Shoreview orders homeowner to abate hazardous conditions despite vociferous objection from Knaak
Posted on 02. Mar, 2010 by Chris Dohman in City Council
The homeowner of 662 Birch Lane South in Shoreview brought in high-profile lawyer Frederic “Fritz” Knaak to vigorously object to Shoreview’s proposed motion to order abatement of his property. Frederic “Fritz” Knaak served as a Minnesota State Senator for District 53 for 10 years from 19983 to 1993 and gained even wider attention as the lead attorney for Sen. Norm Coleman’s recount team in the recount proceedings of the 2008 U.S. Senate election between Al Franken and Sen. Norm Coleman.
Shoreview has found it a common occurrence for the residence of William Dwyer and Gail Carlson at 662 Birch Lane South to be in violation of the city’s property maintenance code since the year 2000 and generating numerous complaints. The city currently considers the property to be hazardous and a public safety or health hazard due to inadequate maintenance and dilapidation.
According to the city motion, the property owner obtained building permits in 1999, 2000 and 2003 to construct additions and perform remodeling work on the structure but that the work has not been completed or had any final inspection, and in part have resulted in some of the hazardous conditions. The owners have applied for a new building permit in February, 2010 and have submitted a work schedule for work to be completed by the end of 2010. If they stick to this schedule there should be no problem with the city.
When he got his chance to speak Knaak went after Shoreview staff indicating the use of misinformation in their proposal and the proposed actions to be hostile.
“There’s no reason for doing this. I think this is if anything, a somewhat hostile action. I think your staff is a little irritateed that my clients weren’t terribly interested in getting into a compliance agreement that required them to do all kinds of things that otherwise they wound’t have had to do,” said Frederic Knaak. ”These are people that are actually trying to get something done and I think what they could use is some encouragement from the city of Shoreview to get the job done and not the kind of encouragement that comes at the end of a pointed gun. And if you’re going to start a lawsuit that’s the kind of encouragement you’re giving them. I submit to you respectfully that what you need to do is back off. Let these people do what they want to do which is to build a very nice home there.”
The city council did not agree with the arguments presented by Knaak and felt the need to act on this after such a long history of problems.
“A lot of these problems didn’t just pop up this year,” said Mayor Sandy Martin. “There’s a long history here of almost ten years of the city receiving complaints regarding 662 Birch Lane.”
“The fact of the matter is that for ten years the city has tried to get compliance and it just has not occurred,” said Jerome P Filla, the attorney representing Shoreview .
The Shoreview City Council approved the motion with a 5-0 vote to declare the buildings at 662 Birch Lane South hazardous structures and to adopt resolution 10-19, ordering the owner to abate the hazardous conditions that now exist on the property.
If the corrections are not made by the homeowners within the specified time-frame, Shoreview staff may file a motion for summary enforcement with District Court, thereby authorizing the City to correct the conditions through repair or removal of the structures. The cost of these repairs or cleanup by the city would be recovered either by lien against the property, by obtaining a judgement against the owner, or by a special assessment.
