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Mr. Dennis Wclsch <br />January 6,2006 <br />Page 5 of 6 <br />ingress and egress in the neighborhooc�. The Minnesota Court of Appeals has treated group <br />home parking requirements in a manner assuming that a group home includes as a minimum <br />number of off-street parking spaces the number required by municipal ordinance per dwelling <br />unit. See No�thwest Residence, Inc. v. City of B�ooklyn Cente�, 352 N.W,2d 764, 768 (Minn. <br />Ct. App. 1984), Neview denied (Minn. Jan. 4, 1985) (finding parking adequate where a group <br />home fourplex had eight parking spaces when two spaces per dwelling unit were required by <br />ordinance in a single family zone). <br />The next issue is how many dwelling units make up a group home. In NoNthwest <br />Residence, Inc., the court indicated that each unit in a fourplex constituted one dwelling unit. <br />Id. at 766. �I hus, it appears that a group home operating as a single iamily residence would <br />only require the same number of off-street parking spaces required by ordinance for any other <br />single family residence. Although there is not much authority addressing this particular <br />question, under the policy that a group home meeting the requirements of the statute for six or <br />fewer residents should only be required to meet the applicable requirements for the remainder <br />of the dwellings in the R-1 zone, it appears that a group home with two off-street parking <br />spaces is operating legally. Arguably, the limitation to six or fewer residents in a group home <br />in the statute already anticipates traffic for this many residents as acceptable in a single family <br />zone. <br />If on-street parking for a group home remains a problem, despite having the required <br />number of off-street spaces, Roseville may want to consider placing signs limiting hours or <br />areas of parking in the neighborhood. To ensure equitable treatment of group homes, the key <br />to imposing parking restrictions appears to be uniform application of parking restrictions used <br />in single family residential neighborhoods that do not contain group homes. Thus, Roseville <br />should respond to parking congestion near group homes in the same way it would respond to <br />parking congestion in other areas of the R-1 zones. <br />B. Rental Licensing <br />The next question you have asked is whether a group home can be subject to inspections <br />under the city rental licensing code. Minnesota courts and the state's Attorney General have <br />not addressed the question of the extent to which group homes may be regulated by a city's <br />rental licensing code. A national search, however, revealed a couple situations where group <br />homes were inspected under a city's rental licensing code. In United States v. Village of <br />Palatine, 37 �'.3d 1230, 1232 (7th Cir. 1994), the court noted that the Village inspected a group <br />home residence and cited the home for violations of its "rental property licensing <br />requirements." Although there was a dispute that the Village improperly applied standards <br />applicable to rooming houses rather than single family dwellings, the facts of the case implied <br />that group homes are subject to the same types of rental licensing inspections as any other type <br />