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Home My Public Portal About1991-07 aHOLMES & GRAVEN Attorneys at Law ROBER1 A. AI.SOP PAUL D. BAERTSCHI RONAI.D H. BATTY MARY J. BRENDEN STEPHEN J. BURT ROBERT C. CARLSON CHRISTINE M. CHALE JOHN B. DEAN ROBERT J. DEIKF. MARY G. DOBBINS JEFFREY ENC. STEFANIE N. GALEY DAVID L. GRAVEN CORRINE A. HEINE JAMES S. HOLMES DAVID J. KENNEDY JOHN R. LARSON WELLINGTON H. LAW January 10, 1991 Ms. Donna Roehl City of Medina 2052 County Road 24 Hamel, MN 55340 Dear Donna: CHARTERED 470 Pillsbury Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55402 (612)337-9300 Facsimile (612) 337-9310 WRITER'S DIRECT DIAL 337-9262 Enclosed is a memo and resolution pertaining to having the county auditor catch unapproved land divisions. From the language of the statute, it is not clear whether it applies to Torrens property as well as Abstract. I don't know how well all of this will work but I don't see any harm in trying it. Sincerely, Ronald H. Batty RHB:rsr ME230-001 Enclosures JCLIE A. LAWLER CHARLES L. LEFEVERE JOHN M. LF,FEVRE, JR. ROBERT J. LINDALL LACRA K. MOLLET DANIEL R. NELSON BARBARA I,. PORTWOOD MARY FRANCES SKALA JAMES M. STROMMEN STEVEN M. TALLEN JAMES J. THOMSON, JR. LARRY M. WERTHEIM BONNIE L. WII.KINS OE COUNSEL ROBERT L. DAVIDSON JOHN G. HOESCHLER MEMORANDUM TO: Mayor and Members of the City Council FROM: Ron Batty, City Attorney DATE: January 10, 1991 RE: Restrictions on Recording Certain Land Transactions A minor but on -going problem Medina and other cities have is controlling unapproved land divisions. Property owners occasionally sell a tract of land without first obtaining subdivision approval. Sometimes this is done in ignorance of city regulations, sometimes in defiance of them. In Medina's case, the staff eventually learns of such transactions through the city assessor. After being notified of a land division by the county, the assessor must establish values for the new parcels. Medina's assessor routinely checks with city staff in such cases to verify that the division has been approved. When it has not been approved, he refuses to split the taxes. This prevents the property owners from receiving separate tax statements but does not effect the record title of the land. Minnesota Statutes Section 272.162 allows cities to avail themselves of another check on such unauthorized divisions. By requesting it, a city can prevent the county auditor from approving land transfers or divisions until the city has verified the compliance with or non -applicability of its subdivision regulations. Since no deed can be filed with the recorder until the auditor has approved it, this should prevent a deed from being recorded in the case of an unapproved subdivision. A11 of this process relies heavily on the county auditor's office. I have no practical experience with them in this context and cannot say how well they do the job. I think it is worth trying, however. Even if it proves ineffective, we can continue to rely on our after -the -fact system with the assessor. If it does work, it will give us an early warning about unapproved lot divisions. By preventing the recording of deeds from unapproved divisions, the City will have greater leverage in requiring compliance with its subdivision regulations. Attached is a resolution for consideration by the City Council. If adopted, the resolution authorizes the city clerk to file a copy of the City's subdivision regulations with the county recorder and puts the auditor's office on notice that we wish to be governed by Section 272.162.