On January 29, 2004, Minnstar Builders and the landowners Allen and Buttenhoff sued the city of Mendota Heights seeking approval of the Pilot Knob project to build 157 townhomes in the area directly north and east of Acacia Cemetery in Mendota Heights.
They argue that Minnesota's 60-day rule for decisions about building permits, etc., is not stayed by the environmental review process, so that the time ran out late last winter or early spring and they should be granted approval of their proposal. Acacia Cemetery, the other landowner, is not part of this lawsuit. There is a hearing in Dakota County District Court in Hastings on March 16 at 9 AM to deal with the plaintiffs' "alternative writ of mandamus." After an outpouring of over 200 letters against the proposed development during the EAW comment period--including many nice letters and e-mails from people on MnBird and MOU-net--the city of Mendota Height ordered an EIS in November. We were waiting for the developer to decide whether or not to pay for it (as state law specifies). This appears to be the developer's response. As many of you may know better than me, environmental review in Minnesota would simply not be possible if it had to be done during the 60-day period, even with an additional 60-day extension. Minnesota law seems clear in making an exception to the 60-day rule for reviews such as this. It does not seem possible that a judge could rule that environmental review had to occur during such a small period of time, but... The Pilot Knob Preservation Association will be putting updates about the lawsuit and other information on its new website: www.pilotknobpreservation.org .
