The township has trump card in permit battle

What began as a fight over control of building permits in tiny Corinna Township could have big implications for the more than 1,750 townships around Minnesota.

Earlier this month, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled that Corinna, and not Wright County, has sole control over the issuance of building permits within the township.

Permit fees, ranging from hundreds of dollars for building remodeling to thousands of dollars for new construction, translates to revenue for the township of 2,500 people.

Since 2008, there have been more than 225 building permits and about 40 septic permits issued, the township said. Corinna is located between Annandale and Clearwater in northern Wright County.

Although the Court of Appeals ruling only affects building permits and not zoning, it has broad implications for townships in Minnesota, say attorneys on both sides. Townships encompass broad swaths of undeveloped and rural areas of the state.

"This decision clearly upholds the rights of Minnesota townships for local control over ... the building code" said Charles Marohn, Corinna's town planner. "Counties must defer to townships. This gives townships a huge trump card."

Tom Salkowski, Wright County's planning and zoning administrator, declined to comment because he said there is pending litigation in the matter.

The Wright County Board will meet in a special closed session Tuesday to discuss the matter, including possibly appealing to the state Supreme Court.

The county's concern is that the Court of Appeals ruling will set up a complex bureaucracy in which the county is the regulatory agent but the township issues the permits, Anderson said.

"There is now two layers imposed where the county only hoped there would be one," he said. "A building permit could be issued to be put up in a place where the zoning ordinance does not allow it to be placed there. We have no control over what they do."

Years of disagreement

The two sides have been arguing for years about who controls land use within Corinna, whose town board has sought to exert greater independence and control over community growth.

The issue was eventually forwarded to the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, which ruled last year in favor of the township.

For about a year, residents were caught in a tug-of-war as both the township and county required building permits for the same work. Residents paid a double fee as a result, one to Corinna and one to Wright County. The township is asking the county to reimburse residents for the county-charged fee.

The county has not responded to the reimbursement request.

Marohn estimates that as many as 90 permits were issued by the county that were never forwarded to Corinna. The double-permitting practice eventually went away with the Labor Department decision.

As a result of the Court of Appeals ruling, Corinna will now have the rights and responsibility of issuing the permits. Marohn said the township will not be turning a profit on the permits because it will bear the costs of inspections and the issuance of the permits. It's willing to bear those costs for the sake of local control, Marohn said.