that needs to be used quickly in many cases to be effective.
- Language in the bill (“activities relating to housing”) is overly broad and confusing. Using this language ensures confusion and will likely lead to expensive lawsuits.
We urge you to stand with us in opposing this legislation, and to keep local democracy and township and community rights strong.
Sincerely,
Steve Morse, Executive Director
Minnesota Environmental Partnership
Members Alliance for Sustainability
Audubon Chapter of Minneapolis
Audubon Minnesota
Austin Coalition for Environmental Sustainability
Climate Generation
Conservation Minnesota
CURE (Clean Up the River Environment)
Environment Minnesota
Fresh Energy
Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness
Friends of the Cloquet Valley State Forest
Friends of The Mississippi River
Izaak Walton League of America - MN Division
Kids for Saving Earth
Land Stewardship Project
League of Women Voters - Minnesota
Leech Lake Area Watershed Foundation
Lower Phalen Creek Project
Lutheran Advocacy - Minnesota
Mankato Area Environmentalists
Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy
Minnesota Conservation Federation
Minnesota Food Association
Minnesota Forestry Association
Minnesota Land Trust
Minnesota Ornithologists' Union
Minnesota Public Interest Research Group
Minnesota Renewable Energy Society
MN350
Renewing the Countryside
St. Paul Audubon Society
Transit for Livable Communities
Voyageurs National Park Association
WaterLegacy CC: Governor Mark Dayton
Photo: Will the power of townships to pause and write zoning ordinances about housing and livestock be restricted?
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