2021-08-10 P & Z Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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RELEVANT LINKS: Three or more people obstructing the free passage of sidewalk traffic. Icy sidewalks or driveways. A building overhanging a public street. Stockyards, slaughtering houses, and rendering works. Gases and gas odors, including those emanating from gas plants, petroleum tanks, and engines. Smoke, dirt, and cinders emittedfrom chimneys and smoke stacks. Obstructions or pollution of public streets or waters. Discharge of water and sewage unto adjacent lands. Cesspools. 4. Local regulation See Part VI – Municipal In addition to the statutory and the common law authorities, cities have the regulations. ability to define and establish through local ordinances additional nuisance conduct—so long as it is able to demonstrate that the condition or activity is a public nuisance. B. Private nuisances Minn. Stat. § 561.01. Similar to public nuisances, a private nuisance is anything injurious to “Minnesota’s Public and health, or indecent or offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to the free Private Nuisance Laws,” Minnesota House Research use of property, interfering with the comfortable enjoyment of life or (July 2015). property. An activity does not need to be unlawful to be a nuisance; for Holmberg v. Bergin, 285 Minn. 250, 172 N.W.2d 739 example, a tree overhanging into a neighbor’s yard may become a private (Minn. 1969). nuisance. A private nuisance harms few persons. As such, the responsibility for prevention or abatement is the responsibility of those harmed and is not a Hill v. Stokely-Van Camp, Inc., 260 Minn. 315, 109 proper ground for city actions. In contrast to public nuisances, which are N.W.2d 749 (Minn. 1961). redressed by state prosecution or abatement actions, private nuisances are only addressed by the individuals harmed through private actions. C. Creating a private duty Even though cities do not generally play a role in abating private Cracraft v. City of St. Louis nuisances, in limited circumstances it is possible for a city to assume a Park, 279 N.W.2d 801 (Minn. 1979). duty and subsequent responsibilities in protecting or preventing private harms from occurring. For such a private duty to exist, an individual will need to demonstrate that: The city had actual knowledge of the dangerous condition. There was reasonable reliance by those subject to the council’s representation and conduct and the reliance was based on specific actions or representations which caused the person harmed to forgo other means of protection. League of Minnesota Cities Information Memo: 4/16/2020 Public Nuisances Page 7