Court rejects environmental challenge to Mpls. 2040 Plan

Minneapolis can proceed with implementing its 2040 Comprehensive Plan without conducting an environmental study, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled Monday.

In an opinion written by Judge James Florey, the court said that three groups failed in their attempts to block the plan on the grounds that it violated state laws designed to protect the environment.

Those groups — Smart Growth Minneapolis, the Audubon Chapter of Minneapolis and Minnesota Citizens for the Protection of Migratory Birds — didn't "show that adoption of the plan is likely to materially adversely affect the environment," Florey wrote.

He also wrote that the city was exempt from an environmental review required for other projects under the Minnesota Environmental Policy Act.

Judge Carol Hooten joined Florey's opinion. Judge Matthew Johnson agreed with the court's ultimate ruling, but disagreed with a part of the legal analysis.

Together, the judges' ruling backs up an earlier decision from Hennepin County District Judge Joseph Klein, who dismissed the case.

The groups who sued the city invoked a different law, the Minnesota Environmental Rights Act, and argued that Minneapolis' comprehensive plan was "likely to cause the pollution, impairment, or destruction of the air, water, land or other natural resources located within the state."

The city had argued that the 2040 Plan is broad and conceptual, and each individual construction project will undergo its own review.

The groups who brought the suit plan to appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court, according to their attorney, Jack Perry.

Perry hopes the Supreme Court will seize on a portion of Johnson's opinion. Johnson wrote that while he agreed with the decision to dismiss the case, he disagreed that the city is exempt from the environmental review.

"We're hoping that the court orders the city to do the environmental scrutiny of this massive zoning change, so that everyone knows the impacts before it is implemented," Perry said.

The plan, among other things, eliminates single-family zoning, allowing for the creation of more duplexes and triplexes. That change that has already begun to roll out.

Liz Navratil • 612 673-4994