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Note:
In accordance with legislation effective July 1, 2005, the services provided by the Local Planning
Assistance Center are no longer available. However, resources produced by the Local Planning Assistance
Center through June 30, 2005, will remain available from this web site. The LPA site has also been
archived and can be downloaded via
http://www.gda.state.mn.us/resource.html?Id=17467
Please direct requests for information packets to:
Professor Tony Filipovitch, Chair
Urban and Regional Studies Institute
Minnesota State; University at Mankato
106 Morris Hall
Mankato MN 56001
507-389-5035
tony@mnsu.edu
Township planning enabling act
The following contains excerpts from the Laws of Minnesota, 1999,
Chapter 366. By going to the Revisor
of Statutes web site, you can search by keyword or chapter number to
see the complete law.
366.01 Town board powers listed; formal name.
Subdivision 1. General powers, expenses, bonds. The supervisors of
each town constitute a board to be designated "The Town Board of
.............." Unless provided otherwise, two supervisors shall be a
quorum. In towns operating under option A, three shall be a quorum. The
supervisors shall have charge of all town affairs not committed to other
officers by law. They shall draw orders on the treasurer to disburse money
to pay the town expenses, and to disburse money raised by the town for any
other purpose. They may pay the premium upon the bond of a town officer if
the surety is a corporation authorized by law to be a surety. In lieu of
individual bonds, the town board may provide for a blanket position bond
by a surety company if all the obligations required by law or ordinance to
be assumed by the principals and the principals' sureties by individual
bonds are included in the blanket position bond.
Subd. 2. Amusements, performances; pets, firearms. They may by
ordinance prohibit or license and regulate the keeping of billiard, pool,
and pigeonhole tables, games of amusement, games of skill, juke boxes,
roller skating rinks, bowling alleys, circuses, shows, and theatrical
performances. They may fix the price and duration of the license. When in
their opinion the public interest requires it, they may revoke the
license. Within any platted residential area of the town, they may license
and regulate the presence or keeping of dogs or domestic animal pets and
regulate or prohibit the discharge of firearms, when deemed to be in the
public interest.
Subd. 3. Association dues, meeting expense. They may appropriate
out of the general fund of the town and draw orders on the treasurer to
disburse money to pay the annual dues in the Minnesota association of
townships or a county unit that belongs to the association and to pay the
actual and necessary expenses of town officers for meetings relating to
town business including meetings of town associations.
Subd. 4. Depository; terms; liability; interest. They may designate
a bank as the depository of town money for a time not extending beyond
their official term, after the execution by the bank of a sufficient bond
to the town to be approved by the board and filed in the office of the
town clerk. They may then require the treasurer to deposit all or part of
the town money in that bank. The designation shall be in writing, and set
forth all the terms upon which the deposits are made. It shall be signed
by the chair and clerk and filed with the clerk. The town treasurer shall
not be liable for the loss of money while deposited in the bank. All
interest on the money shall belong to the town.
Subd. 5. Dumping ground. They may acquire by gift or purchase, in
the name of the town, a tract of land, either within or outside the town
for public dumping ground for the use of the inhabitants of the town. No
land for public dumping ground may be acquired outside the town without
the approval of the governmental unit where the land is located. They may
maintain the dumping ground and, by resolution, adopt rules for its use.
Subd. 6. Agreements about dumping ground. They may make agreements
with other counties, towns, statutory cities, governmental subdivisions,
individuals or corporations as they deem necessary to locate, construct,
or maintain the dumping ground.
Subd. 7. Attorney. They may employ an attorney for town business
including the prosecution or defense of actions at law or other
proceedings in which the town may be interested.
Subd. 8. Public places for posted notices; waiver. They shall
designate one or more places in the town as public places where legal
notices shall be posted and provide facilities for posting notices there.
In a town located in the geographical limits of a city, one or more
notices may be posted in the city. The town board may waive the posted
notice requirements of any law but shall then provide for notice to be
published once each week for two successive weeks in a newspaper of
general circulation in the town.
Subd. 9. Real property. They may sell and convey or lease real or
personal property belonging to the town, not required to be held by the
town for a special purpose.
Subd. 10. Penal offenses. They may declare that a violation of an
ordinance is a penal offense and prescribe penalties for violations,
except as otherwise provided by law. No penalty shall exceed that provided
by law for a misdemeanor, but the costs of prosecution may be added.
Subd. 11. Open Meeting Law; exemption. Section 471.705 does not
apply to a gathering of town board members to perform on-site inspections,
if the town has no employees or other staff able to perform the
inspections and the town board is acting essentially in a staff capacity.
The town board shall make good faith efforts to provide notice of the
inspections to each news medium that has filed a written request for
notice if the request includes the news medium's telephone number. The
notice shall be given by telephone or by any other method used to notify
the members of the public body.
Subd. 12. Imprest fund. The town board may establish an imprest
fund for the payment in cash of any proper claim against the town which it
is impractical to pay in any other manner, except that no claim for salary
or personal expenses of an officer or employee shall be paid from the
fund. The town board shall appoint a custodian of the fund who shall be
responsible for its safekeeping and disbursement according to law. Money
for the operation of the fund shall be secured by a transfer from the
general fund. A claim itemizing all the various demands for which
disbursements have been made from the fund shall be presented to the town
board at the next town board meeting after the disbursements have been
made. The town board shall act upon it as in the case of other claims and
an order shall be issued to the custodian for the amount allowed. The
custodian shall use the proceeds of the order to replenish the fund; and
if the town board fails to approve the claim in full for any sufficient
reason, the custodian shall be personally responsible for the difference.
366.011 Charges for emergency services;
collection.
A town may impose a reasonable service charge for emergency services,
including fire, rescue, medical, and related services provided by the town
or contracted for by the town. If the service charge remains unpaid 30
days after a notice of delinquency is sent to the recipient of the service
or the recipient's representative or estate, the town or its contractor on
behalf of the town may use any lawful means allowed to a private party for
the collection of an unsecured delinquent debt. The town may also use the
authority of section 366.012 to collect unpaid service charges of this
kind from delinquent recipients of services who are owners of taxable real
property in the town.
The powers conferred by this section are in addition and supplemental to
the powers conferred by any other law for a town to impose a service
charge or assessment for a service provided by the town or contracted for
by the town.
366.03 Repair statutory city streets.
If a statutory city included in the limits of a town neglects to keep its
streets in repair, the town board of the town may make repairs and
improvements on a city street needed as a highway.
366.10 Zoning regulations.
The board of supervisors may submit to the legal voters of the town at an
annual or special town meeting, the question whether the board shall adopt
land use and zoning regulations and restrictions in the town. The board in
a town which has within its borders a hospital established in accordance
with Laws 1955, chapter 227, may submit to the voters at an annual or
special town meeting, the question whether the board shall adopt land use
and zoning regulations and restrictions in the town regulating the type of
buildings that may be built or occupations carried on within a radius of
one-half mile of the hospital.
366.11 Ballots.
The following question shall be printed on the ballots for the election:
"Shall the board of supervisors adopt zoning and related regulations
and restrictions?"
The voters shall place a cross-mark after one of the alternatives to
express their choice. The ballot shall be cast and counted during the same
hours and in the same manner as ballots for the election of the town
officers. Except as provided in sections 366.10 to 366.18, the meeting and
election shall be subject to the laws regulating town meetings and
elections of town officers.
366.12 Regulations.
If a majority of the voters voting on the question vote "Yes,"
the town board may regulate:
(1) the location, height, bulk, number of stories, size of buildings and
other structures,
(2) the location of roads and schools,
(3) the percentage of lot which may be occupied,
(4) the sizes of yards and other open spaces,
(5) the density and distribution of population,
(6) the uses of buildings and structures for trade, industry, residence,
recreation, public activities, or other purposes, and
(7) the uses of lands for trade, industry, residence, recreation,
agriculture, forestry, soil conservation, water supply conservation, or
other purposes.
To carry out this section it shall issue land use or zoning permits or
approvals. It shall be unlawful to erect, establish, alter, enlarge, use,
occupy, or maintain a building, structure, improvement, or premises
without having a land use or zoning permit or approval.
Before adopting a regulation under this section the board shall hold a
public hearing on the matter with notice as provided in section 366.15.
This section is subject to section 366.13.
366.13 Zoning districts.
For the purposes of sections 366.10 to 366.18, if a majority of the voters
voting on the question have voted "Yes" at an election under
section 366.12, the town board may divide the town into districts or zones
of the number, shape, and area as it deems best suited to carry out
sections 366.10 to 366.18. Within the districts or zones it may regulate
and restrict:
(1) the location, height, bulk, number of stories, size of buildings and
other structures,
(2) the location of roads and schools,
(3) the percentage of lot which may be occupied,
(4) the sizes of yards and other open spaces,
(5) the density and distribution of population,
(6) the uses of buildings and structures for trade, industry, residence,
recreation, public activities, or other purposes, and
(7) the uses of land for trade, industry, residence, recreation,
agriculture, forestry, soil conservation, water supply conservation, or
other purposes.
The regulations shall be uniform for each class and kind of buildings and
for the use of land throughout each district, but regulations in one
district may differ from those in other districts.
The board may not make a regulation prohibiting the erection,
establishment, alteration, enlargement, use, occupancy, or maintenance of
a landing area or airport as defined by the federal Civil Aeronautics Act
of 1938, owned by a municipality, political subdivision, or public
corporation created in and for any two or more municipalities, the
operation and use of which has been approved by the department of
transportation or by the Civil Aeronautics Board and no permit under
sections 366.10 to 366.18 shall be required for its erection,
establishment, alteration, enlargement, use, occupancy, or maintenance.
Regulations made by a board before April 20, 1943, prohibiting such
erection, establishment, alteration, enlargement, use, occupancy, or
maintenance of airports are annulled.
Before adopting a division or regulation under this section the board
shall hold a public hearing on the matter with notice as provided in
section 366.15.
366.14 Purpose of regulations.
Regulations shall be made in accordance with the comprehensive plan to
promote the health, morals, convenience, order, prosperity, or welfare of
the present and future inhabitants of the town, including, among other
things:
(1) lessening congestion in streets or roads;
(2) reducing the wastes of excessive amounts of roads;
(3) securing safety from fire and other dangers;
(4) providing adequate light and air;
(5) preventing excessive concentration of population and excessive and
wasteful scattering of population or settlement; and
(6) promoting a distribution of population and classification of land uses
and distribution of land development and utilization that will facilitate
and conserve provisions for transportation, water flowage, water supply,
drainage, sanitation, educational opportunities, recreation, soil
fertility, food supplies, and protection of urban and nonurban
development.
366.15 Districts or zones, amendment.
The board may amend the number, shape, boundary, or area of a district or
zone, or a regulation of area within a zone, or a provision of the zoning
resolution. Before finally adopting an amendment the board shall hold a
public hearing on it, after giving at least ten days' notice of the time
and place of the hearing, by at least one publication in a newspaper of
general circulation in the county where the town is located. No change may
be made in the boundary line of zones or districts unless at least 50
percent of the owners of the lands proposed to be changed file a petition
for the change.
366.151 Certain ordinances; manufactured
homes.
A town board must not enact, amend, or enforce a zoning ordinance that has
the effect of altering the existing density, lot-size requirements, or
manufactured home setback requirements in any manufactured home park
constructed before January 1, 1995, if the manufactured home park, when
constructed, complied with the then existing density, lot-size and setback
requirements.
366.152 Conditional uses.
A manufactured home park, as defined in section 327.14, subdivision 3, is
a conditional use in a zoning district that allows the construction or
placement of a building used or intended to be used by two or more
families.
366.16 Town zoning commissioner.
The town board may enforce the regulations by withholding land use or
zoning permits or approvals, building permits issued under sections 16B.59
to 16B.75, or other permits or approvals. For the purposes of sections
366.10 to 366.18, it may establish the position of town zoning
commissioner and fix its compensation. If a building or structure is or is
proposed to be erected, constructed, reconstructed, altered, or used or
any land is or is proposed to be used in violation of sections 366.10 to
366.18 or a regulation or provision enacted or adopted by the board under
sections 366.10 to 366.18, the board, the attorney of the county where the
town is situated, the town attorney, the town zoning commissioner, or any
adjacent or neighboring property owner may institute any appropriate
action to prevent, enjoin, abate, or remove the unlawful erection,
construction, reconstruction, alteration, maintenance, or use.
366.17 Planning and zoning commission.
To carry out sections 366.10 to 366.18, the town board may appoint a
planning and zoning commission, all of whom shall be freeholders. The
number of commissioners shall be determined by the board. The planning and
zoning commission shall act as an adviser to the town board. The
commission may be empowered to employ a civil engineer or city planner as
required to establish the districts or zones of any parts of the town.
366.20 Meetings.
The town board shall be a board of audit and meet each year, on a date
fixed by the town board, to audit and settle all charges against the town.
All unpaid accounts of town officers for services rendered since the last
annual meeting of the board shall be presented at the meeting. It may also
meet at other times to audit and settle charges against the town. No
allowance of an account shall be made which does not specifically itemize
the account. A quorum for the board of audit shall be the same as for the
board of supervisors.
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