Ukkonen v. Gustafson

244 N.W.2d 139, 309 Minn. 260, 1976 Minn. LEXIS 1530
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedJuly 2, 1976
DocketNo. 45975
StatusPublished

This text of 244 N.W.2d 139 (Ukkonen v. Gustafson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ukkonen v. Gustafson, 244 N.W.2d 139, 309 Minn. 260, 1976 Minn. LEXIS 1530 (Mich. 1976).

Opinion

MacLaughlin, Justice.

In this case appellant sought a writ of mandamus to require the City Council of Minneapolis to renew appellant’s parking lot license. This appeal followed the trial court’s denial of the writ and denial of appellant’s motion for rehearing. We affirm.

Appellant, Kenneth L. Ukkonen, operates an open-air parking lot on vacant land which he leases on a month-to-month basis. The land is located at 300-330 Second Avenue South, Min[262]*262neapolis, and is owned by the Minneapolis Housing and Redevelopment Authority. Appellant received notice to appear on August 7, 1974, before the Standing Committee on Consumer Services of the Minneapolis City Council (committee), to show cause why his parking lot license should not be revoked because of poor management — specifically, his failure to prevent the theft of automobiles from his lot.1 At the meeting, appellant informed the committee that he was aware of the problem and that as a temporary solution he had hired off-duty police officers to protect the lot. .As a long-range solution appellant stated that he was going to install security gates at each entrance, that he had already purchased these gates, and that they would be in operation in about 30 to 60 days. There was a motion to revoke appellant’s license. The committee voted against that motion but adopted a motion to “LAY THE CALL-IN OVER UNTIL RENEWAL OF [appellant’s] LICENSE IN SEPTEMBER.” Members of the committee informed appellant that in September it expected to receive a complete plan for preventing the stealing of cars from his lot.

On September 25, 1974,,appellant appeared before the commit[263]*263tee pursuant to Ms application for renewal of his license which had expired on September 1, 1974. The minutes of the meeting reflect that appellant advised the committee that a police officer had been employed for a period of one week but was no longer employed. There was no indication that any progress had been made in. actual installation of the parking gates, but appellant stated that he had purchased the equipment and was ready to make installation the following week. Appellant requested that he be allowed to operate under a permit whereby customers would park and lock their cars until installation of the gates was completed. The committee recommended denial of the license renewal, but on September 27, 1974, the city council referred the recommendation back to the committee for reconsideration.

On October 9,1974, appellant again appeared before the committee, this time represented by an attorney. The attorney informed the committee that since September 27, 1974, appellant had been operating the lot under a park and lock system but that he felt appellant was “harming himself” because by doing so he was losing one-third of the parking spaces in the lot. The committee was informed that appellant had “partially dug a [hole] ” for the gates but that the gates had not been installed and the actual equipment was still “on order.” The director of the Department of License and Consumer Services recommended, in view of the failure to complete the installation of gates, that appellant’s application be denied until the work was completed. The committee agreed, and on October 11,1974, the city council adopted the committee’s recommendation to deny the renewal of the appellant’s license on the grounds that “the applicant has failed to provide adequate security and management of the licensed premises.” The council’s action was subsequently upheld by the district court.

Appellant argues that failure “to provide adequate security” for the parking lot is a constitutionally insufficient cause to deny the renewal ..of his license since, that ground for denial is not specifically set forth in the. parking lot ordinance.

[264]*264The ordinance in effect at the time of appellant’s first appearance before the committee, Minneapolis Code of Ordinances, § 363.160, provided:

“Licenses issued under this Chapter may be revoked by the City Council or by the Mayor for cause after notice. Violation of any of the terms of this Chapter shall be cause for revocation.”2

Appellant interprets this provision as prohibiting the city from taking action to revoke or deny a license for any reason other than violation of the terms of the parking lot ordinance. To support this interpretation appellant relies on State v. Pamperin, 42 Minn. 320, 322, 44 N. W. 251, 252 (1890), in which this court held that the Rochester City Council could not validly impose a new closing time on a billiard room because—

“* * * [n]o new terms and conditions, not within the purview of the ordinances, could be imposed after the issue of the license.”

Appellant’s reliance on Pamperin is misplaced since the court based its holding on the limited authority conferred on the council by the city’s charter. We indicated that (42 Minn. 322, 44 N. W. 252).—

“* * * [i]f the power ‘to regulate’ had also been conferred by the charter, then new and additional police regulations in respect to the same matter might have been made and enforced.”

The Minneapolis City Charter confers on the council a power to regulate. In discussing the powers of the Minneapolis. City Council in State v. Morrow, 175 Minn. 386, 387, 221 N. W. 423 (1928) we concluded:

“* * * Such a general welfare clause as that found in the charter of Minneapolis is intended to make the powers of the council, sufficiently expansive to enable them to meet and provide for new conditions as they arise.”

[265]*265Significantly, in Morrow we proceeded to state (175 Minn. 388, 221 N. W. 423):

“Much can be said in support of the argument which criticizes the ordinance because it fails to prescribe any standard to govern the council in granting or refusing licenses. It is silent as to both the grounds upon which parking places are subjected to regulation and the purpose of it. But here again the point has been settled adversely to defendant. The propriety of vesting such a discretion as that now involved in a ‘board appointed for that purpose’ was sustained in Fischer v. City of St. Louis, 194 U. S. 361, 372, 24 S. Ct. 673, 48 L. ed. 1018. In State v. Dirnberger, 152 Minn. 44, 47, 187 N. W. 972, it was considered that the decision in Fischer v. City of St. Louis settled the proposition that there is nothing unconstitutional in vesting such a broad ‘dispensing power1 in a city council.” (Emphasis supplied.)

Therefore, “cause” for denying appellant’s application for license renewal is not limited to specific ordinance violations. This does not, of course, mean that the city council is free to deny the license for any reason it deems appropriate. In City of St. Paul v. Dalsin, 245 Minn. 325, 330, 71 N. W. 2d 855, 858 (1955), we observed:

“Although a municipality may by license regulate an occupation which is affected with the public interest, the licensing requirements must be reasonable in their terms and conditions so as not to go beyond the demands of the occasion whereby unnecessary, unreasonable, or oppressive restrictions are imposed in contravention of the state and federal constitutions.”

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Related

Fischer v. St. Louis
194 U.S. 361 (Supreme Court, 1904)
City of St. Paul v. Dalsin
71 N.W.2d 855 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1955)
State v. Morrow
221 N.W. 423 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1928)
Gasser v. Sun Fire Office
44 N.W. 252 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1890)
State v. Pamperin
44 N.W. 251 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1890)
State v. Dirnberger
187 N.W. 972 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1922)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
244 N.W.2d 139, 309 Minn. 260, 1976 Minn. LEXIS 1530, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ukkonen-v-gustafson-minn-1976.